DHAKA, BANGLADESH (Xinhua) — Remittance-reliant Bangladesh expects 1.2 million overseas jobs for the country’s skilled and semi-skilled workforce in 2018.
“We’re planning to send some 1.2 million Bangladeshis abroad with overseas employment this year,” Bangladeshi Minister of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Nurul Islam told journalists on Wednesday.
The expectation comes after over 1 million Bangladeshis found overseas jobs in 2017.
In 2016, the country’s overseas employment was more than 600,000, the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) record showed.
Quoting Bangladesh Bank, the minister said Bangladesh received 13.53 billion U.S. dollars remittance last year.
He said they are planning to send more skilled workers this year and exploring further opportunities in many more non-traditional Bangladeshi labor hosting countries to bolster inflow of remittances.
Remittances, which account for around 11 percent of the country’s GDP, mainly come from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, among others.
