Kathmandu, September 2 : Owing to swelling imports and sluggish exports, Nepal’s total trade deficit increased more than twice in the first month of the current Fiscal Year 2018/19. The trade imbalance rose by a shocking 62.35 percent to Rs 113.69 billion between mid-July and mid-August of the current fiscal year from Rs 70.03 billion in the corresponding period of the Fiscal Year 2017/18, states a data released by the Department of Customs (DoC).
During the review month, the exports this year grew only 3.19 percent, while the imports saw an increase of whopping 57.18 percent. The country exported merchandise goods amounting to Rs 6.92 billion against the imports worth Rs 120.61 billion.
The exports and imports figures had been recorded at Rs 6.7 billion and Rs 76.74 billion respectively in the first month of the last fiscal year.
The DoC attributes the disproportionate import against export to low volume of trade last year in some custom points in the Terai region of the country that reeled under floods and inundation.
The data indicates at a significant jump in the imports of aircraft and parts, petroleum products, iron, and steel in the current fiscal year.
The country imported aircraft and parts worth Rs 13.3 billion in the first month of the current fiscal year, up by Rs 1.44 billion compared to the corresponding period last fiscal year.
The import of petroleum products also went up by 87 percent to Rs 18.1 billion in the review period. Likewise, the import bill of iron and steel increased to Rs 14.62 billion in the period from Rs 8.63 billion of the last year.
‘Out of the 103 trade partners including 102 countries and one ‘not specified’, Nepal has trade surplus with only 15 countries,’ states the data.
Nepal is suffering highest trade deficit with India followed by China, France and the United Arab Emirates. The trade deficit with the southern neighbor was recorded at Rs 67.02 billion, whereas the same with the northern neighbor was Rs 14.85 billion. When it comes to France and the UAE, the trade deficit was Rs 12.74 billion and Rs 2.18 billion, respectively.
