Until now the impact of the global economic crisis has scarcely been felt in Bangladesh. Food prices have been unstable over the last year (or two?) but recently they have decreased, especially since the new government made this a central campaign pledge. Because most of Bangladesh’s exports are very low-cost – think T-shirts at Walmart – the country has not suffered as much in the worldwide downturn. In fact, I think some export sectors have increased recently.
Thus it was a bit of a rude awakening here when Malaysia recently canceled 55,000 visas for migrant Bangladeshi laborers. The visas that were canceled had already been approved, but the workers had not yet traveled – they were scheduled to replace other workers when their jobs finished. Now the Malaysian government says that with the downturn, it needs to save more jobs for Malaysians. See the AP article here.
Bangladesh on Wednesday expressed shock at Malaysia’s decision to revoke work visas for more than 55,000 Bangladeshis, a move aimed at filling those jobs with Malaysians facing layoffs.
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Syed Hamid said Tuesday that foreign labor was not needed because of the global economic crisis, adding that levies paid by Malaysian companies to recruit the workers would be refunded.
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Khan said about 400,000 Bangladeshis still work in Malaysia. They have traditionally worked in factories, restaurants and gasoline stations, but Khan said many now had learned to tap rubber and harvest palm oil.
Manpower is a huge export for Bangladesh – many people say it is the country’s main export. The remittances that the workers send home are Bangladesh’s second-largest source of foreign exchange. The money – almost $10 billion dollars a year – is crucial in supporting families back in the villages and contributes to local economic development. IRIN has an excellent article on remittances and the economic crisis.
Some five million Bangladeshis work abroad, mostly in the Middle East, in healthcare, engineering, domestic service and manual labour.…
Although foreign workers make up just 2.8 percent of the population, they contribute more than 9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
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