Foreign education and abroad travel spending of Nepalis crosses Rs 100bn

In what could caution the country’s policymakers as well as government officials, the country’s foreign education and abroad travel bills have crossed Rs 100bn in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. While Nepal spends a huge amount of its foreign exchange on import bills yearly, foreign education and abroad travel has emerged as the other major areas where the country’s hard-earned foreign currency is being spent. 

According to the latest macroeconomic report of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Nepalis have spent Rs 119.98bn this fiscal for foreign travel and payment for education abroad.

The amount spent by Nepalis for these two purposes is much higher than the country’s tourism income during the same period. Foreign tourists spent as much as Rs 58.6bn in Nepal in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.

The NRB data shows a total of Rs 89.18bn have been sent abroad in the first 11 months of this fiscal to pay the education bills of Nepalis studying in foreign colleges and universities. Nepalis had spent as much as Rs 67.7bn for education abroad in the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2021/22. In FY 2020/21 and FY 2019/20, spending for education decreased to Rs 24.95bn and Rs 25.81bn, according to the NRB.

Likewise, Nepalis are spending heavily on traveling to other countries as tourists. According to NRB data, as much as Rs 30.8bn was spent on foreign travel during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.

“Nepalis are spending large amounts of foreign exchanges for travels abroad for different purposes in recent years,” said the NRB official. “As Nepal is an open economy, we cannot control such spending.”

Nepalis spent as much as Rs 97.32bn in the last fiscal year 2021/22 for travels abroad both for visiting foreign destinations and studying abroad which is triple the amount the country earned from foreign travelers. Nepal earned as much as Rs 32.44bn from foreign visitors in the last fiscal year. Nepal’s tourism earnings were battered by travel curbs after the Covid-19 pandemic which has been recovering lately. The country earned only Rs 7.26bn from foreign tourists in the fiscal year 2020/21, according to NRB. But the country’s tourism is reviving which is clearly indicated by the growth in foreign visitors in 2022. 

Rising travel spending