Remittance from Saudi Arabia accounts for 22% of total inflow in 2014-15

Remittance flow from expatriates in Saudi Arabia has increased.

Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB) in the Middle Eastern country have always accounted for the largest remittance to Bangladesh.
 
The inflow from Saudi Arabia, however, had dropped two years ago due to visa complications, and Akama or the procedure involved in changing jobs.
 
Bangladesh Bank figures show that remittance in the 2014-15 fiscal stood at $15.31 billion. NRBs in Saudi Arabia sent $3.34 billion during the financial year, accounting for 22 percent.
 
In the 2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscal years, remittance by expatriates was over $3.6 billion but fell to $3.11 billion in 2013-14.
 
Around 1.5 million Bangladesh nationals are currently working in Saudi Arabia, reveal official data, making it Bangladesh’s biggest labour market.
 
The Saudi government had set 2013 as a deadline for changing workers’ Akama to let expatriates shift jobs. It also allowed those living illegally in the country to return home without being penalised. 
 
Central bank officials had attributed the remittance fall to visa complications and the process of changing jobs.

Workers in Saudi Arabia had to pay hefty sums to change or renew their job permits, a burden that affected the remittance sum, said Bangladesh Bank’s forex reserve wing chief Kazi Sayedur Rahman.
 
However, inflows from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the US, the next top contributors after Saudi Arabia, have now increased. 
 
Expatriates in the UAE sent $2.82 billion, while remittance from the US was $2.38 billion during the 2014-15 fiscal year.
 
According to the expatriates’ welfare ministry, around 600,000 Bangladeshis are currently in the UAE and almost 500,000 in the US.