NRB data reveals trade statistics not encouraging

KATHMANDU:

The country’s trade statistics is not that encouraging although the balance of

payments (BoP) and foreign exchange reserve are in comfortable position.

The overall BoP recorded a surplus of Rs 77.19 billion in the first six months of fiscal 2013-14, according to the latest macroeconomic report released today by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

The BoP surplus of last fiscal year stood at Rs 68.9 billion and it hovered around Rs 7.80 billion in the first half of last fiscal.

The higher BoP surplus, however, was not the result of impressive growth in exports. As exports continued to lag behind, the trade deficit surged to Rs 288.76 billion, as against Rs 232.10 billion recorded in the same period last fiscal.

Due to high growth of imports compared to exports, the ratio of export to import declined to 13.5 per cent in the review period from 14.5 per cent a year ago. It means, for every unit

of a good exported from Nepal, the country is importing 13.5 units of goods from foreign countries.

However, growth rate of export has started to accelerate of late, while import growth rate is a bit subdued from the past few months. During the review period, merchandise exports went up by 15 per cent to Rs 45.14 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year. On the other hand, merchandise imports surged by 23.1 per cent to Rs 333.9 billion.

Growth of total imports remained low in the review period compared to the same period of the previous year due to a slow growth of imports from both India and other countries, says the report.

As for growth in export, the report cites the increased export of zinc sheet, cardamom, shoes and sandals, juice, woollen carpets, herbs, readymade garments and pashmina, among others.

Year-on-year inflation

The price of goods and services underwent a rise of 9.7 per cent by the sixth month of current fiscal year, according to Nepal Rastra Bank’s monthly statistics. The year-on-year inflation as measured by consumer price index increased by 9.7 per cent in mid-January as compared to 9.8 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. The indices of food and beverages group and non-food and services group increased by 12.9 per cent and 6.9 per cent, respectively, during the review period. Such indices had increased by 9.6 per cent and 10.2 per cent, respectively, in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Source: THT