Export of Nepali manpower faces crisis

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

KATHMANDU, Feb. 2 (Chinese media) -- The number of Nepali migrant workers going abroad is witnessing a steep tumble after the government stopped issuing work permits for Malaysia, local media reported on Monday.

According to a nepalnews.com report, the pace of Nepali unskilled workers going abroad has also slowed down drastically as other countries are resorting to retrenchment due to the ongoing global financial meltdown.

The government of United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also recently decided to cut the number of foreign workers by a whopping 45 percent. This decision will severely hit Nepali workers. There are hundreds of thousands of Nepali laborers working in the major cities of UAE.

It is said that UAE will begin the process of cutting jobs within a few days as the government has already ordered companies not to recruit new workers.

Meanwhile, other Gulf countries, the most preferred destinations of a majority of Nepali foreign job-seekers, have also reduced the workforce strength especially unskilled workers.

Labor experts have warned that the growing retrenchment resorted to by these countries will wreck havoc with flow of remittance into the country.

"The shaky economy of the country is being largely buoyed up by the remittance sent by migrant Nepali workers. So, the government should raise the voices of Nepali laborers diplomatically," they said.