August 31: Remittance inflow during FY 2014/15 reached an amount equivalent to around 30 per cent of Nepal’s GDP, annual data from the central bank shows.
According to Nepal Rastra Bank, Nepal received remittance worth Rs 600.17 billion through the formal banking channel during 2014/15. This is equivalent to around 29 per cent of the country’s GDP (which according to the central bank was around Rs 2.12 trillion). Like in the past, the amount of remittance Nepal received is roughly equivalent to the size of the government’s annual budget.
(Figures in Rs trillion)
The growth rate of remittance inflow was 25 per cent during FY 2013/14, but it has slowed down to 13.6 per cent in 2014/15.
Central bank authorities were projecting a sharper decline in the growth of remittance as the number of workers going abroad had also registered a decline. But after the earthquake, the inflow has improved considerably, mainly due to money coming from abroad for post-earthquake reconstruction. According to government figures, the number of Nepali workers going abroad registered a decline of 2.8 per cent in FY 2014/15, compared to the same period last year.
According to the central bank, remittance inflow has been increasing faster than the country’s GDP for the last few years. In 2014/15 remittance was equivalent to 29 per cent of GDP, in 2013/14 it was 28 percent, 2012/13 25.5 percent, 2011/12 23.5 percent and in 2010/11 18.5 percent.
