In the past year, about 260,000 Nepali workers flocked to Malaysia to work in factories, service stations, and palm and rubber plantations. A similar number were &nbsp;preparing to go in the coming 12 months.
But the Malaysian government has abruptly capped the proportion of foreign workers in its labour force to 15%, and will stop issuing worker visas after May.
Making up more than one-third of all departures last year, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-malaysia-nepal-migrant-scam-nexus">Malaysia is the top overseas labour destination for Nepalis</a>, An estimated 500,000 are working there. Now, many Nepalis may choose to overstay, &nbsp;and join the ranks of their undocumented compatriots.&nbsp;
The reliance of Nepal’s economy on remittances is precarious. West Asia has nearly 2 million Nepali workers, and is chronically gripped by regional tension. A populist anti-migrant wave is sweeping Europe. Donald Trump has vowed to deport illegal immigrants if re-elected.&nbsp;
How will Nepal accommodate a future surge of returnees? The National Planning Commission, the Labour Ministry and other branches of government must start preparing for this contingency, if they have not already. Maybe, just maybe, they could turn a potential disaster into a dividend.
Short, medium and long-term strategies need to be in place to make the best of returning migrants. Most immediately, returnees from Malaysia and those affected by its visa curb need to be accommodated before they start knocking on the doors of recruiters for jobs in the Gulf or Europe.&nbsp;
The homecoming of semi-skilled Nepalis with overseas exposure <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/brain-drain-into-brain-gain">can be turned into a national asset</a>. Many returnees have worked in modern agriculture and factories. They have picked up and honed new skills at construction sites, and they have excelled in the service industry.&nbsp;
Many will be returning with hard-earned savings and dreams of running their own enterprises. Local governments must provide them support to re-assimilate, encourage their entrepreneurial spirit, and identify outlets for their skills and investment. &nbsp;
When the subject of migration and remittance comes up, Nepali politicians and media tend to forget that there are 2.5 million Nepali workers in India. Most are seasonal migrants who cannot even afford recruitment fees to ‘manpower’ agencies.
And as we saw during the Covid lockdowns, hundreds of thousands of Nepalis <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-returning-to-india">were sent back from India</a> under dire circumstances, harassed and stigmatised on both sides of the border. Nepalis in India may not remit as much money as from elsewhere, but they constitute the largest population of Nepali migrants abroad.&nbsp;
Construction jobs in Kathmandu and other cities are increasingly filled by domestic migrants from the mountain districts. Interestingly, many semi-skilled jobs in construction in Kathmandu Valley are taken up by Indian migrant workers. Nepal, in fact, is the seventh-largest source of remittance for the Indian economy.&nbsp;
That statistic alone proves that there is work for Nepalis in Nepal itself. If the economy picked up, if Nepalis got more meaningful wages, if labour rights were protected, if they got help to start up businesses, many would prefer to stay in Nepal. &nbsp;
That is a lot of if’s, for sure. But it is possible with the right policies and the political will to implement them.&nbsp;
Last week, we published an investigation into Nepali recruits into the Russian Army. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war">At least 39 Nepali soldiers of the estimated 2,000 who enlisted have been killed in action on the Ukraine front</a>. Families in Nepal are demanding the return of their bodies. After loopholes in migration routes were uncovered last year, the government banned work permits for Russia.&nbsp;
Inexplicably, on Wednesday the Ministry of Labour re-opened labour permits for Russia knowing fully well that many will end up enlisting into the military again. Labour Minister Dol Prasad Aryal, who already has a conflict of interest because of his involvement in recruitment and remittance agencies, has to explain why his office has allowed this at a time when his cabinet colleague Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha is demanding that Russia send Nepali soldiers home.
Successive governments in Nepal have treated foreign employment as a safety valve, and a cover for their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">failure to kickstart the economy</a>. Worse, many politicians and bureaucrats are in cahoots with recruiters and profit from the blood, sweat and tears of desperate Nepalis.&nbsp;
A Marshall Plan for investment in infrastructure would be the most effective long term strategy. It would produce jobs during their construction, and generate more multiplier employment downstream as connectivity, a revived agro-economy and cheap surplus energy revs up the economy.&nbsp;
Sonia Awale

