Kathmandu, 17 March: Remittance inflow in the country has increased by 10.9% to Rs.567.70 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year against a decrease of 0.7 percent in the same period of the previous year.
According to the ‘Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal’ released by the Nepal Rastra Bank on Tuesday, number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment decreased by 75.9% in this review period. It had increased by 21.7% percent in the same period of the previous year. The number of Nepali workers (renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment decreased by 67.4% in the review period. It had decreased by 0.6% in the same period of the previous year.
The report published by the central bank shows that the current account remained at a deficit of Rs.101.90 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs.106.0 billion in the same period of previous year. Similarly, Balance of Payments (BOP) registered a surplus of Rs.97.36 billion in the review period as compared to a surplus of Rs.21.61 billion in the same period of previous year. Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserves have increased by 4.3% to Rs.1462.03 billion in mid-February 2021 from Rs.1401.84 billion in mid-July 2020.
The report shows that consumer inflation stood at 2.70 percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, almost one-third of the rate in the same period last year. The year-on-year inflation, measured in consumer price index (CPI), was moderated by 4.17% compared to 6.87% during the same period last year, according to the report. The food and beverage inflation, meanwhile, stood at 3.02%, non-food and service inflation stood at 2.44%.