March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.

According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), inflow of remittance decreased by 4.9 percent to Rs 540.12 billion from July to January. Remittances had increased by 10.9 percent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

With the decline in remittance inflows, there is still no sign of improvement in the overall economy. Experts have cited declining remittance inflows as the main reason for the economy not moving in a positive direction. Economist Dr Poshraj Pandey says that remittances cannot be a permanent income of any country but unfortunately there is no alternative to remittances for Nepal at the moment. 

"As inflow of remittance will not be the same all the time, the government should not delay in emphasizing other plans, including increasing domestic production," he said.

Some experts argue that the number of Nepali nationals going for foreign employment has reached its peak at this time. Out of 500,000 people who enter the labor market every year, barely 50,000 can find employment in the country. Those who do not find employment at home go to different countries, including India, for foreign employment. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, around 500,000 young people used to go for foreign employment every year with new and renewable work permits.

The Department of Foreign Employment has informed that the number of people going for foreign employment has decreased after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the department, 352,427 youths have gone for foreign employment in the current fiscal year. Among them, the number of people going for work in four Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait is alone 320,533. This is about 90 percent of the total number of people going for foreign employment in 7 months.

During this period, most Nepalis have gone to Saudi Arabia in search of work. A total of 124,035 young people have gone to Saudi Arabia for work. Similarly, 116,153 Nepalis went to Qatar and 70,132 went to the UAE, and 10,213 to Kuwait, according to the department. Experts believe that one of the reasons why the inflow of remittances has not improved in recent times is due to youths choosing Gulf countries as their work destination.

Former Executive Director of the Foreign Employment Board Raghuraj Kafle says it is too late to find employment options in the Gulf countries. He said that the remittance inflow has been affected as Nepalis going to the Gulf countries get low wages but 90 percent go to those countries.

Even though the government has opened 110 countries for employment, most of the demand has come from the Gulf countries. "If we can send Nepali workers to rich and developed countries, we will get more remittances than we are getting now," said Shesh Narayan Poudel, director-general of the department.