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Homecoming

Nepal is not poor, it is just poorly governed. At no time has this been more true than today.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/remittances-up-and-up">A spurt in remittances</a> and a slowdown in imports has meant that Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves have hit an all-time high of $14 billion. Just in the past seven months, diaspora dollars totalled $6.35 billion – a 21.6% increase over the same period last year. The trade deficit has declined, and the balance of payments situation is improving.
So why are we not celebrating? The problem is that while the macroeconomy is on a firm footing, the same statistics also point to a deep malaise within. Imports are down because purchasing power has declined, and banks are not lending, this means government revenue has also fallen drastically. Most remittance money is spent on household expenditure, much of it again to pay for imports.&nbsp;
All this means <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/killing-investment-in-nepal-in-10-easy-steps">investment</a> fell by 11% in 2023 after growing by nearly 4% the year before. Tighter financing conditions post-Covid and global factors following the Ukraine war have impacted both public and private investment.&nbsp;
“Nepal’s economy grew at 1.9% fiscal year 2023. Is that too low? Yes, very low. Are we in an economic crisis? No. But we are stuck in a situation where aggregate demand is low. Nepal is in a crisis of low economic growth,” says economist Sameer Khatiwada.
Indeed, banks have money to lend and borrowing rates have gone down, but there is no demand from the private sector because a large chunk of the middle class has<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/brain-drain-into-brain-gain"> left the country</a>.
And that is the irony: Nepalis are migrating abroad in droves, but fewer consumers back home means less economic activity, which in turn pushes more people out. Nearly a million young Nepalis left for jobs and study overseas last year. More than 400,000 left on work permits in the first seven months of this fiscal year. Some 3,000 leave every day.
The economy could pick up in 2024 and 2025, with increased demand, increased <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/blueprint-for-nepal-india-electricity-trade">hydropower</a> output, and rising tourist arrivals. But sustaining growth year-on-year relying solely on remittance and hydropower is not possible.&nbsp;
Remittances were the main reason for poverty reduction, raising living standards, improving access to health, nutrition and education. Nepal is set to graduate from LDC status by 2025.
Nepal’s economy is suffering a form of ‘Dutch Disease’ where high income from one source paradoxically keeps other sectors of the economy down. Remittance growth has increased savings, but there is nowhere to invest it except to speculate on the real estate bubble, which has burst.&nbsp;
Economist Khatiwada says we have to go beyond the symptoms to the disease: “Nepal is caught in a trap of low productive capacity, lack of competitiveness, lack of foreign investment and lack of business dynamism.”
So, what is the way out? Experts recommend more competition in the private sector and promoting industrialisation by leveraging areas where Nepal has a comparative advantage like the service sector, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/it-is-it">information technology</a> and exports of high-value niche products.&nbsp;
“We were complaining when our foreign exchange reserves were low, and now we are complaining when reserves hit the roof. Our biggest problem is that we are sitting on all that money instead of investing it,” says Sujeev Shakya of the Nepal Economic Forum.&nbsp;
He adds: “We have to allow Nepali companies to invest outside, and reap the low-hanging fruits like energy and ICT. Nepal exported $900 million worth of software last year.”&nbsp;
If there was some hope the change in the coalition government last week would bring solutions, those have fizzled. Finance Minister Barsaman Pun is Prime Minister Dahal’s left-hand man and Dahal’s disagreement with former coalition partner Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress to sack its finance minister Prakash Sharan Mahat was one reason behind the Maoists switching to the UML.
Finance Minister Pun is already under a cloud for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/skeletons-in-the-cabinet-k5x6py1v">his alleged involvement with a gold smuggling ring</a>, and he has reportedly been brought in with the express purpose of passing a budget that would be favourable to cronies. There are indications he will raise taxes on certain brands of electric vehicles, ostensibly to increase government revenue.&nbsp;
With the new government’s priorities so centred on personal and partisan gain, there is little time to solve the other crisis: underspending of the development budget. There is money for infrastructure and service delivery, we just cannot seem to spend it. Only 25% of the annual development budget has been spent in the past seven months of this fiscal year.
Delays in infrastructure and connectivity have further undermined economic growth and job creation.&nbsp;
Underspending is directly related to corruption. Public procurement is lubricated by kickbacks, and delays are caused by rival cronies with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/need-and-greed">political patronage</a>. The focus is on low-cost bidder and not on the technical quality of bids. Contractors abandon half-finished projects by bribing officials.&nbsp;
In short, Nepal’s crisis of low economic activity is directly related to governance failure and lack of accountability of high elected officials. The new coalition has a chance to set things right at the third Nepal Investment Summit on 28-29 April in Kathmandu. But experts do not pin much hope on it. &nbsp;
“No matter how many laws and regulations we revise to make doing business easier in Nepal, unless we have better infrastructure we will not be able to attract foreign investors to Nepal. Second, soft infrastructure such as skills and quality of the workforce is also a critical ‘pull’ factor,” says Khatiwada.&nbsp;
Shakya takes a broader view: “It all really comes down to our mindset. We think of Nepal as a small, poor country but it is a potential $100 billion economy. We must have that imagination, must take risks, reform how we do business, break away from commission-oriented, rent-seeking approach.”

