Kathmandu, March 16 -- Workers' remittances in the first seven months of the fiscal year swelled 28.5 percent year-on-year, providing a much needed cushion to the country's depleting foreign exchange reserves. During the same period last year, remittance inflows had inched up 1.7 percent.

According to the latest macroeconomic report released by Nepal Rastra Bank, the country's central monetary authority, the money sent back by Nepali migrant workers in different countries totalled Rs515.55 billion during the period mid-July 2018 to mid-February 2019, despite a sharp drop in worker departures.

Industry experts attributed the surge in remittance to the increased use of formal channels by migrant workers to send their earnings home. "The p...