Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB) have played an important role in the economic growth of the motherland. Whether it is the remittances we are talking about or the "diaspora network" that facilitates technology transfer, NRBs have increasingly energised our economy as well. Nonetheless, compared with what other countries such as China, India and the Philippines have reaped in terms of the globalisation dividend, Bangladesh still has a long way to go. The NRBs on the one hand, and the public and private sector on the other, have a lot of work to do if we want to pull our country out of the "transition to middle-income" status and propel it into a robust and autonomous growth path.
Let me first take up an issue that I mentioned above, i.e., the contribution of the NRBs to our foreign exchange coffers. Defying all expectations, Bangladeshis working abroad have increased the volume of money they send home during the Covid-19 crisis. Even as late as June 2020, in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Economic Forum forewarned of a looming remittance crisis; but Bangladeshis working abroad bucked the trend. While the amount of money migrant workers send home globally is projected to decrease by 14 percent by 2021, according to the World Bank, Bangladesh reportedly witnessed a "whopping" 53.5 percent year on year increase in remittance flows during the July-September period in 2020. Buoyed by these news, the government has outlined a plan to raise USD 150 billion through remittances in the next five years.
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