Sonia Awale

Poor cash-rich Nepal

In 2023, Nepalis made up the third fastest-growing student population in Canada. There were 20,465 Nepali study permit holders, up from 7,680 the year before, an increase of 166% in just one year.
Of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-hard-working-students-overseas">Australia</a>’s 26 million population, Nepalis account for over 300,000. Another 51,000 are in Portugal, making Nepalis among the biggest immigrant groups in the south Europe nation.
Every day, 3,000 Nepalis leave the country, and nearly 1 million left last year. Migrant workers in the Gulf, Malaysia and India mostly return. But a majority of Nepali youth leaving for the United States, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/europe-now-favoured-destination-for-nepalis">Europe</a>, Canada or Australia are emigrants.&nbsp;
Successive governments in Nepal have failed to stop this brain (and brawn) drain, treating migration as a convenient social safety valve and relying on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance">remittances as a critical source of support for the economy</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Nearly a quarter of Nepal’s GDP equivalent comes from overseas remittances, higher than most labour-exporting countries. This is an indicator of a stagnant economy. &nbsp;Most of the money goes into paying for basic needs, and property investment. &nbsp;&nbsp;
At the 11th Nepal Literature Festival last week (pictured) economist <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-to-rebrand-itself">Swarnim Wagle</a> and urban planner <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/miss-nepals-mission">Shrinkhala Khatiwada</a>, both Havard-educated returnees, tried to answer the difficult question of how the diaspora can contribute to Nepal.
Nepalis have always migrated. A life of sub-subsistence farming in the mountains was hard, there was exclusion and inequity, and many fled loan sharks. Often, the only alternative was to fight and die in other people’s wars.&nbsp;
The Nepali word ‘lahure’ comes from the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-and-the-taliban-s-second-coming">British cantonments in Lahore</a>, where Nepali fighting men went after being recruited ever since the 1814-16 war. Nepalis have fought in most major wars, and hundreds are currently in the Russian Army. Some are also in the Ukrainian military.
Today, Nepal exports more workers than warriors. The number of migrants is increasing because the economy just cannot produce enough jobs for the 500,000 young men and women joining the workforce every year. &nbsp;
“For most aspirational middle-class Nepalis, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/nepal-s-remittance-villages">migration</a> is the only outlet,”acknowledged Wagle. “Frustration adds to this, there are long queues to pay taxes, get a driver’s license…and then there is the huge wage disparity between Nepal and elsewhere.”
Young Nepalis still in high school already think the country’s situation is hopeless and there is peer pressure to leave the first chance they get. Parents themselves want their children to settle abroad, and sell what little property they have or take high-interest loans to pay recruiters to send them off. The push-factors are not just economic.&nbsp;
In reality Nepal has made <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/not-rising-nepal">some dramatic progress</a> in health, education, poverty and development, although improvements are not evenly spread around the country. Young Nepalis are leaving without ever having truly lived and worked here.&nbsp;
In rural Nepal, families are paying up to Rs7 million to human traffickers to take their children to America through the backdoor. &nbsp;
The biggest frustration is the lack of well-paying meaningful jobs, and this is where the private sector could help.&nbsp;
Noted Khatiwada: “It is not the government’s job to create jobs but strengthen the private sector to do so. The private sector is responsible for 80% of jobs in the country and that is still not enough.”
She added that the private sector does not necessarily mean big companies, and they need help to grow and create jobs. She added, “Only when people have economic stability and security will they come back home.”
On return, Wagle joined politics, first the NC then the RSP “to deliver results and make the government accountable”.&nbsp;
The Tanahu MP breaks down the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/50-diaspora-diaries-in-nepali-times">Nepali diaspora</a> into three groups. First, Nepalis now permanent citizens of other countries who need to be engaged culturally to keep their links to Nepal.&nbsp;
Next are global Nepalis, who are abroad but still want to do things in Nepal. They can contribute through digitisation and IT, clean energy, high-value agriculture and tourism.
Third, are migrant returnees who come back with limited savings and skills, and who need help so their entrepreneurial dreams can take root and prosper so they do not have to leave again.&nbsp;
To this we can add that Nepal’s politicians must go another step and reform election laws so that Nepalis abroad also have voting rights. The established parties do not want to risk doing this, since they know the diaspora vote may unseat them.&nbsp;
In this paper, we have frequently profiled role models who have returned to Nepal and done well including a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/milking-every-opportunity">Korea returnee who started a modern dairy farm in Gulmi</a>. There are others like the aspiring bell pepper farmer in Dang who left a lucrative Wall Street job. A Kavre native who gave up his Canadian PR to run a resort in Pokhara. There are many like them.
And there are people like Swarnim Wagle and Shrinkhala Khatiwada who aspire to give back to Nepal what Nepal gave to them. &nbsp;
Sonia Awale

