Monitoring Desk
DHAKA: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to be the favourite destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, the country’s central bank report has shown, as the nation prepares to send more skilled workers to the Kingdom.
Nearly 100,000 Bangladeshis migrated to Saudi Arabia for work in October-December 2022 alone, according to a Bangladesh Bank report published on Saturday. The Saudi employers hired more than half of Bangladesh migrant workers in 2022.
Migrant workers a major source of remittances
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the second-biggest source of remittances to the South Asian country, Bangladesh in October-December in 2022, just behind the United States, as workers brought in about $910m from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period, showed the central bank report.
“The Bangladeshi people nurture a special feeling in their heart for the KSA, which encourages many of them to find jobs in the Kingdom,” deputy secretary Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Gazi Mohammed Shahed Anowar told Arab News.
He said “For many years, Saudi Arabia has been considered the top choice for Bangladeshi migrants.” He further said that many of the Bangladeshi migrants were already working in Saudi Arabia, so they facilitate further jobs for their relatives in the home country.
Bangladesh has started preparations to send skilled workers to Saudi Arabia for the first time under the newly launched Skill Verification Programme, which aims improving professional competence of the employees in the Saudi labour market.
As the Kingdom is set to recruit skilled workers from Bangladesh, this too would help boost remittances.
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Bangladesh is also reaping fruits from strong diplomatic relations with the Kingdom, said Shariful Hasan, head of the migration programme at the country’s largest development organization, BRAC.
“The country is in growing need of migrant workers also, as they have undertaken some mega projects,” Hasan told Arab News “If we send 100,000 skilled workers, we can even earn more in remittances,” Hasan said.
Considering the last 50 years, the Kingdom is still the prime source of remittances for the South Asian nation.
