Nepal’s Remittance-driven Paradox

Every month, somewhere in Nepal, a phone rings. A son calls his mother from Australia after a late shift. A daughter in Japan sends money for her father’s medicine. A husband in the Gulf pays his children’s school fees. The money arrives, a loan is repaid, a roof is fixed, and a family breathes a little easier. Multiply that call by millions and you have one of the largest economic forces in the country. Nepal Rastra Bank reported remittance inflows of about Rs. 2.36 trillion in fiscal year 2025/26 — equal to 35.8 per cent of GDP. Few countries in the world depend so heavily on what their citizens earn elsewhere.