Brain drain into brain gain

<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dasain-goes-global,3950">Dasain homecoming for the Nepali diaspora</a> this year was overshadowed by the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/war-in-israel-earthquake-and-grief-in-nepal">killing of 10 Nepalis in a Hamas attack</a> on an Israeli kibbutz on 7 October. One student is still missing. Dasain also coincided with the annual conference of non-resident Nepalis in Kathmandu. Unlike workers, these are Nepalis who have permanent residence abroad, and they seemed more concerned about getting Nepali citizenship papers. <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="Nepalese around the World" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-NTCV9" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NTCV9/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="800" height="518" data-external="1"></iframe></div> But fear of a widening war in West Asia is the main concern today for millions of other Nepali workers. As the Nepali diaspora spreads across the globe, many find themselves in war zones or caught up in violence. This is not the first time Nepalis have been caught up in conflict. Many migrant workers are living in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trapped-in-ukraine">active conflict areas like Ukraine</a>. Many of the estimated 4,000 Nepali students there escaped to Poland in February 2022 when the Russians invaded. Some of the others <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">enlisted and there are Nepalis fighting on both sides</a>.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231020061024_17d617631aa90dcb31630cb3d33f96d05357c61aa2f60ede57d72aae8aaa3617.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20231020061024_17d617631aa90dcb31630cb3d33f96d05357c61aa2f60ede57d72aae8aaa3617" data-rendition-name="original" width="1047" height="1591" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis trapped in Ukraine"> <figcaption>Nepalis trapped in Ukraine in 2022.</figcaption> </figure>  Only this week, a Nepali mercenary Bibek Khatri fighting with the Russian Army was captured in the Avdiivka by Ukrainians. In a<a href="https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1714955395037278371" target="_blank"> video posted on X </a>by Anton Gerashchenko, Khatri says he joined the Russian military to make money and make his mother proud. To be sure, Nepal’s Gurkha soldiers have fought in most major wars of the 20th century: Flanders Field <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/gallipoli-and-the-gurkhas,2271">Gallipoli</a>, Italy, Malaya, Burma, Falklands, Sri Lanka, and are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruitment-of-nepalis-into-indian-army-paused">deployed on India’s borders</a> with Pakistan and China.&nbsp; But it is in the volatile North Africa-West Asia region where Nepalis find their situation most precarious. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/a-girl-from-kathmandu">Twelve Nepalis workers were executed in 2004 by Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq</a>. The Saudi-UAE blockade of Qatar from 2017-2021 affected Nepalis, many of whom lost their jobs. In 2014, some 126 Nepalis were evacuated from war-torn Libya to neighbouring Tunisia with the help of the Indian Embassy in Tripoli. IN 2016, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/canada-settlement-with-families-of-nepali-guards">13 Nepali guards were killed in a Taliban attack on the Canadian Embassy in Kabul</a>. Some of the estimated 2,200 Nepalis, mostly female domestic workers, had to be evacuated after the Beirut blast in 2020.&nbsp; This time the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nepali-s-lucky-escape-from-hamas">rescue of Nepali students from southern Israel</a> was swift because they were well-documented students and were easy to track down. The presence of an Israeli embassy in Kathmandu, and a Nepal embassy in Tel Aviv helped.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231020061032_a99482384cb43a14c38a2a146ba3bca21e0a11f24b35ec8949ebb369d0c61685.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20231020061032_a99482384cb43a14c38a2a146ba3bca21e0a11f24b35ec8949ebb369d0c61685" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis rescued from Israel NT"> <figcaption>Nepalis were rescued from Israel earlier this month following the Hamas attack on a kibbutz where they were working. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  “There are two types of Nepali migrants, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/migration-not-a-wish-but-necessity-for-nepalis">those who are compelled to go</a> and those who will leave anyhow. But both need to know about the status of destination countries, and once they get there they must notify the Nepal Embassy of their location in case they need to be evacuated,” says former foreign minister Bimala Rai Poudel. Migration expert Ganesh Gurung says the government should at the very least guarantee the safe return of its workers in the event of a disaster of any kind.&nbsp; Nepal’s Foreign Employment Welfare Fund has collected Rs7 billion over the years from fees paid by people leaving for overseas jobs, and is used in rescue and resettlement of migrants. However, it does not take care of people who do not pay the fee, or do not go through recruitment agencies.&nbsp; Gurung says the facility should apply for all Nepali workers abroad in case they need emergency evacuation. The facility was most useful during the Covid pandemic <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/too-many-stranded-nepalis-not-enough-flights">when hundreds of thousands of stranded workers had to be flown home</a>. Nepal’s economy survives on remittances, and money the diaspora sends home <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/bada-inflation-at-bada-dasain">has reached record levels this year</a>. “One of the major contributing factors to Nepal reducing its poverty rate was the money that workers abroad sent home,” explains Gurung. “But if more people choose to come back because of increasing geopolitical tensions and conflict, it will have a cascading effect on Nepal’s remittonomics.”&nbsp; Nepal is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance">heavily reliant on remittance money</a> because other sectors are stagnant. Migration is a safety valve, but there does not seem to be a strategy to create meaningful jobs at home. Those who came home during the Covid-19 pandemic have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-returning-to-india">mostly gone back because of the lack of job prospects here</a>. Now, as geopolitical tensions rise, risking the very safety of Nepalis abroad, migration and the economy’s dependence on remittance will be fragile.&nbsp; Bimala Rai Poudel says the West Asia conflict is a warning bell for Nepal to rethink its over-reliance on outmigration. Ganesh Gurung agrees that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">the Israel-Hamas war</a> should be a warning that Nepal’s remittance economy is vulnerable to geopolitics. He adds: “What Nepal has been doing so far is crisis management, what we really need to pre-crisis preparedness given the potential dangers of crises like the one in Israel we will be exposed to in the coming days.”

