Nepal’s Balance of Payments (BoP) recorded a surplus of Rs 12.43 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year, due to an increase in remittance inflow, a decline in imports and an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the period.
The BoP was recorded positive after 14 months of the country facing continuous downfall in the net financial inflows. As of mid-October last year, the country was in BoP deficit of Rs 87.71 billion. In US Dollar terms, the BOP remained at a surplus of 91.8 million in the review period compared to a deficit of 741.2 million in the same period of the previous year, shows the ‘Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal’ unveiled by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
The BoP records a country’s financial transactions with the rest of the world under three subheadings — current account, capital account and financial account. It is a major indicator to show a country’s net balance in terms of foreign currency reserves.
In the review period, remittance inflows increased 16.8 percent to Rs 281.05 billion. Similarly, imports decreased 16.2 percent to Rs 401 billion against an increase of 63.7 percent a year ago.
Likewise, capital transfer increased 34.8 percent to Rs.2.59 billion and net FDI was recorded at Rs 79.6 million. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs 1.92 billion and Rs 5.07 billion, respectively.
With a positive growth in the BoP, gross foreign exchange reserves increased 2.5 percent to Rs 1.246 trillion in mid-October from Rs 1.215 trillion in mid-July of the current fiscal year. According to NRB, the foreign currency reserve is sufficient for merchandise and services imports of 8.3 months.
