Implement the stimulus package quickly for migrant workers

A large number of Bangladeshi migrant workers are facing new and serious problems as the Saudi government temporarily suspends flights from all countries of the world due to the spread of a new variant of coronavirus in the United Kingdom. This is a bad news when the national economy is trying to deal with the multifaceted economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Saudi Arabia is the destination of the largest number of migrant workers from Bangladesh. We earn huge amount of foreign currencies from that country every year. If the new air ban lasts for at least two weeks, workers who were ready to go to Saudi Arabia will face difficulties and financial losses.

Due to the lack of employment opportunities in the country, the tendency to go abroad among the workers is so high that they want to go abroad no matter how much risks they have to take. More than 200,000 Bangladeshi workers have gone to different countries of the world till last Monday even during this year when pandemic is ravaging the global economy. It could then be estimated that how many people in this country wish to risk their lives for livelihoods.

Most of the over 200,000 Bangladeshi workers has gone to Saudi Arabia. Over two million Bangladeshi workers have already been working in that country. This is the highest number of expatriate Bangladeshi workers working in a country. So far, 959 Bangladeshi workers have died of coronavirus there. Yet, the number of workers willing to go to work in Saudi Arabia has not decreased. The workers who have been waiting to board the flights after preparing visa, tickets and other necessary paperwork and coronavirus negative test reports got into a new trouble because of the flight ban.

It is unknown when will the flights operate again. However, the workers will have to take the coronavirus test again and get the certificate. If it is too late, they may need to get new visa.

Migrant workers once suffered losses after the outbreak of COVID-19. From March to September workers could not go abroad. In addition, many expatriate workers have had to return from different countries of the world, including Saudi Arabia, losing their jobs, and many have come on vacation. The families of these workers had to face enormous crisis at the time. It also put a negative impact on the national economy which is by no means negligible. That is why, as we have seen, since the resumption of flights in September, a large number of workers have become desperate to go abroad. In the three weeks of this month alone, 17,630 people have left the country.

We have nothing to do in the Saudi government's decision to suspend air travel from all the countries with the onset of the second wave of the pandemic in different parts of the world as winter begins. But in this situation we must do something for the expatriate workers and it should be done urgently. The pace of implementation of the Tk 7 billion stimulus package that the government has adopted for them has so far been disappointing. So far, only Tk 90 million has been disbursed to the expatriate workers as low interest loans. There is an urgent need to speed up the implementation of this package.