Over 1.1m Bangladeshis went abroad for jobs in 2022-23: state minister

A total of 11.26 lakh Bangladeshis went abroad for jobs in the financial year of 2022-23, State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury told parliament today.

He also said a total of 1.63 crore Bangladeshis has gone to 176 countries for employment in the last 48 years.

He placed the statistics in response to a query from Awami League MP Shafiul Alam Chowdhury.

"From 1976 to March 2024, a total of 1,63,12,324 workers have gone to different countries of the world for employment," the state minister said.

"In the financial year of 2022-23, the number of workers sent abroad is 11.26 lakh," he added.

The state minister also said that his ministry does not have any information regarding how many Bangladeshi citizens are illegally staying in different countries without passports.

In response to the question of independent MP Abdullah Nahid Nigar, Shofiqur Rahman said that as a result of the government's action, the foreign labour market has been able to turn around after Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, in response to the question of AL MP Morshed Alam from Noakhali-2, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said that 11,38,463 metric tons of food grains are currently stored in the government warehouse as of April 30.

Among them, the amount of paddy is 7.86 lakh and the amount of wheat is 3.52 lakh. Currently, there is no stock of rice, the minister also said.