The global economic impact of coronavirus pandemic has led to the downfall of the foreign employment agencies in Nepal.<\/p>\n
The 854 manpower agencies<\/strong> in the country were collapsed as the business came to a screeching halt five months ago. The companies are not able to send the migrant workers abroad as the labor destinations are in the throes of a recession due to the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, most Nepali migrant workers have already returned home from various countries as they lost their jobs.<\/p>\n The entire manpower business is in a dire situation as it has to deal with the daily expenses, employee salaries and other business costs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, around 10,000 employees in the manpower sector have lost their jobs.<\/p>\n Most of the staff is on unpaid leave as the manpower agency owners cannot pay even the rent. At least 50% of the manpower agency owners must have been forced to sell off their ancestral property.<\/p>\n Moreover, the agency owners are in debt as they are forced to take loans in order to pay the \u2018increased\u2019 deposit amount last year.<\/p>\n According to the new law, the agencies are supposed to deposit NPR 20 to 60 million (depending on the number of workers sent abroad).<\/p>\n Earlier, it was just NPR 700,000 of cash deposit and NPR 2.3 million of bank guarantee.<\/p>\n So, 854 manpower agency owners across the country deposited the said amount by mid-September last year by taking loans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If things have gone smoothly, the agencies could have sent a considerable number of workers abroad and made a good income in the last few months. But the pandemic has disrupted their goals.<\/p>\n “But everything is in a mess now. Even labor permits were stopped after March,\u201d exclaimed Sujit Kumar Shrestha, General Secretary of Association.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n