Thiruvananthapuram:
The US-led war against Iraq has sent distress signals
to the economy of Kerala, which relies heavily on remittances
from its people in the Gulf. Keralas reliance on
Gulf remittances is so heavy that funds from non-resident
Keralites (NRKs) account for half the deposits in commercial
banks in the state.
According
to State Level Bankers Committee figures, out of
the total deposits of Rs 56,093 crore in the banks, NRK
funds stood at Rs 27,467 crore in the third quarter of
2002-03. Experts fear that the prolonged war would have
a chain reaction on the states economy as it did
in 1991.
State
government officials say after the war broke out in Iraq,
exports from the state to the Persian Gulf countries have
dwindled, tourist inflow from the Gulf countries have
come down and new job prospects have been put on hold.
Export
orders for items such as seafood and vegetables from Kerala
to various Gulf countries have come down because of the
war. The prolonged war will surely put Kerala to hardship,
says N K Bubesh Babau, an exporter.
Fearing
that the long drawn-out war in Iraq would adversely affect
the states economy, the Kerala government is drawing
up a contingency plan to deal with a crisis situation
that could erupt.
Last
week Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony went to New Delhi
especially to discuss and apprise Prime Minister A B Vajpayee
and other central ministers about the adverse impact that
the Iraq war would have on Kerala. In his meetings with
union government ministers and officials, Antony said
Keralas economy would suffer badly if the war in
Iraq is prolonged.
Already,
there are lakhs of Keralites who have come back from the
Gulf over the years. Most of them are jobless here. The
Iraq war would impact employment prospects from the state
and affect the exports from Kerala. We want the central
government to help the state in the event of a long-drawn
war, says Antony.
Manpower
recruitment agencies in Mumbai say many interviews for
new jobs in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been put on hold.
We were supposed to have cleared the job appointments
of nearly 100 people this week for various companies in
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. But all job recruitments have
been frozen due to the war, says an official with
Santhosh Agencies, a Mumbai-based consulting firm.
Similarly,
leading hotel chains in Kerala have reported that tourist
bookings from the Gulf countries have come down due to
the war. In times of war, no one wants to travel
overseas for holidays. We have got cancellations of at
least a dozen bookings from the Gulf in the past one week,
says the manager of a leading tourism resort chain in
Munnar.
The
increasing number of expatriates returning to Kerala from
the Gulf has alarmed the state government. In the last
one decade, nearly 800,000 people from various Gulf countries
returned
to settle down in the cash-strapped Kerala. But the government
has not been able to do anything so far to rehabilitate
these returnees.
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