Country imports seven times more than exports

The country imports almost seven times to what it exports, according to the central bank.
In the first six months of the current fiscal year, merchandise exports rose by 11.2 per cent to Rs 35.92 billion, whereas merchandise imports increased by 16.8 per cent to Rs 216.68 billion maintaining the export-import gap at almost the same level." Total trade deficit went up by 17.9 per cent to Rs 180.77 billion," according to the central bank's macroeconomic situation for the six months of the current fiscal year. "Trade deficit had declined by 1.3 per cent in the same period last fiscal year," it said, adding that trade deficit with India increased by 9.4 per cent against a growth of 32.8 per cent in the same period last fiscal year.
Similarly, trade deficit with other countries increased by 36.7 per cent against a drop by 36.8 per cent in the same period last fiscal year. "In US dollar term, the total trade deficit rose by 9.2 per cent to $2.30 billion during the first half of the fiscal year compared to a growth of 2.8 per cent in the same period last fiscal year."
The central bank figure also revealed export-import ratio drop to 16.6 per cent from 17.4 per cent a year ago contributing the decline to high growth of imports.
However, the overall Balance of Payment (BoP) recorded the highest ever surplus of Rs 66.72 billion against a deficit of Rs 4.26 billion in the first half of the last fiscal year. "The current account registered a surplus of Rs 31.99 billion pushing the BoP upwards," it said.
In US dollar terms, the overall BoP recorded a surplus of $851.6 million during the first six months of the current fiscal year against a deficit of $56.4 million in the same period last fiscal year.
Similarly, the current account registered a surplus of $400.1 million compared to a deficit of $47.7 million in last fiscal year's same period and growth of remittance coupled with improvement in the service account.
Similarly, net service account witnessed a surplus of Rs 9.93 billion in contrast to a deficit of Rs 5.28 billion in the same period of last fiscal year. "Under services, tourism income rose by 29.5 per cent, the net transfer account registered a growth of 29.1 per cent to Rs 189.33 billion," the figures revealed, adding that under transfers, while pension receipts declined by 5.6 per cent to Rs. 13.14 billion, workers' remittances increased by 37.1 per cent to Rs 162.37 billion compared to a growth of 11.5 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal year, though on a monthly basis, the remittance inflows declined by 2.7 per cent in December-January compared to the value of the a month ago.
In US dollar terms, remittance inflow increased by 26.7 per cent to $2.07 billion compared to a growth of 14.8 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Likewise, under the financial account, foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 5.09 billion was recorded compared to Rs 4.46 billion in the same period a year ago.

Inflation at 6.8 per cent
KATHMANDU: Though the consumers are bearing the brunt of price rise, the year-on-year (y-o-y) inflation as measured by the consumer price index increased by 6.8 per cent in mid-January 2011 against 11.3 per cent of the same period last fiscal year, according to the central bank. "The index of food and beverage group, and non-food and services group increased by four per cent and nine per cent respectively against the increase of 17.6 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively in the same period of last fiscal year. Under the items of the food and beverage group, price index of ghee and oil sub-group rose by the highest rate of 15.6 per cent against an increase of 0.3 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal year, whereas the price index of fruits, which had increased by 26.7 per cent in the same period of last fiscal year, went up by 14.8 per cent only.