Kathmandu, January 12
Most of the indicators of the country’s economy have shown positive growth during the first five months of the current fiscal year.
As per the country’s current macroeconomic and financial situation of the first five months released by the central bank on January 11, most of the economic indicators have emerged positive as inflation has decreased and the country has shown robust remittance inflows and foreign reserves.
According to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the year-on-year consumer price inflation moderated to 4.95 per cent in mid-December 2023 compared to 7.38 per cent a year ago.
In the review period, merchandise imports decreased from 3.4 per cent to Rs 642.21 billion compared to a decrease of 20.7 per cent a year ago. Destination-wise, imports from India and other countries decreased by 1.3 per cent and 28.4 per cent respectively while imports from China increased by 32.8 per cent.
Imports of readymade garments, MS wire rods, bars, and coils, electrical equipment, textiles, and aircraft spare parts, among others, increased whereas imports of gold, crude soyabean oil, crude palm oil, petroleum products, rice/paddy, among others decreased.
The total trade deficit decreased by 3.1 per cent to Rs 579 billion during the review period. Such a deficit had decreased by 18.8 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. The export-import ratio decreased to 9.8 per cent in the review period from 10.1 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, the NRB stated in its report.
During the period, the remittance inflow recorded a robust growth of 27.6 per cent to Rs 613.25 billion in the review period compared to an increase of 23.0 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
Similarly, the balance of payment has remained at a surplus of Rs 210.59 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal year which was at a surplus of Rs 45.87 billion in the same period of the previous year.
The central bank stated that the gross foreign exchange reserves increased 14.8 per cent to Rs 1767.04 billion in mid-December 2023 from Rs 1539.36 billion in mid-July 2023. Of the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB increased 15.6 per cent to Rs 1556.25 billion in mid-December 2023 from Rs 1345.78 billion in mid-July 2023.
