Bangladesh has more than 3,000 recruiting agencies, but only around 300 to 500 may survive a quality-based assessment, State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Md Nurul Hoque has said.
He made the remarks on Tuesday at the “Sonar Manush Sammelan” at Hotel InterContinental Dhaka, organised to mark the 30th anniversary of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), a research organisation focusing on migration and refugees.
Speaking about the process of sending workers abroad, Nur said: “There are selected recruiting agencies in the country that are responsible for people going abroad. They are supposed to inform workers about what jobs they are going for, how much they will be paid and what facilities they will receive.
“But Bangladesh has many recruiting agencies. We have an online digital system, BOESL (Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited), through which various processes, including demand letters and attestations, can be carried out. Switzerland and the IOM helped us launch it, and I would like to extend special thanks to them for that.”
Nurul said irregularities persisted despite the online system.
“Even after introducing this online process, we see many agencies involved in various irregularities. Their access is locked, but they go to court or use their connections and resume their businesses. And they continue these irregularities or fraudulent activities.”
“We are trying to bring recruiting agencies, in particular, under a categorisation system. Bangladesh has around 3,000 recruiting agencies, more than 3,000 in fact. My assessment is that if they are graded based on their performance, not many will survive.
“I don’t mean to say the number will necessarily be 300 or 400, but 500 could be the highest.”
Announcing plans to make banking services easier for expatriates and strengthen their financial security, Nurul said the government was considering increasing the incentive on remittances for holders of expatriate cards.
“At present, a 2.5 percent incentive is offered when remittances are sent through legal channels. We are planning to increase it to 3 percent for expatriate cardholders.”
Speaking about the expatriate card, the state minister said: “The special card is currently being piloted in Jordan, South Korea and countries in the Middle East.
“It will serve as an ATM card for transactions while also giving holders priority access to government and private services and healthcare in Bangladesh.”
The state minister also said the process of turning Probashi Kallyan Bank into a commercial bank was under way.
“Based on the remittances sent by expatriates, we will give special priority to providing loans ranging from Tk 300,000 to Tk 1 million for starting new businesses, creating employment or building homes in the country.”
William Neil Adger, a professor at the University of Exeter, presented the keynote paper at the event.
Law Minister Asaduzzaman, Swiss Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Diepak Elmer, former World Bank lead economist Dilip Ratha and RMMRU founding member Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar also spoke at the programme.