KATHMANDU, Aug 27 – Malaysia continues to become the number one country attracting Nepali migrant workers, followed by Qatar, in terms of number over the period of the last one year, said the government’s department of labour.
“As in the past, Malaysia and the Gulf countries appeared to be the major destinations for Nepalese workers in the fiscal year 2013-14,” the department said in a press release.
Nepal’s new fiscal year begins in mid-July. The department approved 214,270 applications for work in Malaysia over the last one year, which is 36.7 per cent higher than that of the previous year, noted the department.
Malaysia absorbed 40.6 per cent of the total Nepali migrant workers going abroad for work over the last one year while the Nepali Government had approved 156,770 workers’ applications to work in Malaysia in the previous fiscal year (2012-13).
A total of 527,814 Nepalese were given permission to go abroad for work during the 2013-14 fiscal year, of which Malaysia has the lion’s share. Qatar was the second main destination for Nepali migrant workers.
A total number of 125,170 workers received permission from the government to go to Qatar as migrant workers, which is 37.6 per cent higher than that of previous year, said the press release.
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are the third, fourth and fifth major destinations for Nepali migrant workers, respectively. Bahrain, Oman, South Korea, Japan and Lebanon were other countries that absorbed a sizeable number of Nepali migrant workers over the last one year.
Remittance from the Nepali migrant workers abroad has become the major source of foreign currency earning. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, Nepal’s central bank, Nepal received an average of 1.49 billion Nepalese Rupees (US$14.9 million) as remittance income on a daily basis and Rs543.29 billion (US$5.43 billion) annually in the fiscal year 2013/14.
Remittance has increased in Nepal as the number of Nepali workers leaving the country for foreign employment has gone up significantly, the central bank said in its micro-economic report released recently.
– BERNAMA
