Kathmandu, September 29 : Despite the coronavirus crisis, the remittance inflow in the first month of the current fiscal year has increased by 23 percent to Rs 92.71 billion, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
After the imposition of the lockdown on March 24 to stem COVID-19, the central bank, Central Bureau of Statistics and World Bank had come up with their own projections of a downturn in such inflow. Such projections of the Nepal Rastra Bank, Central Bureau of Statistics and World Bank stood at 15 percent, 18 percent and 14 percent respectively.
The NRB officials reportedly said that with the increasing adoption of former channels rather than the informal ones like Hundi by Nepali migrant workers to send their money might be the main reason behind the said surge in the remittance earnings.
Apart from the strict measures taken by the government to control the informal trade, the restrictions and lockdowns are said to have been impelling the migrant workers to adopt the banking channels to send the remmitances.
