Foreign trade statistics for first 9 months of 2074/75 are out; if instant corrective actions not taken we might end up in the quicksand of deficits, never able to come out

Tue, May 15, 2018 10:26 AM on Economy, Exclusive,

The Ministry of Finance (Department of Customs) has published the country’s foreign trade statistics for fiscal year 2074/75 based on the data of nine months and the picture doesn’t look good.

As shown in the table below, the total imports this fiscal year (first nine months) has increased by 20.42% than last year’s same period, whereas the exports has climbed by 8.33% only. Becasue of which, the total trade deficit of our country has increased by 21.41% during the period.

The other table attached below highlights how much we are dependent on India from even our basic to luxury needs. Sitting between the two giants, China and India, it is only obvious that the imports from these countries will be higher than the rest of the world.

However, what catches most attention is the level of disparity between the figure from India and China. Out of the total Rs 8 kharba 14 arba trade deficit, 66% belongs to India whereas only 14% to China and 20% to the rest of the other countries. Our dependency on India is higher than China and rest of the world combined and by basic rule of thumb we can see how our existence depends upon theirs.

During PM Oli’s visit to India, few economists had mentioned that the main agenda of the visit should’ve been about how to decrease the trade deficit that is increasing every year, and bringing in railways could’ve been second order of business. These numbers justify why they are called experts.