Remittonomics and conflict

President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Rajesh Kumar Agrawal declared last week that the economy was in a deep recession. But others cite record high remittances and foreign exchange reserves to say there is no cause for alarm. &nbsp;
Whom to believe? Both sides are right. The external sector of the economy is sound, but jobs are down and so is domestic demand and economic activities are. There is no domestic and foreign investment.
“Looking at our macroeconomic indicators, we most certainly aren’t heading towards a recession,” says Ishwori Prasad Bhandari of the National Statistics Office. “We are, however, experiencing a slow growth rate."
Unlike what many had predicted last year, Nepal has not gone down like Sri Lanka. Foreign reserves have climbed to $11.85 billion, enough to cover imports for more than 10 months. Nepalis sent home Rs116.2 billion in just the last month, a record and 26% up from the same month in 2022. And that is just through official channels.&nbsp;
After nearly 34 months, the current account deficit is on firmer ground. And the Asian Development Bank this week projected that the economic growth rate this year will bounce back to 4.3% from 1.9% % last year.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/state-of-the-state">State of the state</a>, Kunda Dixit
The inflation rate also dropped to 7.52% in July, down from 8.26% at the same time last year mainly because of lower fuel prices and lower inflation in India.&nbsp;
There are no figures for unemployment, but since about 1 million Nepalis left for overseas jobs and work-study in 2022-23, the picture is not rosy.
On the import side, demand declined first because of the pandemic and later government-imposed ban on luxury goods. Imports three years ago were down to Rs1.54 trillion only for it to bounce back a year later by nearly 25% once the restrictions were removed.
The decline in demand can also be credited to a slowdown in construction and infrastructure projects. Much of the reconstruction after the 2015 earthquake is complete, and so is new infrastructure for new local and provincial governments. This has led to a decline in demand for cement and other building materials.
The growth rate of bank loans has shrunk to 4.6% which many saw as a reluctance of industries to invest. But higher interest rates in the past have not necessarily resulted in economic growth, production, or jobs.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/state-sponsored-economic-crisis-ikcxxmnp">State-sponsored economic crisis</a>, Ramesh Kumar
Due to the rapid growth of credit, the ratio of credit to the private sector has exceeded 91% of Nepal’s GDP, which is the highest in South Asia. Some experts credit this for the natural slump.
“After seeing an increase of 26% a year, it is only natural for the loan growth rate to decline,” says former banker Parshuram Kunwar Chhetri. “Credit growth can fluctuate when the economy does, it does not always increase at the same pace.”
Loans are starting to see an increase. Last month the figure stood at Rs44.15 billion which is double the amount in the same period last year.
“The economy went into decline, but did not collapse,” concludes Chhetri. “But the Central Bank could lower interest rates, relax the limit of Rs10.2 million imposed on the stock market and increase capital expenditure to boost the morale of the private sector.”
Former Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal argues that just because some shops have closed down it does not mean that the economy is on the verge of collapse. “A lull in market and consumption have changed leading to some businesses experiencing difficulties. But other businesses have sprung up. This is a natural trend.”&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/till-debt-do-us-part">Till debt do us part</a>, Ramesh Kumar
Indeed, much business has shifted to digital platforms since the Covid pandemic. Just last month, mobile banking accounted for Rs243 billion, up from Rs73 billion two years ago.
“If it was a real recession, people would stop buying home appliances but here during the NADA auto show this year, there was a record high transaction worth Rs20 billion,” says Khanal.
So why are businesses trying to make it look like we are facing the Great Depression?
Experts say businesses are exaggerating the recession narrative to influence policy so they can get away with not paying high interest rates on loans taken earlier.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/institutionalised-inequality">Institutionalised inequality</a>, Editorial
“This problem arose in the first place due to the flow of cheap loans,” explains Shivraj Adhikari of Tribhuvan University. “And what we have now is the business community trying to create a policy trap by demanding concessions on their unpaid loans.”
But this is not to say that all is hunky dory. Much of the remittances are spent on unproductive sectors when they should have gone into job creation, renewable businesses, and manufacturing. Nepal also needs to increase its capital expenditure.
Says Nepal Rastra Bank’s Prakash Kumar Shrestha: “There are structural problems from the past and we will need major reforms to speed up the economy. Business as usual and only relying on the real estate and stock market for growth will not be enough.”
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">Cost of living in a big city</a>, Ramesh Kumar

