Nepal: Economy dependent on migrant worker remittances prepares for upheaval amid pandemic
"Nepal’s remittance-dependent economy braces for upheaval amid Covid-19 pandemic", 15 March 2020
The government’s decision to stop issuing permits to migrant workers will have significant consequences for the country, where economic activities are driven by remittances, experts say.
...According to him, workers heading to Malaysia and the UAE rushed to his office fearing that they might not be able to leave the country and lose their jobs overseas...
Nepal’s foreign employment sector, already feeling the pinch of the Covid-19 outbreak since the government stopped workers going to South Korea in February, braces for more agony with workers' departure completely halted for an indefinite period... This is the first time in over two decades that the government imposed such a blanket ban on Nepali workers leaving abroad...
...All the major labour destination countries, which include Malaysia, South Korea and Gulf countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, have reported cases of coronavirus and have been scrambling to control its spread...
...All these restrictions not only hurt Nepali migrant workers’ income, but also the country’s remittance-dependent economy as a whole, according to experts. Although the effect of the pandemic on the flow of remittances is yet to be seen, the bans and restrictions are likely to soon show their impacts on the money workers send home...