The Probashi Kallyan Bank is an excellent and enlightened endeavour, but bureaucratic ineptitude ensures that it does dismally little of what it was established to do.
So far, only about 2,600 out of a total of nearly 10 million eligible expatriate workers have used the bank’s services, although scores of them could benefit from its schemes, which include low-interest rehabilitation loans, travel loans, and remittance assistance.
Many expatriate workers struggle with financial needs and services often because they are misguided or, worse, because they are taken advantage of. They take loans from unscrupulous operators, sell property to raise the money they need and get cheated when trying to send money home.
Given that they contribute significantly to our economy with their remittances, mismanaging them and their money is not only ethically unsound, it also has negative spin-offs that impact us all.
Most expatriate workers have never heard of the Probashi Kallyan Bank. None of the organisations involved in the manpower business - the recruiting agencies, BAIRA or the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment – actively promote it. It is run by government officials with very little banking savvy, and no incentive to increase the number of transactions or loans.
The callous manner in which the financial requirements of expatriate workers, a vital resource and citizens with rights, are handled is yet more evidence of how little their welfare is really valued by our society.