Kathmandu, May 10: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), central bank of Nepal, has said that the remittance inflows has increased 24.2 percent to Rs.903.39 billion in the review period against a decrease of 0.2 percent in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, remittance inflows increased 13.9 percent to 6.92 billion in the review period against a decrease of 1.8 percent in the same period of the previous year.
Publishing the “Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal”, based on nine months’ data ending mid-April, 2022/23, NRB today has said number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new) taking approval for foreign employment increased 51.5 percent to 387,839 in the review period. The number of Nepali workers (Renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment increased 5.5 percent to 217,959 in the review period. It had increased 199.9 percent in the same period of the previous year. Net transfer increased 22.8 percent to Rs.996.88 billion in the review period. Such a transfer had decreased 0.4 percent in the same period of the previous year.
Foreign Exchange Reserves
Gross foreign exchange reserves increased 17.9 percent to Rs.1433.73 billion in mid–April 2023 from Rs.1215.80 billion in mid–July 2022. In the US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves increased 14.8 percent to 10.94 billion in mid–April 2023 from 9.54 billion in mid–July 2022.
Of the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB increased 20.6 percent to Rs.1273.99 billion in mid–April 2023 from Rs.1056.39 billion in mid–July 2022. Reserves held by banks and financial institutions (except NRB) increased 0.2 percent to Rs.159.74 billion in mid–April 2023 from Rs.159.41 billion in mid–July 2022. The share of Indian currency in total reserves stood at 23.1 percent in mid–April 2023.
Foreign Exchange Adequacy Indicators
Based on the imports of nine months of 2022/23, the foreign exchange reserves of the banking sector is sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 11.0 months, and merchandise and services imports of 9.4 months. The ratio of reserves-to-GDP, reserves-to-imports and reserves-to-M2 stood at 26.6 percent, 78.9 percent and 24.4 percent respectively in mid-April 2023. Such ratios were 24.6 percent, 57.8 percent and 22.1 percent respectively in mid-July 2022.
Current Account and Balance of Payments
The current account remained at a deficit of Rs.51.82 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs.510.58 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the current account registered a deficit of 402.8 million in the review period compared to deficit of 4.27 billion in the same period last year. In the review period, capital transfer decreased 24.0 percent to Rs.5.91 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) remained Rs.2.62 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs.7.78 billion and Rs.16.51 billion respectively.
Balance of Payments (BOP) remained at a surplus of Rs.180.17 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs.268.26 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP remained at a surplus of 1.37 billion in the review period against a deficit of 2.25 billion in the same period of the previous year.
