Malaysia resumes hiring Bangladeshi migrants

Bangladesh will soon open registration for 10,000 plantation workers for Malaysia.

AFP/Dhaka

Malaysia has resumed recruiting Bangladeshi migrant workers after a four-year pause, an official said yesterday, in a move easing Dhaka’s remittance worries after the jobs market in the Middle East dried up.

The Bangladesh government on Monday announced that an online registration process for those seeking work in Malaysia would start from January 13, following calls for 10,000 plantation workers.

The announcement followed a government-to-government deal in November to recruit up to 500,000 workers in manufacturing, service, agriculture and construction sectors in next five years.

“We are starting with 10,000 workers and by the end of this year the cumulative number would be 100,000,” overseas employment secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan said.

There are currently an estimated 500,000 Bangladeshi labourers in Malaysia, but the Southeast Asian nation has not hired since 2009 following reports of recruitment agencies sending a huge number of migrants to work illegally.

Impoverished Bangladesh, which heavily relies on multi-billion dollar remittance to spur its economy, has some 8.5mn workers in 157 nations across the globe.

The United Arab Emirates stopped hiring workers from Dhaka in August. The Gulf nation had been the top recruiter from Bangladesh since 2007, replacing Saudi Arabia, which also drastically cut worker numbers.

Migrant workers sent home a record $12.7bn at the end of 2012, accounting for 12% of Bangladesh’s gross domestic product, according to official figures.

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve reached $9.63bn at the end of 2011, said a central bank official.

The foreign exchange reserve has stayed above the $12bn mark since October when it topped the level for the first time. The South Asian nation needs a reserve of above $10bn to meet its import bills for three months, an international standard to maintain foreign currency reserve.

“Higher inflow of remittances have mainly driven Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve to set a new record,” AFM Asaduzzaman, senior spokesman of central Bangladesh Bank, said.