Business as unusual

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216bc9c7e80680e0ba9abjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="970" height="910"/>During the 2017 election, overseas workers like myself consoled ourselves that in the next one, we would be eligible to vote. After all, the Constitution guarantees us the right.Nepalis in Nepal are voting on 13 May in local polls, but once again we are not allowed to. Nor can we cast our ballots in general elections later this year. We may not be allowed to vote in the next polls in five years, either.I had recently engaged with fellow Nepalis in Qatar about what their expectations from the government back home regarding the upcoming elections were, and despite the Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote what they thought about being prevented from exercising it.The sentiment among Nepalis was broadly similar. Not being allowed to vote means we do not have a say in matters that directly impact us or our families back home.This is despite the Constitution guaranteeing us our rights and a subsequent 2018 Supreme Court order to the government to make all the necessary arrangements to ensure us our voting rights.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/diaspora-diaries-1/">Diaspora Diaries 1</a>, Nepali TimesMany countries allow absentee voting, and if our leaders had been willing, Nepal's embassies could be easily mobilised to facilitate it. But there is no interest, conversation or movement in that direction.There should at least have been discussions on the how’s and why’s, and not the present demeaning radio silence.The lack of interest shows that it is not just the practical challenges to facilitate overseas voting that the government does not want to entertain, but also the principle of allowing us to vote.At a time when frustration towards politics is at an all time high regardless of where Nepalis are based, it is a pity that those of us abroad cannot channel our frustration through the ballot box.Nomination filing is underway in Nepal, and candidates have started campaigning in an attempt to influence voters. Amidst the frenzy, despite being a significant chunk of the population, we are not in anyone’s radar.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/diaspora-diaries-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Diaspora Diaries 2</a>, Nepali Times It seems as if we overseas Nepalis do not need to be influenced — not even with empty promises — which also means the issues that concern us do not get their due attention.It is ironic how on the one hand, public discourse has been dominated by the upcoming election in which migrants are not given much consideration, while on the other hand, falling remittances sent by migrants has become an issue of grave public concern.Those in power are even calling on us to send money legally to help the country. Our notes count, but our votes don’t, as the saying goes.The sole focus on remittances without a second thought for those sending money home is tragic. If the officials back home only understood that the two cannot be separated.If they realise that remittances are indeed critical for our economy and gets nervous when there is a dip, why do they do nothing to ease the lives of the senders?Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/diaspora-diaries-3/">Diaspora Diaries 3</a>, Nepali TimesInstead, we are grossly inconvenienced by a system designed to make our lives difficult even before we migrate, during our time abroad, and when we return.Worrying about falling remittances alone is not meaningful. Remittances are linked to both quality and quantity of the overseas jobs. Emphasis by the Nepal government on capturing well-paying, available jobs abroad is limited. Instead, even the lucrative jobs that could be channelled to Nepalis are lost because of our complex labour approval system.Workers, for example, cannot take on assignments if the duration of the contract is less than two years under Nepal’s labour approval system, no matter their benefits. How many jobs have we lost to other countries because our approval system is so complicated and time consuming that employers would rather look elsewhere so they can fill the vacancies on time?Has anyone compared how much more time it takes to deploy one worker from Nepal compared to other countries? These concerns are especially pronounced after the pandemic when many lost their jobs and returned, or many like me had to compromise on our salaries during the business downturn due to Covid-19.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/diaspora-diaries-4/">Diaspora Diaries 4</a>, Nepali TimesThere are many restrictions and hurdles for those of us who are overseas, and who send or carry money home. Amid concerns regarding illicit transfers of money or gold smuggling, it is us migrants who get scapegoated and punished. I cannot easily bring home gold for my sister’s wedding, or an iPhone for my wife without getting severely punished.Every few months there is a new boss who introduces a new set of rules regarding what we can and cannot bring to the country, many times without any sound reason, and we get penalised accordingly. The rules change and are confusing even for me as a journalist who keeps track of all these regularly as part of my profession. How are others expected to keep up?I understand the concerns regarding illicit transfers that drive such decisions. But claiming to tackle these informal transfers by harassing migrant workers lets the real criminals off the hook. We workers get victimised even when we have nothing to do with  the smugglers, even while the problems at hand remain unaddressed.Any action taken is just for show or a bare scratch on the surface. It is as if the broader message from the government to us is that we should toil hard in the desert heat day and night, and send money home — but we cannot decide how to use it.Nepal's remittances are falling. But have the leaders and those in power ever done anything concrete to better understand why people use the informal hundi channel to send money and what steps can be taken to compete with this transfer?Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-qatar-job-mirage/">The Qatar job mirage</a>, Nepali TimesWhen both the commissions for transfer and exchange rate is better than formal rates, while being more convenient for both the sender and recipient who engage in phone transactions for home-based pick up and delivery of the amount, should we be surprised that many, especially those who earn very little and have very long working hours, should opt for this informal system of money transfer?What has been done to ensure easy digital transfers of remittances? What has been done to reduce the cost of transfer of remittances? What incentives are there for a normal worker to opt for formal transfers?It is just not about foreign employment or remittances, but issues that concern us as citizens being prevented from having a say in the elections. Even when we are disenfranchised from our voting rights, the election and state of affairs in Nepal remains an important part of our discourse and concern.One overseas Nepali shared with me that being away makes him understand the importance of having good leaders and representatives for economic growth and development, which he got to witness directly in ways that one may not have had a chance to back in Nepal.Another said that not being able to vote despite being on the voters list is a wasted opportunity to influence election outcomes and choose strong candidates. We are instead relegated to just sending remittances for our incompetent leaders to waste, they added.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/fate-joins-then-separates-siblings/">Fate joins, then separates, siblings</a>, Anil ShresthaWe sit here in a foreign land and helplessly watch our family members back home being repeatedly failed by our leaders. The election is also tied to our own futures back home. Many of us were compelled to migrate even for very low paying jobs with very little reward because of the government’s inability to provide jobs back home.One of my colleagues who has been in Qatar for the last 25 years has never once voted, and there is nothing he can do about it.I cannot speak for all, but for us sweating in the Gulf, our ultimate destination is always Nepal. We may stretch our employment until either our employers or our bodies allow it, but we will all come home eventually.However, the decision to return is never easy. What will we come back to, especially as returnees who could be potential entrepreneurs or jobseekers?When I talk to my colleagues here from the Philippines, it is evident how their government recognises their value, not just in words but in action.She shared how she recently cast her ballot for elections in the Philippines from Qatar. This makes me question: Would they care more about the senders and not just what is sent if we had the provision to exercise our constitutional right to vote?I am afraid we will not find the answer during this year's election cycle either.Read more:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-home-and-the-deep-blue-sea/">Between home and the deep blue sea</a>, Prakash Gurung<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-of-workers-working-together/">Power of workers working together</a>, Madhusudhan Ojha

