Makers taking the role of saviours defying rules of economics

On August 6, when sighs of relief were flying all around, a pall of gloom hanged over my personal world because remittance, one of the heart valves of our business, nosedived putting our existence at stake. This was the time when I heard a prophetic voice in my chamber claiming that the remittance will not only increase in comparison to previous months, it will soon scale an all-time high. The words of the man appeared to me as a tall talk. However, he was a common man from the core field, who knew what type of pest attacked the crop, and what was the required medication. It was less than a month when Bangladesh Bank released remittance results of the country for August, 2024, which noticed a rise of nearly 39 per cent leading the monthly total to $2.22 billion compared to $1.91 billion in July, 2024 and $1.60 billion in August, 2023. Afterwards, we found the September figure of remittance securing the 3rd highest position (i.e., 2.40 billion) in the history of our economy.

It is not that I was comfortable with the remittance shutdown campaign which was likely to send the already reeling economy directly to the bottom. I've seen the worried faces of mothers and wives of the remitters, who might have experienced semi-starvation within their families during the remittance-mutiny led by their sons and husbands. However, I realized later that this was a kind of sacrifice on part of our remittance-warriors. I am a witness to some cases where people rather preferred informal channels for sending their money, even knowing well that it was illegal. Yes, there were rumours, thanks to the widespread campaign by a quarter that the money of the remitters won't reach the account of the beneficiaries; rather it will be stolen by the rulers. However, these are the uneducated rural people who always sense the truth at the first sight, which is not even written on the wall.

The remitters knew that their family would get the money. But would they get a country which could meet their expectation of a good living? Their country, in fact, had clinched the 6th worst place in global livable index. This was when our uneducated people tried to understand the term 'foreign exchange reserve', which is generally allotted for the students of economics to learn. People discovered that their money was first kept in a reservoir, which was then used so heedlessly that it created a big hole in the bottom. The poor people didn't need to take pain to locate the big corporate buckets filled with their coins. They also noticed their money flee for Canada and other hevens of the world. So, they decided to repair the hole by stopping the remittance using their own conscience.

Leo Tolstoy once wrote: "I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means except getting off his back." Our remitters might have found their relevance in this aged quote of Tolstoy. Yes, incentives were introduced to lure them. Yet they decided not to touch this sort of small show of kindness. Rather, they kept their eyes on the big canvas of repairing the country through the weapon they just discovered at their disposal. This is how one of the key makers of our economy took the role of saviours defying the incentive-based rules of market economy.

The world has been taken aback by our quota movement. However, the movement of remittance-shutdown is yet to get the due recognition, though it won't lag behind in terms of solemnity, significance and sacrifice. I didn't find the same thing in the history despite skimming through page after page. Can it be related to the theory of Shock Therapy written in the economics book? Jeffery Sachs, the key architect of the theory, opined: "You can't cross a chasm in two jumps." That means, if a nation suffers from a severe economic crisis, it might be required to get government out, and fast, even it appears painful in the short run. The shock therapy asks for dropping price, currency, trade and all other controls engineered by the government.

There might be a debate over whether our migrant workers have implemented a different version of shock therapy of economics without reading it. However, there is no debate over their discovering a new economic drug which uses economic power for emancipating the economy itself. The weapon of remittance-shutdown teaches us how to win the war without creating much anarchy in the street. There remained only a silent mantra here: "This is our money, and we will save it from the pirates." As such, the remittance-war may also be coined as an economic liberty aimed at liberating society as a whole.

It is unfortunate that our remitters are now being offered some sort of special facilities which disgrace the quota movement itself from which all it began. They don't need the VIP-like status or 'Sir'-type respect. Our freedom fighters never craved for job-quota; rather, they wanted a good Bangladesh where their children can grow up as good citizens. Likewise, our remitters want a livable Bangladesh where their money will be used properly for better education, better health as well as a better living.

We all know that the cash incentive apparently failed to motivate our remitters. We should find out the real incentive for them. At present, the recorded $20 billion wage earners' remittance only represents 40 per cent of the money sent by our migrant workers. If the real incentive of building a good country is ensured, our remittance-warriors might set another milestone of sacrifice, sending the remaining 60 per cent remittance through the official channel. In fact, this is the picture I saw in the eye of the brother whom I initially did not believe that much, but my perception proved wrong in no time. I understood that common people on the grounds sometimes appear prophetic and we should never undermine them.

The author is a banker.

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