Dhaka, June 27 (The Daily Star): Only 25 percent of the
remittance-receiving households invest in productive sectors after paying for
livelihood necessities, while others do not, the statistical agency said in a
survey yesterday.
Remittance receivers spend 39 percent of funds on food
and non-food items, according to the survey by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
BBS surveyed 9,961 households between January 2013 and
June 2014.
The main purpose of the survey is to identify the
different uses of inward remittance, said Dilder Hossain, programme director of
the survey, Use of Remittance 2013.
Almost 8.6 million Bangladeshis are currently working
abroad.
Nearly two million additional young people join the
labour force every year and the outflow of workers will continue in the future
due to the country's lack of ability to create jobs at home, Hossain said.
People from Rangpur invest the highest—36.63 percent of
remittance, while those of Sylhet invest only 16.33 percent. In the last year,
homebuilding takes the largest share of remittance—72.05 percent, followed by
flat purchase standing at 15.89 percent, Hossain added.
Barisal as a division spends 81.84 percent of remittance
on home construction, followed by Khulna at 80.47 percent, Rangpur at 79.96
percent and Rajshahi at 78.92 percent.
Dhaka spends the lowest in home construction, while
topping the list of flat buyers with 68.30 percent.
Nationally, 56.96 percent of households receiving
remittance save from the income. Banks are the biggest custodians of savings
from remittance income, Hossain said.
About 84.01 percent of total savers kept their savings in
banks in different forms: savings accounts, savings bonds and timed
deposits.
Banks are the main saving destinations in all divisions,
he added.
Among the major expenditures from remittance: 77.99
percent is spent on land purchase, especially on the divisional level.
Remittance receiving households of Barisal, Dhaka,
Khulna, Rajshahi and Rangpur spend the majority of their income to purchase
land.
Remittance receivers in Chittagong scored lowest with
56.06 percent of funds spent on land purchases, followed by 62.70 percent in
Sylhet, the survey showed. Most migrant workers lack higher education, with
very few professionals, like doctors and engineers, in the mix, Hossain
said.
The majority, 62 percent, are below secondary school
certificate level, while only 2.41 percent have professional education, the
survey revealed.
Banking is the most popular and widely used system for
sending remittance, Hossain said.
Two-thirds of remitters use proper banking channels to
send money home, and 6.87 percent use Western Union. 'Hundi', an illegal system
of sending money, is used by 10.04 percent of remitters, data showed. Around 96
percent of remittance is transferred as cash.
The BBS survey aimed to estimate the share of investment,
savings, and consumption as part of total inward remittances and to identify
the socio-economic conditions of the remittance receiving households and to
provide supplementary information for national income accounting.