Growth, at a cost

More remittance isn’t something to celebrate if we can’t pump it into building national capital.

Nepal has seen a 25-percent year-on-year rise in remittance inflow in the first half of the current fiscal year. With a whopping Rs733.22 billion coming in, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have swelled by 18 percent, to a record Rs1.81 trillion in mid-January 2024. In an ideal scenario, the news of a substantial rise in remittance and reserves should be good news. In the short run, it is decent news, indeed, as it ensures better living standards for the Nepalis and a deeper pocket for the government. But in the long run, this is, at best, a bittersweet development: The money is coming in only because the youth of the country are flowing out, and we stare at a bleak future.