Trade deficit swells by 25 percent

Kathmandu, April 17 : Total trade deficit has widened by 24.5 percent to Rs 887.88 billion in eight months of FY2018/19, according to the Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal released by the central bank on Tuesday (April 16).

The Balance of Payments (BoP) suffered a deficit of Rs 58.99 billion in the review period compared to Rs 24.73 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Increasing import is attributed for the worsening external sector condition of the country. 

The data shows that remittances rose by 23.4 percent to Rs 582.19 billion in the review period compared to an increase of only 4.9 percent last year.  Similarly, the inflow of foreign direct investment and capital transfer dropped in the review period. Capital transfer and foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nepal amounted to Rs 11.56 billion and Rs 6.66 billion, respectively. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and FDI amounted to Rs 11.94 billion and Rs 14.24 billion, respectively. 

Likewise, foreign exchange reserves of the country continued to plunge in the eighth of the fiscal year as well. Gross foreign exchange reserves stood at Rs 1061.71 billion as at mid-March 2019 from Rs 1,102.59 billion as at mid-July 2018.