Bangladesh incurs an annual expenditure exceeding $5 billion for medical treatment abroad, primarily in India and Thailand, where healthcare systems are significantly more advanced than those available domestically, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur.
Speaking at a workshop titled "Cross-Border Data Flow: A Bangladesh Perspective," jointly organised by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh and the World Bank on Sunday (15 December), Mansur stressed the economic burden of this phenomenon.
The event was held at Amari Dhaka in the capital.
He pointed out that a substantial portion of this expenditure is conducted through unofficial channels, exacerbating pressure on the nation’s balance of payments.
To mitigate the issue, Mansur emphasised the necessity of establishing a robust legal framework for data processing, which would facilitate efficient data sharing both locally and across borders.
