Despite Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) report that the remittance growth in Nepal could be hit more by India’s economic slowdown, the country is witnessing surge in remittance inflows, also due to appreciating US dollar and rising number of Nepali migrant workers heading towards remittance destinations.
During the first four months of current fiscal year 2013-14, remittance from the migrant Nepali workers surged by 40.5 per cent to Rs 178.89 billion, the central bank said, adding that in the same period of last fiscal year, the remittance inflow had increased by 23.4 per cent.
Due to festive season – of Dashain and Tihar – and the strong US dollar, migrant workers sent home more money.
But In terms of US dollar too, remittance inflows has increased by 23.1 per cent to $1.80 billion.
“Growth in remittances has been slowing, particularly in South Asia, which saw especially slow remittance growth from the Middle East,” the half-yearly report of the ADB had said in October.
But in the first three months of the current fiscal year too, remittance inflow had surged by 38.2 per cent to Rs. 135.03 billion compared to an increase of 28.8 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Worker remittance inflow growth has also contributed massively to the high surplus of the Balance of Payment (BoP) that witnessed a surplus of Rs 64.44 billion during the four months of current fiscal year 2013-14, compared to a surplus of Rs 1.85 billion in the same period of last fiscal year 2012-13.
Likewise, the foreign exchange reserves also increased Rs 80 billion over the last one year to Rs 633 billion as of mid-November, the central bank said, adding that the reserve is adequate to pay for imports of goods and services for 10.5 months.
