'The Knowledge Logistics' : Immigration, Remittance Flow and Tourism: Time Series

By: Bikal Dhungel

Until 1990, the world was closed for Nepalese except those who were close to the Royal Family. A normal citizen could not go abroad because he or she could not get required papers including passport to travel in a foreign countries. Very few people left for countries other than India. After 1990, there has been a drastic rise in the number of Nepalese going abroad for various purposes. The success in reducing poverty with significant number is also related to number of Nepalese going abroad as it is connected with the Remittance Flow which helps the family members staying in Nepal to fulfil their basic needs as well as investing in other factors. Even though there are over 3 million people in foreign countries today, over 70% of Remittances will be used to consume basic needs according to a study recently done by the ministry of finance. Only about 5% was invested. The problem with this phenomenon is, once the person working in a foreign country returns permanently, there will be a lack of fund to support his family as the money was not used for further income generating activity in Nepal. This places a serious risk in Nepalese economy and social life once the building projects complete in Gulf countries. Gulf countries cannot continue building forever. At some point, it will be finished and the labourers will not be required. So, the risk connected with remittance flow is, it will again push the Nepalese back to poverty sooner or later. This is however less likely to happen for people working in already developed world in Europe and North America. Despite this, the opening of Nepal and the political freedom granted to every citizen after 1990 has caused the life standard to rise.

A stunning fact is also that Nepal is not only a Remittance receiver, but more than half the amount it receives as remittance, foreign citizens working in Nepal also send back to their country. India is the country where the largest amount goes. This implies that, not only Nepalese work in India, but also equal (or more) number of Indians works in Nepal. These two data sets, collected from various sources gives a brief view about from which country Nepal get Remittance, to where it sends and how many Nepalese were there in foreign countries from 1960 to 2000 so that we can compare it to be thankful for the democratic transition of 1990. Though Nepal is still struggling to have a functioning government, these are things we can be thankful to.

Then we will see another figure that shows Nepalese going abroad in 2013 so that we can see a change.

Remittance Flow to Nepal in 2013 ( in Million US$)