By Laxman Kafle
Kathmandu, Dec. 23: Braving the global economic slump, job losses, and health challenges, remittance inflow to Nepal has improved in the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year.
The remittance receipt has increased by 11.2 per cent to Rs. 337.72 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal year. The remittance inflow had decreased by 2.8 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The improvement in the inflow of remittances during this period is attributed to the great festival season in October and November.
The inflow of remittances has also improved due to the increase in remittances through formal channels, said economist and former member of National Planning Commission Dr. Chandramani Adhikari.
Migrant workers have sent their income home through the banking channels instead of existing informal channel ‘Hundi’ which is the main reason behind the increase in remittance inflow, he said.
Migrant workers have sent their income home through the banking channels instead of existing informal channel ‘Hundi’.
The inflow of remittances has increased as Nepalis living abroad sent large amount of money during the COVID-19 so that their families in the country do not have to suffer due to financial reasons.
In the US dollar terms, remittance inflows increased by 6.4 per cent to 2.85 billion in the review period against a decrease of 1.9 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
During the review period, the number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual - new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment has decreased by 75.8 per cent to 19,251.
It had increased by 5.6 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
The number of Nepali workers (renewed entry) taking approval for foreign employment decreased by 67.9 per cent to 25,931 in the review period. It had increased by 9.1 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
Net transfer increased by 8.8 per cent to Rs. 373.04 billion in the review period. Such transfer had decreased by 2.9 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
Remittances have increased significantly despite the decline in the number of people going for foreign employment, Dr. Adhikari said, adding that the present growth of remittance inflow would not be durable as the number of Nepali workers to going abroad for jobs has gone down over the months.
He said that there would be an opportunity for the state to make the country’s economy’s strong by mobilising the youth including migrant returnees for productive works in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“The government should pay attention to retain the migrant returnees and create jobs for them in order to build a self-reliant economy,” he said.