External sector improves after 14 months

After 14 months, money coming into the country has recorded a surplus than the money going out of the country, which has improved the external sector.

According to the ‘Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal’, published today by the central bank, the Balance of Payment (BoP) recorded a surplus of Rs 12.43 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year as the remittance and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow increased over the period.

For the last 14 months, the country was facing BoP deficit. As of mid-October last year, the country was in BoP deficit of Rs 87.71 billion. In the US Dollar terms, the BoP remained at a surplus of $91.8 million in the first quarter compared to a deficit of 741.2 million in the first quarter of last year.

The BoP records current account, capital account and financial account of a country’s financial transactions with the rest of the world. It is one of the key indicators to show a country’s net balance in terms of foreign currency reserves.

With the BoP surplus, gross foreign exchange reserves also increased by 2.5 per cent to Rs 1.246 trillion in mid-October from Rs 1.215 trillion in mid-July. According to the central bank, the foreign currency reserve is sufficient for merchandise and services imports of 8.3 months.

In the first three months of the current fiscal year, remittance inflows also increased by 16.8 per cent to post Rs 281.05 billion,, adding Rs 94 billion in a month, due to impressive migrant workers outflow in the recent months of the current fiscal year, and also due to government’s inability to create jobs in the country.

Likewise, imports decreased by 16.2 per cent to Rs 401 billion against an increase of 63.7 per cent a year ago due to government and central bank’s import restrictions, according to the central bank data.

According to the central bank, capital transfer also increased by 34.8 per cent to Rs 2.59 billion and net FDI inflow recorded Rs 79.6 million. In the first quarter of the last fiscal year, capital transfer and net FDI inflow amounted to Rs 1.92 billion and Rs 5.07 billion, respectively.