Our notes count, but our votes don’t

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216ab9c7e80680e0ba9a5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Another year, yet another <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/mayday-mayday-mayday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">May Day</a>. As Nepal emerges from the ravages of the pandemic and the economic crisis created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the role of remittances in supporting families and indeed the country’s economy is more vital than ever. On this year’s May 1 Labour Day, Nepalis are also preparing to vote in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/coalition-collision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local elections</a>. But not the country’s estimated 4 million workers abroad who prop up the economy. They are still not allowed to exercise their Constitutional right to vote, even after the Supreme Court ordered the government in 2018 to make arrangements to facilitate absentee ballots.Political leaders have ignored that ruling. Nepal’s main parties have made such a mess of governance that they sense (probably correctly) that the diaspora vote will be anti-incumbent.And, as Tilu Sharma argues from Qatar, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-days-of-international-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s migrant workers</a> know only too well the hurdles the government puts on their path, while using the money they send home to keep the national economy afloat. The fight to be heard is even more challenging abroad where our workers, despite filling jobs not wanted by locals, in what are known as the ‘D3’ (Difficult, Dangerous, Dirty) are treated as invisibles.In this Labour Day Special edition, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-of-workers-working-together/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Madhusudhan Ojha</a> walks us through the struggle of the Migrant Worker Union in Korea to gain legitimacy. The pioneers of that labour movement included Nepalis who risked deportation and detention for better rights in a foreign land. Ojha’s experience shows the importance of collective bargaining, while also demonstrating how it is an ongoing and often thankless process with some of their demands the same as what it was decades ago. <img width="468" height="727" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216ae9c7e80680e0ba9a6jpeg.jpg" alt="">If this is the situation in one of the better-run bilateral migration programs, it is not difficult to imagine how Nepali workers are treated in other destinations like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-rights-referees-blow-whistle-on-world-cup-fouls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qatar</a>, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, or India. In most of these places, migrant workers are banned from unionising.UAE resident and journalist Umakanta Pandey is currently in detention, not for criticising the Emirati government but on a complaint by the Nepal Embassy for posting about visit visa misuse that put workers at risk. When a Nepali citizen is serving time in the UAE at the request of a Nepali state organ, how can we expect Singha Darbar to be more vigilant about protection of our overseas workers?It is a tragic irony that while Nepal prepares for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/coalition-calculation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local elections</a>, not only are our overseas workers not allowed to vote, but their sacrifices get barely a mention. In fact, the government is only worried about how falling remittances have further reduced Nepal’s forex reserves. Politicians are even calling on migrants to send money through legal channels to help out in this time of crisis.Then there is the much-touted <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/missing-the-plot-in-nepals-job-scheme/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prime Minister’s Employment Program</a> which has failed to deliver as promised. The lesson here is to empower local governments for decision-making, provide them with resources and promote seamless coordination with the federal government.A more honest way to mark Labour Day would be to under-promise and over-deliver, have more work and less talk. But with parties on the campaign trail, all we hear is lofty talk and more empty promises.May Day coverage this week and over the last 21 years in this paper have time and again demonstrated the role of the ‘remittance senders’. One such story is that of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-home-and-the-deep-blue-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prakash Gurung</a> who worked as a safety adviser at an off-shore oil rig in Qatar and has returned. His is a story of wasted potential, wasted opportunities.Gurung’s story is an example of how Nepalis can also fill high-paying jobs in the Gulf, but have been largely unable to do so. Despite having workplace safety monitoring skills and experience that would be critical for our economy, the returnee has turned to agriculture in frustration.Migrant workers like Tilu Sharma, Madhusudhan Ojha and Prakash Gurung in this edition of Nepali Times have called out <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepali-migration-in-the-2020s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">state complacency and neglect</a>. And elections this year are not likely to address these issues faced by migrant, especially since they cannot even vote.Remittance inflows decreased 1.7% to Rs631.19 billion, and 3% to $5.28 billion in the eight month review period ending mid-March. The number of Nepalis taking labour approval including renewals bounced back to 406,162 in the same period.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/in-the-minds-of-nepals-migrant-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali migrant workers</a> will continue to chart their own paths, test their luck overseas and silently contribute to the economy with the state doing nothing more than putting hurdles every step of the way before they leave, while they are abroad, and once they return.

