Kathmandu, May 12: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of Nepal, has said that the remittance inflows have increased 19.8 percent to Rs.1082.62 billion in a period of 10 months.
According to “Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal”, published by NRB on Sunday, in the US Dollar terms, the remittance inflows increased 17.7 percent to 8.15 billion. It was an increase of 13.9 percent in the same period of the previous year.
In the review period, the number of Nepali workers, both institutional and individual, taking first-time approval for foreign employment recorded 329,422 and taking approval for renew entry recorded 212,721. In the previous year, such numbers were 387,839 and 217,959 respectively, the Bank said.
Net transfer increased 17.8 percent to Rs.1174.50 billion in the review period. Such a transfer had increased 22.8 percent in the same period of the previous year.
Current Account and Balance of Payments
The current account remained at a surplus of Rs.179.48 billion in the review period against a deficit of Rs.60.43 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the current account registered a surplus of 1.35 billion in the review period against a deficit of 468.3 million in the same period last year.
In the review period, capital transfer decreased 19.2 percent to Rs.4.78 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) remained a positive of Rs.6.48 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer amounted to Rs.5.91 billion and net FDI amounted to Rs.2.62 billion.
Balance of Payments (BOP) remained at a surplus of Rs.365.16 billion in the review period against a surplus of Rs.174.28 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP remained at a surplus of 2.75 billion in the review period against a surplus of 1.32 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Foreign Exchange Reserves
Gross foreign exchange reserves increased 24.2 percent to Rs.1911.86 billion in mid-April 2024 from Rs.1539.36 billion in mid-July 2023. In the US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves increased 22.7 percent to 14.36 billion in mid-April 2024 from 11.71 billion in mid-July 2023.
Of the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB increased 25.4 percent to Rs.1688.21 billion in mid-April 2024 from Rs.1345.78 billion in mid-July 2023.
Reserves held by banks and financial institutions (except NRB) increased 15.5 percent to Rs.223.65 billion in mid-April 2024 from Rs.193.59 billion in mid-July 2023. The share of Indian currency in total reserves stood at 21.6 percent in mid-April 2024.
Foreign Exchange Adequacy Indicators
Based on the imports of nine months of 2023/24, the foreign exchange reserves of the banking sector is sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 15 months, and merchandise and services imports of 12.5 months.
The ratio of reserves-to-GDP, reserves-to-imports and reserves-to-M2 stood at 33.5 percent, 104 percent and 28.9 percent respectively in mid-April 2024.
Such ratios were 28.8 percent, 83.0 percent and 25.0 percent respectively in mid-July 2023.
Full Text
Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation - English (Based on Nine Months' data of 2023.24)
