Experts strongly recommended that immediate measures should be taken to look into the problems of all wage-earners abroad facing crisis amid covid-19 situation.
They urged the government to address the problems of the foreign wage earners on priority basis in order to keep the flow of the foreign remittance going smoothly.
A large number of Bangladeshis, stranded in different countries, are passing inhuman lives as most of them have lost their jobs, they added.
They called upon the government to initiate bilateral talks with the concerned countries where they could possibly allow Bangladeshi workers to register and apply for jobs in the respective countries.
The experts warned that if such initiatives are not taken from now it may end up in a big blow to the country's economy now showing a positive trend.
As the Bangladeshi expatriates are playing key role in the economic growth, they deserve priority care during this Covid-19 pandemic, they mentioned.
The global coronavirus pandemic forced more than 95,000 expatriate Bangladeshis jobless who returned from different countries in last four months since April 1, said an official of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry.
He said, “A total of 95,062 overseas Bangladeshi workers have lost their jobs and returned home from 26 nations during April 1 and August 30.”
“Some 88,406 male and 6,656 female Bangladeshi workers mostly lost their jobs due to the global COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
The highest number of Bangladeshi workers who returned are from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) totaling 25,653 workers, of them 1100 were female.
Some 15,389 Bangladeshi workers have returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) where are 13,796 males and are 1,593 females.
From Maldives, a total of 7,909 expatriate Bangladeshi workers returned home as Maldives is a tourist nation and that’s why the people lost their jobs under corona pandemic.
On the other hand, almost one lakh new visa holders are unable to fly due to lock-down situation in most of the countries where they are supposed to arrive.
Besides, about two lakh workers who returned since April 1 could not fly back to their destination countries due to lack of authentic or trustworthy health clearance certificate specifying the person is free of coronavirus. In addition, many of the workers are not able to find flights or buy tickets due to high costs and non-availability of flights.
The Jobless Bangladeshi workers have also returned from Singapore, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, South Africa, Qatar, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, Jordan, Iraq, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Italy, Lebanon, Russia, Mauritius, Turkey, Nepal, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Japan during this time.
Dr Ahmed Munirush Salehin, Secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said, “We are working to send expatriates abroad who are stuck on holiday or are unable to go to work even after getting a fresh visa.”
He said that the government is also working to provide training and credit assistance to the returning workers and trying to find out the potential new labor markets for them.
Eminent economist Zahid Hussain told Bangladesh post, “The outbreak of the Coronavirus in the world has dealt a heavy blow to the global economy, which has obviously affected the foreign wage earners of Bangladesh.”
“Bangladesh expatriates have faced many challenges in the country and abroad as coronavirus has affected all activities of the world,” he added.
He mentioned most of the unskilled workers of Bangladesh who work in the middle-eastern countries feared having lost their jobs as many companies have temporarily closed while many small businessmen have passed critical time following coronavirus scare.
Imran Ahmad, Minister of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, said, “The ministry has taken several initiatives including formation a Tk 700 crore fund for the welfare of the jobless Bangladeshi foreign workers.”
He said that the affected expatriate Bangladeshi workers will get business fund with only 4 percent interest rates.
The minister said the government has earmarked nearly Tk 10 crore ‘emergency food and other assistance’ for vulnerable expatriate Bangladeshi workers.
On the other hand, each of the expatriates’ family will Tk 3 lakh soon who lost their loved ones on duty abroad due to COVID-19 infection, he added.
“Even the government will give certificate and recognition to the skilled jobless Bangladeshi foreign workers who have been affected due to the world-wide pandemic and the poor Bangladeshi workers and their family members will be brought under the social safety net programme,” Imran said.
Shariful Islam Hasan, head of Brac Migration Program, said expatriates passed tough time as they have returned since April this year. He said the migrant workers are now in crisis as they returned home empty-handed.
Many of them could not collect their salaries, while many others had no confirmation from their employers on the possibility of rejoining their jobs, Hasan mentioned.
On the other hand, some expatriates have tried to go back to their jobs abroad are now facing many hurdles such as with Covid-19 test reports and high prices of air tickets, he added.
The country’s remittance inflow has increased 35.93 percent to $1.96 billion in August against $1.44 billion in the same period of the previous year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Expatriates sent a record remittance of $2.60 billion from different countries in July.
This is the highest monthly remittance received in the country’s history helping to push foreign currency reserves up to $39.04 billion.