Central bank allows exchange of Kuwaiti‚ Bahraini Dinar

KATHMANDU: The central bank has opened up exchange facility for the world’s two most expensive currencies — Kuwaiti Dinar and Bahraini Dinar — from now on.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has allowed money exchange facility providers to provide Nepali currency in exchange of these two currencies from the public. However, they are forbidden to sell these currencies. Money exchangers are not supposed to give Kuwaiti Dinar and Bahraini Dinar in exchange of Nepali rupee.

The exchange rate fixed for tomorrow for a unit of Kuwaiti Dinar stands at Rs 351.71 and for a unit of Bahraini Dinar it stands at Rs 263.46, according to the central bank. In comparison to the US dollar, the exchange rate of a Kuwaiti Dinar is three and a half times higher and a Bahraini Dinar is more than two and a half times expensive.

“Since a lot of Nepali migrant workers return from Kuwait and Bahrain and carry these currencies back home, NRB decided to provide Nepali rupee in exchange of these currencies,” informed an official at NRB’s Foreign Exchange Management Department.

The central bank allows exchange of 15 foreign currencies — both buying and selling. In addition, there are five currencies including these two that can only be bought, that is, exchanged for Nepali rupee.

Returnee migrants are required to declare the amount of foreign currency they are carrying in person. Likewise, a Nepali national can legally only keep up to $1000 in cash provided they can offer a valid source of the foreign currency.

These two Gulf countries are popular destinations for Nepali workers seeking jobs abroad. So far into the fiscal year, more than 6500 Nepali nationals have gone to Kuwait for work and more than 1500 have sought jobs in Bahrain.

Nepal received Rs 178.8 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal year — between mid-July and mid-November — as remittance income from abroad. Remittance is the major source of foreign currency for Nepal that is maintaining its current account surplus despite the large scale trade deficit.

Source: THT