By Our Reporter
All is not good in the national economy. According to the latest report of the Nepal Rastra Bank, the current account registered a deficit of Rs 248.72 billion till mid-June of fiscal 2018-19. Such deficit was Rs 210.24 billion during the same period the previous fiscal year.
The ‘Current macroeconomic and financial situation of Nepal’ report of the first 11 months of the last fiscal year unveiled by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) showed that the country recorded balance of payments (BoP) deficit of Rs 90.83 billion during the review period. This deficit has exerted on foreign exchange reserve, which as per NRB decreased to Rs 1,030.88 billion as at mid-June 2019 from Rs 1,102.59 billion as at mid-July 2018. In US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves dropped to $9.25 billion as at mid-June 2019 from $10.08 billion as at mid-July 2018.
The outflow of money from the country surpassed the inflow by Rs 90.83 billion in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2018-19 owing to the ballooning trade deficit, which widened by 17.2 per cent in the given period.
The central bank’s data showed merchandise exports increased by 18.7 per cent to Rs 87.83 billion in the first 11 months of fiscal 2018-19 compared to an increase of 10 per cent a year ago. Similarly, merchandise imports increased by 17.3 per cent to Rs 1,299.80 billion compared to an increase of 23.6 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
Meanwhile, the inflow of remittance increased by 17.5 per cent to Rs 799.02 billion in the first 11 months of 2018-19 compared to an increase of 7.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. In US dollar terms, such inflows increased by 8.1 per cent in the review period compared to 9.7 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. However, outflow of the migrant workers dropped by 37 per cent.
However, the consumer price inflation spiked at 6.2 per cent in mid-June 2019 compared to 4.1 per cent a year ago. While the food and beverage inflation stood at 6.7 per cent in mid-June 2019 compared to three per cent in the same period a year ago, the non-food and services inflation stood at 5.7 per cent in mid-June 2019 compared to five per cent in the same month a year ago.
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