DHAKA: Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Dr Atiur Rahman hailed the Center for Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRB) for continuing their effort for the wellbeing of the NRBs as well as the country’s economy.
He was addressing the opening ceremony of NRB World Conference Series 2015 at a city hotel around 11:00am on Saturday.
He said in FY 2014, remittance accounts for 66 percent of foreign reserve which was almost nine times of the current account balance in the same fiscal year.
Indicating the usefulness of NRB remittance for the development of Bangladesh he said, “It has kept Bangladesh’s economy strong when others are facing financial crisis. Most remarkable of contributions of NRB’s is the investing of their hard-earned money for the development of our country’s rural economy in the form of SMEs and investment portfolio as a whole.”
He further mentioned about the gradual change in the share of remittance flows by regions shifting the focus from Middle East to the East Asia, Europe and the North America.
“For instance Malaysia has become fourth largest remittance source country for Bangladesh,” he added.
He also addressed the gender-biased condition of remittance representing the woman a little and mentioned recent changes in the tradition.
Dr Atiur Rahman also said millions of Bangladeshis have been working abroad in almost 157 countries of the world for a long time and as per government statistics, nearly 2.35 million workers have migrated in last 5 years.
He also said, according to the World Bank, Bangladesh ranked 7th position in the list of remittance recipient country in the World in 2013 and in 2014 the inflow of remittance was US $14.94 billion.
According to the governor, the introduction of mobile banking and involvement of MFIs in inward remittances reduced the necessity of sending money through informal channels as well as reducing the risk of counterfeit.
Conferences will be arranged in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, Australia, Europe, UK, USA, and Canada to promote investment, remittance and financial branding of Bangladesh, he added.
He also reminded that the BB has established a separate department titled ‘Financial Integrity and Customer Interest Protection Department’ to handle any complaints and suggestions by the customers or any stakeholders at home and abroad to ensure the smooth and hassle-free services.
He also said, “There is a hotline 16236 to address customers’ hassle if any. I can assure that as an NRB your complaint will be dealt with highest priority. At the moment, no bank can take more than two days in distributing the remittance to the designated beneficiaries.”
Mentioning that 55 percent of Bangladeshi migrant workers are unskilled and their wage rate remains low, he asked them to take vocational trainings in different centers and upgrade their skills to improve earnings.
Praising the conference series, he said it will help make aware and involve the NRBs in a more collective and united way so that their talents and resources can be better utilized for nation’s development.
BDST: 2031 HRS, APR 25, 2015
SR/RR/SMS
