KATHMANDU, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Despite facing diplomatic stand-off and economic embargo from Gulf nations, Qatar took the largest number of Nepali migrant workers in the last fiscal year 2016-17 that ended in mid-July, Nepali government has said in a report.
According to Nepal's Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), Qatar received 125,892 Nepali migrant workers in the last fiscal year, leaving Saudi Arabia, which was the largest destination in the previous fiscal year, in the third position.
Qatari market received 31 percent of total Nepali migrant workers who migrated seeking foreign jobs in the last fiscal. The Himalayan country sent as many as 398,978 workers abroad last fiscal.
Malaysia emerged as second largest destination by taking in 98,437 Nepali workers while Saudi Arabia received 76,884 Nepalis. In the previous fiscal year 2015-16, Saudi Arabia topped the chart by receiving 138,529 Nepali job seekers.
According to recruiting agencies that supply workers to Qatar, new demands for workers have gone down significantly following the crisis but higher demand of workers in the previous months contributed to Qatar emerging as the largest destination for Nepali workers, they said.
On June 5, Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, imposed economic blockade on Qatar after cutting off diplomatic ties with it. They have charged Qatar with helping the "terrorist organizations."
"The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for Qatar would be much higher provided this crisis had not emerged," Laxman Biswa, chairman of Osho Recruiting Agency, one of the leading recruiting agencies to send workers to Qatar, told Xinhua on Tuesday. "After the crisis began, new demand has gone down by 75 percent."
"As we have not received any report about Nepalis facing job crisis as result of diplomatic stand-off, we have not stopped issuing permit for Qatar," Mohan Adhikari, information officer at the DoFE, said on Tuesday.
According to the DoFE, the recruiting agencies are sending workers to Qatar based on old demands before the crisis began. As new demand is low, the number of Nepalis going to Qatar has also gone down. "We used to issue 400-500 permits for Qatar a day before the crisis. Now, we issue around 200-300 permits a day," said Adhikari.
Provided the crisis ends, Nepali recruiting agencies believe that there will be high demands of foreign workers in Qatar as it prepares for 2022 World Cup football. They however caution that the Qatari job market has been competitive because of influx of foreign workers from other countries, including Bangladesh and South East Asian countries too.
