Nepal remittances hit Rs 436 billion in two months, but growth is slowing

Nepal received Rs 436.36 billion in remittances in the first two months of fiscal year 2026/27, a 23.9 percent rise over the same period last year, according to Nepal Rastra Bank's latest macroeconomic report, Republica reported. In dollars, the two month total was about USD 2.85 billion, the US dollar figure The Rising Nepal reported. The Rising Nepal and epardafas.com, citing the same central bank report, carried matching figures.

Of that, Rs 221.31 billion arrived in a single month, from mid-August to mid-September, known as Bhadra in the Nepali calendar, Republica and epardafas.com reported. That is up from Rs 174.67 billion in the same month last year, The Rising Nepal reported. Remittances remain a major source of foreign money for Nepal, supporting household spending on education, health and daily needs, Republica reported. The figures came out on October 15, as Nepal marks Dashain.

But the 23.9 percent figure is a slowdown, not an acceleration. Nepal Rastra Bank's own report shows remittance inflow grew 33.1 percent in the same two months last year, The Rising Nepal reported, a figure also carried by The Himalayan Times when it covered last year's edition of the same report. Growth this year is running at a little under three quarters of the pace it did twelve months ago.

The gap is wider in dollar terms. The central bank's report put dollar growth at 13.5 percent, well below the 23.9 percent rupee figure, The Rising Nepal and epardafas.com reported. That gap matters for families. The rupee total rose faster than the dollars actually sent, so part of the rupee rise reflects the exchange rate rather than more money earned abroad. None of the reports by Republica, The Rising Nepal or epardafas.com carries an explanation from the central bank.

The report also carries a figure that cuts against the good news. Just 78,320 Nepalis received final labour approval to work abroad in the two months, down from 90,198 a year earlier, Republica and The Rising Nepal both reported. That is 11,878 fewer, a drop of about 13 percent. Re-entry approvals, given to workers returning to jobs they already held abroad, rose instead, to a figure Republica and epardafas.com put at 52,163, up from 45,884. The Rising Nepal gave a different number for that same figure, 51,136. The Kathmandu Post reported on September 26 that permit renewals had slowed compared with previous years, though they stayed relatively stable in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. This desk searched Nepal Rastra Bank's website for the full report to settle the figure and could not locate it before publication.

What the coverage missed

Neither Republica nor The Rising Nepal linked the drop in new job approvals to Nepal's shrinking Gulf labour market. New labour approvals for Gulf jobs fell 52.12 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, from 228,165 to 109,249, since the United States and Israel began strikes on Iran on February 28, the Department of Foreign Employment's data showed, The Kathmandu Post reported on September 26. The decline was sharpest in the United Arab Emirates, down 59.05 percent, and Saudi Arabia, down 57.02 percent, the newspaper reported, citing the same data. Arun Rai, a chef from Dharan, told The Kathmandu Post his Abu Dhabi hotel sent him home on unpaid leave in March and has not called him back.

What we still do not know

None of the reports by Republica, The Rising Nepal or epardafas.com says why growth slowed from 33.1 percent to 23.9 percent, and none quotes the bank giving a reason. Nepal Rastra Bank's Economic Research Department could settle that, and could also confirm the correct figure for re-entry approvals, 52,163 or 51,136. This desk searched Nepal Rastra Bank's website for the report and could not locate it before publication. The Department of Foreign Employment could say whether the Gulf conflict has already begun cutting into the specific two month numbers in this report, or whether that effect is still ahead.