BD remittance inflow from Malaysia, Singapore fell in July-September

In flow of remittance from Malaysia and Singapore has suffered huge setback in July-September quarter of 2021 as fresh recruitment to those countries from Bangladesh remained almost on halt.
Although the overall inflow dropped by 19.44 per cent year-on-year in July-September of 2021 period, the inflow from Malaysia and Singapore plunged by 52.1 per cent and 40.96 per cent respectively during the period under consideration.
According to latest Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the inflow from Malaysia dropped to $290.86 million in the July-September period of 2021 against the inflow of $607.24 million in the corresponding period in 2020.
Allegations of malpractice in the recruitment process and high recruitment costs realized by recruitment syndicates prompted the Malaysian government to suspend workers recruitment from Bangladesh in September 2018. As a result employment of Bangladeshi nationals to the country dropped to 545 in 2019 after hitting 1,75,927 in 2018.
The number of Bangladeshi workers employed in Malaysia continued to drop in 2020 and 2021 as well. The number of workers recruited was 125 and 18 respectively both the year.Asked, former Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) secretary general Kazi Mohammad Mofizur Rahman told The Daily Observer, 'Recruitment in Malaysia from Bangladesh came to a halt when a new government took office.'
He, however, hoped it may start soon for Bangladeshi and Indonesian workers for tree plantation-related jobs as they were facing labour scarcity for the jobs.' 'Once the market will open for tree plantation, the other job sectors would gradually open' he expected.
Remittance from Singapore also dropped to $111.63 million in July-September of 2021 against $189.06 million earning in the corresponding period in 2020.
Restrictions to curb Covid infections since March 2020 acted as the major impediment to plunge employment in Singapore. As per government data, the migration of Bangladeshi employees to Singapore dropped to 10,085 in 2020 from 49,829 in 2019.
Meanwhile, many expatriate employees have returned to Bangladesh and were not allowed to re-enter Singapore due to the Covid restrictions. However, the city-state has started allowing travelers this region including Bangladesh to enter or take transit through the country since October 26. As a result, migration to Singapore has opened but remains at slow.
Apart from Singapore and Malaysia, remittance from Australia and Japan dropped by 19.33 per cent and 15.31 per cent respectively year-on-year in the July-September quarter of 2021.
The country's overall remittance from Asia-Pacific countries has dropped by 47.38 per cent to $448.39 million in July-September. It fell by 22.19 percent from Gulf countries.
Remittance from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman dropped by 19.2 per cent, 40.61 per cent and 40.01 per cent respectively in July-September period. Overall remittance dropped  to $5.41 billion from $6.71 billion.