The Rohingya refugee crisis, which began on August 25, 2017, is the biggest Bangladesh has ever seen, albeit it is not the first. The Rohingya population in Myanmar's Rakhine State has been forced to leave their homelands due to prolonged warfare, statelessness, and systemic oppression. 

They filed for refuge in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar. Over 900,000 Rohingyas were residing in coastal Bangladesh by April 2019, and currently, over 90% of the Rohingya population claims Bangladesh home.

Continuous spending on Rohingya refugee

About 1.2 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nation.als (FDMNs) are currently living in Bangladesh, and 30,000 babies are born in the camps each year. While Bangladesh spends $1.22 billion annually, just these FDMNs cost Bangladesh over $1.69 billion in 2022, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on September 22 ,2022. Only 50% of the requested funding was given to Bangladesh in 2023, a meager sum that has been decreasing over time. 

Since 2017, in reality, the disparity between total requirements and total incoming funding has grown. Globally, the gap between funding and humanitarian needs is growing, with budget deficits being 27% in 2017, 41% in 2020, and 51% in 2022. For the first time, Bangladesh had to deal with dwindling foreign funding in December 2023. 

Bangladesh requested a billion-dollar aid package for the Rohingya people and the impacted host communities from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB). $465 million in grants and $535 million in loans were part of the package. 

However, using loans as a solution to the issue is not a wise move. Supporting the Rohingya FDMN with foreign funding could greatly raise Bangladesh's future debt strain.

Additionally, The Bhasan Char settlement cost $300 million to build and was constructed by the Bangladeshi navy. The former Bangladeshi government claimed that it provided the Rohingya with a better living environment than the camps on the mainland, which housed a million refugees and were the largest refugee settlement in the world. 

However, Bhasan Char just moves these issues rather than solving them. The root causes of crime in the refugee camps are not addressed by separating some migrants from others.

Crisis on Local Economy

Price increases for local food and transportation, shortages of food grains, a decline in tourism, increasing strain on natural resources, and other negative social concerns are only a few of the negative effects on Bangladesh's economy. A study published by UNHCR, in order to compare these price variations to those in other comparable regions of Bangladesh, the authors examine the prices of 49 food products eight to twelve months prior to and following the arrival of refugees in the host region. 

Price information gathered from local government offices in the sub-districts served as the basis for the analysis. In comparison to other comparable sub-districts, Ukhia saw an overall 8% increase in food prices, including increases of 7% and 36%, respectively, for protein and vegetables.

One factor in containing the rise in food costs was aid for food. In comparison to other similar sub-districts, the costs of the majority of food-aid items (such as red lentils, packeted soybean oil, and low-quality rice) decreased in Ukhia. In Ukhia, the cost of red lentils and inferior rice dropped by 14 and 16 percent, respectively, while the cost of soybean oil in packets rose by only 1 percent. 

Cereal costs decreased by 3% when food aid items (poor grade rice) were taken into account, said Ashraaful Alam in his research on Impact of Rohingya refugees on food prices in Bangladesh: Evidence from a natural experiment. 

Disrupting Local Job Market

According to a survey commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, the Rohingya influx has resulted in a 14.3 percent wage cut for all workers in the host community in Teknaf. Workers in the host community are unable to find employment at decent wages because Rohingya seek wages that are far lower than the host community's average.Many members of the host communities are consequently turning to hazardous and transient forms of income. 

According to M Gafur Uddin Chowdhury, the former chairman of Palangkhali UP in Ukhiya upazila, Rohingyas are favored for cheaper wages, hence locals are no longer obtaining wanted jobs. "Even the Rohingyas are getting involved in small businesses, and nobody is stopping it." As an illustration, a worker from the Rohingya group will perform the identical task for TK 200 if the host community is paid TK 600. The workers from the host community are rendered unemployed as a result of the clients' preference for cheaper labor.

Deforestation has Economic value

Environmental pollution has become evident as a result of deforestation in mountainous regions to accommodate the Rohingya community's housing needs. As to a UNDP estimate, the Rohingya refugees are occupying 4,818.1 acres of land. They abolished 2,917.6 acres of natural forest area and 1,999.5 acres of project forest area to make room for them. 

According to the Bangladesh Forest Department, 8,001 acres of forest—6,164 acres inside camps and 1,837 acres outside—were lost as a result of the migration, according to an article written by Ms. Nusrat Khan in UNDRR on February 9, 2022.

Significant deforestation, an elevated risk of landslides and floods, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, disturbance of the water cycle, and possible conflicts with local communities as a result of resource scarcity are some of the effects of Rohingya refugees' destruction of forests in Bangladesh, especially in the Cox's Bazar region.

Decrease in Tourism and increase in Terrorism

The refugees are reportedly on their way to engulf the town of Cox's Bazar in pursuit of a living. Concerns have been raised by city dwellers over the Rohingya refugees' covert arrival. Most concerning of all, a large number of them are exploiting local laborers in rickshaw pullers and seagoing fishing boats by offering them lower pay and fares.In particular, the inflow has resulted in a 40% decrease in hotel reservations during peak seasons, which has had a significant impact on the region's tourism and agricultural industries.

Additionally, On May 31, 2024, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal stated that if the persecuted inhabitants of Myanmar are not returned to their homeland as soon as possible, the Rohingya camps run the risk of becoming a possible hub for foreign terrorists.

In conclusion, Approximately one million Rohingya refugees have put strain on Bangladesh's economy and general security.