KATHMANDU: The imposition of temporary restriction on travel and migrant workers owing to the coronavirus outbreak has adversely affected Nepal’s foreign employment opportunities.
Several countries, including Qatar – a top labor destination for Nepali migrant workers — have announced a temporary ban on arrivals from 14 countries, including Nepal.
Director General at the Foreign Employment Department, Kumar Prasad Dahal says around 45,000 Nepali migrant workers obtaining their visas and work permits could not fly due to coronavirus threat.
Even those who have come to Nepal on vacation are likely to bear the brunt as their visas might expire if they fail to report to their employers on time, according to the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, the umbrella organization of some 760 manpower agencies in Nepal.
Nepal’s foreign employment contributes nearly 30 percent to the GDP. However, following the coronavirus outbreak, Japan and South Korea – considered the most popular and lucrative labor destinations for Nepali workers, too, have tightened their recruitment processes.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor Employment and Social Security, too, has suspended issuing new labor permits for foreign employment from March 3.
Nepal has, meanwhile, stopped issuing labor permits to migrant workers for the time being.
According to the Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security, Rameshwor Ray Yadav, the government has stopped issuing labor permits for the time being as the government has already issued a travel advisory urging its citizens not to travel abroad.
With this, Nepal’s foreign employment has declined significantly.
It should be noted that the country’s central bank, Nepal Rastra Bank, in its Mid-Term Review of the fiscal year 2019/20 Monetary Policy has said that the spread of the coronavirus will have a negative impact on the country’s economy.
According to the report, the remittance in 2019 contributed 26 percent to the country’s GDP.
It should be noted that during the first four months of the current fiscal year, the country received over 50 percent of its total remittance from five Gulf countries — Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Comment