Expats now under up to Tk10 lakh insurance cover
The new scheme also includes Tk50,000 cash support in case an expat returns home after losing job within six months of migration
The government has introduced a new insurance scheme for the expatriates with more facilities, according to officials, as the move can be interpreted as taking better care of the goose that lays golden eggs.
According to the new scheme effective from 10 December this year, a Bangladeshi outbound worker will now be eligible for a Tk10 lakh insurance coverage – up from previous Tk4 lakh – for workplace death and permanent disabilities like loss of the eyes or hands.
For partial permanent disabilities like loss of an eye or a wrist, the amount varies from 10% to 50% of the insurance coverage.
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Besides, the new coverage includes Tk50,000 cash support in case an expatriate returns home after losing a job within six months of migration – a new feature included to the expat insurance for the first time.
Previously, the insurance coverage was Tk4 lakh maximum and the duration was two years. The one-time premium – the amount of money an individual pays for an insurance policy – for the old one was Tk490.
The new one has raised the one-time premium to Tk1,000 as the coverage duration has been extended to five years.
On 7 December, the state-run Jiban Bima Corporation signed a deal with the Wage Earners' Welfare Board to introduce the new scheme. According to the deal, the board will collect the premium from the outbound migrants and deposit it with the corporation.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that put a squeeze on the country's external trades and foreign exchange reserves, some 1.30 crore Bangladesh nationals staying abroad came to the spotlight. In the last fiscal year, they remitted $21 billion to home – the cheapest and easiest forex earning for Bangladesh.
As the government looks to boost migration and remittance inflow further amid a dollar crunch, the authorities have been instructed to provide expatriates with more benefits than what it was earlier.
Officials hope the facilities, in return, will encourage Bangladeshi diasporas to send more greenbacks home through the formal banking channel instead of the illegal but better rate offering "Hundi", which offers better rates.
"Expats are the lifeline of our economy. We have instructions from the top of the government to increase facilities for the migrants," Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, told The Business Standard.
Established in 1990 for making migrations sustainable and meaningful, the Wage Earners' Welfare Board works under the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment. Ahmed Munirus Saleheen is the president of the welfare board's board of directors.
To minimise workplace risks and maximise migration safety, the government in 2019 mandated insurance for all outbound workers.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had instructed the authorities to cover all the expatriates under the insurance scheme in 2016.
Saiful Islam, managing director of Jiban Bima Corporation, told TBS that the premium has been raised as the insurance duration has been extended to five years from the previous two years.
Some 73,143 Bangladeshi nationals went abroad in October this year, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, which is more than 19% less than the previous month.
Around 9.47 lakh people left Bangladesh in January-October of this year, according to the bureau. Of them, oil-enriched Saudi Arabia topped the migration destinations with around 5.43 lakh Bangladeshi workers, while Oman was the workplace destination for more than 1.44 lakh workers.
After a 14% growth in July and then a steep fall for three consecutive months, November remittances grew 4.54% compared to October. Bangladeshis abroad transacted $159 crore to home in November.
Amid the outcry for the US dollar, the central bank undertook a slew of measures for remittance resurgence, including relaxing money transaction rules, waiving transaction fees and increasing the number of money exchange shops abroad.
Besides, the central bank allowed popular mobile financial services such as bKash, Rocket and upay to team up the exchange houses abroad for bringing in foreign currencies. This will merge three money transaction layers into one, paving the way for money transactions to be instant.
Setting the tone of the latest Wage Earners' Welfare Board move in line with resurging remittances initiatives, Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said they are working to popularise the insurance benefits.
"Because, many workers do not even know about it [insurance coverage] though they had paid for it while leaving the country," he told TBS.
Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of migrants' rights organisation Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants Development Foundation, appreciated increasing the insurance coverage.
However, he said the premium could have been paid from the welfare fees by migrants. He also called for increasing the insurance cover gradually and introducing pensions for expats after they return home.