Mirage of migrant rights

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/6372055c9c7e80680e0b28b0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="986"/><figcaption>Photo: SHANKAR DAHAL</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) issued more than 240,000 labour permits for migrant workers in 2021, even as the country reeled under the Covid-19 pandemic.Since 2008, the DoFE has issued<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-long-wait-before-flight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> labour permits</a> to more than 4 million Nepali migrant workers. But this figure does not include Nepalis living and working across the border in India, which does not require labour approvals as per the <a href="https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/6295/Treaty+of+Peace+and+Friendship" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1950 Nepal-India bilateral treaty</a>. Nor does it include workers who travel overseas through backchannels.Even the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepali-migration-in-the-2020s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2020 migration report</a> from the Ministry shows that the number of Nepali workers seeking labour approvals has steadily declined since 2013, with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kleptocrats-of-kathmandu-and-kualalampur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Malaysia</a> followed by countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia being the primary destinations.Conversely, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-remittance-more-than-remittance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">remittances</a> sent by migrant workers are now worth over a quarter of Nepal’s annual GDP, and the conversation is shifting to the varying degrees of access of Nepalis from different backgrounds to destination countries.‘The tendency is for the better-off to earn higher wages and to be able to send back remittances of a higher value, and for the poor to earn lower wages and to be less able to send back remittances to the family members remaining in Nepal,’ write researchers David Seddon, Jagannath Adhikari, and Ganesh Gurung in their book The New Lahures: Foreign Employment and the Remittance Economy of Nepal.‘Those from the more affluent backgrounds are in a better position to gain access to higher pay and more secure employment, while those from less affluent backgrounds are in a relatively poor position in this regard.’The book includes findings of research conducted by the authors from 1997 to 1999 on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/south-asias-migrants-shared-problems-share-solutions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s foreign labour migration</a> and remittance economy, and later studies into the labour migration sector. A new edition of the 2001 book has been updated to include the changing dynamics of migration and the remittance economy in the last 20 years, especially <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-economy-already-weak-takes-direct-hit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">during the Covid-19 pandemic</a>.The abuse and death of a Nepali domestic worker at the hands of employers in Kuwait in 1998 prompted the Nepal government to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16350#.YfIiTeNBzOR" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ban women from going to the Gulf to work as domestics</a>. The ban was eventually lifted, but similar immigration policies that limit female mobility have been introduced in the years between, including <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/history-of-female-immobility-in-nepal/">a 2021 proposal requiring Nepali women under 40 travelling to the Gulf or Africa to present consent from a guardian and local government</a>.In August 2004, 12 Nepali labour migrants led to Iraq for work under false pretences <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1872#.YfIi4eNBzOQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">were abducted and killed by insurgents</a>, their execution filmed and released by the extremists for the world to see. Thirteen Nepali security contractors were killed and five injured by a suicide bombing in 2016 while en route to their jobs at the Canadian embassy.A July 2021 mobile video of a Nepali security guard in Malaysia getting beaten up by his supervisor prompted Nepalis to share their own experiences of violence against migrant workers in Malaysia.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/afghanistan-abandoned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Taliban takeover of Kabul</a> in August 2021 brought to light the plights of potentially<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/who-will-rescue-nepalis-from-afghanistan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> thousands of stranded Nepalis</a> working to protect embassies of US and NATO countries, as well as undocumented migrants in Afghanistan.In Qatar, as many as 1,600 Nepali workers are believed to have died in the past decade <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-rights-referees-blow-whistle-on-world-cup-fouls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">after the country won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-days-of-international-migration/">The Days of International Migration</a>These incidents are only the highlights of Nepal’s tragic migrant history that made it to the media. Yet, there are many more success stories of workers who have done well for themselves and supported families back home, while at the same time keeping Nepal’s economy afloat.Yet, over the years, the Nepal government’s treatment of the labour export sector, whether in terms of policy-making or bilateral discussions, have not brought long-term benefits to workers. On the contrary, many Nepalis have had to resort to taking illegal channels and routes to travel and work overseas, further risking their lives.This has also made it impossible for Nepal’s authorities to pinpoint the number of undocumented Nepali migrants across Asia and the Gulf, let alone ensure their rights and safety. Preliminary data of the 2021 census released this week shows that there are only 2.6 million Nepali workers abroad, which seems to be a gross undercount (see box, below).“While economic diplomacy has been incorporated into our foreign policy, discussions about labour diplomacy have not moved forward,” said migration expert Ganesh Gurung, co-author of The New Lahures, in his keynote address at the Kantipur Migration and Remit Summit 2021.Indeed, in recent years experts have pointed out the need to diversify out-migration destinations to include better, higher paying jobs for Nepali workers seeking employment abroad. The need to ensure access to safer and better-paying labour destinations for Nepalis of all socio-economic as well as socio-cultural backgrounds have also been highlighted.Added Gurung: “We are sending Nepalis to the Gulf, Malaysia, and India —countries that earn them the least amount of income but with some of the worst human rights records in the world … We have the strength of the Gurkha reputation in the security sector, but we have not been able to use it to tap the market in Europe, or North America.”The Ministry of Labour’s 2020 Migration Report prioritised the diversification of labour destinations and employment sectors. The report read: ‘More flexible approaches such as revised time limits on employment contracts for short-term opportunities, employment in emerging sectors … and innovations in joint partnerships … should be considered.’However, into the third year of the pandemic and the third Covid wave, Nepal’s government does not seem to have learnt its lesson and has no clear short-term plans to manage Nepalis leaving for overseas jobs, even as it continues to issue labour permits. Nor has it been able to integrate returning migrants in Nepal with support.As the highly contagious variant spreads across the world, there is no clear information about when and where migrants can receive booster shots. The paperwork for workers is laborious, confusing and ridden with corruption. Recruiters blatantly exploit workers, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/diaspora-diaries-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mislead them about jobs and earnings overseas</a>.“I was told that I could get the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/boosting-booster-jabs-against-omicron/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">booster shot</a> here,” says a man waiting near a crowd of people registering for their first and second doses in front of Shahid Memorial Hospital in Kalanki this week. “I have to leave the country soon, but no one seems to know about it.”The security guard at the vaccination booth asks him what kind of frontline worker he is. He is then promptly told that booster shots are not available for those going overseas.Reading The New Lahures puts the individual everyday hassle of Nepal’s desperate migrant workers into perspective and historical context. How the government benefits by shifting responsibility for finding work for its citizens at home by driving them away, and then props up the economy with the money they send back.Yet the same government invests so little in making life easier for those very workers, ensure that they are not abused and exploited by recruiters, and getting Nepal’s embassies to look after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/in-the-minds-of-nepals-migrant-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">their welfare while abroad</a>.The New Lahures: Foreign Employment and the Remittance Economy of NepalAdroit Publishers, 2021219 pages<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/6372055f9c7e80680e0b28b1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="686" height="1096">Census undercount?The <a href="https://cbs.gov.np/wp-content/upLoads/2022/01/Preliminary-report-2021-final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">preliminary date of the 2021 Census</a> that was released this week has interesting new revelations that all point to the country having defused its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-holding-census-despite-covid-and-boycott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">demographic bomb</a>. However, some of the growth is uneven and there are indications of possible problems in future with an ageing population.<ul><li>Nepal’s annual population growth rate dropped to only 0.93% from 1.34% ten years ago</li> <li>The proportion of Nepalis living in the Tarai grew to nearly 54%</li> <li>Two-thirds of Nepalis live in urban areas</li> <li>The male-female ratio is 95.9:100, meaning there are 600,000 more women than men in Nepal</li> <li>The fertility rate is now approaching replacement level: 2.3 children per mother</li> <li>67% of the population is made up of working-age youth, which is Nepal’s ‘demographic dividend’</li> <li>Madhes Province has the most people, making up 21% of the population</li> <li>Kathmandu district’s population is now 2.02 million</li></ul><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410114/637205619c7e80680e0b28b2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">However, the census data shows that there are 2,169,478 Nepalis living abroad, and experts say this is a gross undercount. There are said to be at least 3 million Nepalis working just in India, and the figure for labour permits show at least 2 million in the Gulf, Malaysia, Korea and Japan. And this does not even include the number of students who have gone abroad.Even the head of the Central Bureau of Statistic Nebin Lal Shrestha said in media interviews that he was personally surprised by the low figure. He said there could have been an undercount because households where all members were abroad were not counted.However, among those abroad, the proportion of women has increased from 12% to nearly 19%. The reason for this could be greater <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/3-4th-of-the-sky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gender equality in Nepal</a>, increase in female literacy, overseas demand for domestic and caregivers.

Shristi Karki

No country for young men

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1d6b9c7e80680e0af3b3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1160" height="280"/>City Express Money Transfer and Ria Money Transfer, a business segment of Euronet Worldwide, have partnered to allow Nepali migrants to send money back home from Ria to the Khalti Digital Wallet, through City Express Money Transfer. Ria currently has over 500,000 locations in over 160 countries, and by partnering with Khalti which has 1.8 million registered users, the partnership allows Nepalis to send and receive remittance real-time in a safe and digitised ecosystem.

City Express, Ria, and Khalti tie up

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13c39c7e80680e0a993cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080"/>N abil Bank has started offering Nepalis employed abroad the opportunity to open a ‘Premium Remittance Savings Account.’ Customers can open the account without a minimum balance requirement, and directly deposit their earnings into the account.

remittance