Despite the improvement in export trade, the country's daily trade deficit has reached 4.15 billion. Stakeholders say that the trade deficit has increased due to the increase in imports even of goods that can be produced domestically.

According to the foreign trade data released by the Customs Department on Sunday, the trade deficit has reached 11 trillion 21 billion 33 billion rupees in the 9 months of the current financial year. According to this, the monthly trade deficit is 1 trillion 24 billion 59 crores. That means the daily loss is 4.15 billion. This amount is 6.45 percent more than the same period of last financial year. 

The trade deficit in the first 9 months of the last financial year was 10 trillion 53 billion 42 billion rupees. The daily loss was 3.9 billion. Now the trade deficit has increased by a lot. According to experts, the main reason for this is the increasing dependence on goods that can be produced in the country. Billions of rupees have been spent on the import of the main crop, rice and maize. The situation of oilseeds and fruits is also the same," said Ravi Sainju, former joint secretary of commerce. "Some items cannot be imported, so the deficit cannot be reduced immediately. But the import-export gap can be reduced if the agricultural production can be increased to meet domestic demand.

According to the data of the department, goods worth 13 trillion 9.53 billion rupees were imported from July to March of the current financial year. In the same period of last financial year, goods worth 11 trillion 67 billion 36 crores were imported. Import trade increased by 12.18 percent in 9 months.

During this period soybean oil (crude) import increased abnormally and surpassed even petrol. Soybean oil (crude) worth 66.4 billion in 9 months has become the second most imported commodity. Sunflower oil (crude) worth 22 billion 64 crores has been imported during this period. Imports have increased tremendously due to customs concessions on exports and advance payment facilities on exports. Industrial traders have imported from third countries and refined some quantities and exported. 

Paddy worth 18.5 billion and rice worth 13.78 billion have been imported as major crops. Out of this, Basmati rice worth 5.78 billion has been imported. Corn worth 13.73 billion, apples worth 7.34 billion, garlic worth 6.45 billion and potatoes worth 6.2 billion have been imported. It is possible to produce these items in the country. It is also possible to increase the production by reducing the cost by providing facilities for irrigation and waste disposal," said Sanju. 

In order to increase the production and export of indigenous goods, the government has also identified items of comparative advantage. Nepal has been revising the Integrated Trade Strategy (NTIS) repeatedly to increase exports. Experts say that although there is some improvement in exports, it is not enough. The first thing is to make the economy viable, for that capital expenditure should be increased. If the industry runs well, exports can be increased, trade deficit can also be worked on,' said Sainju.

Diesel is the number one imported item. In 9 months, diesel worth 91.26 billion has been imported. Steel and iron worth 63.73 billion, petrol worth 47.77 billion, smartphones worth 25.38 billion, gold worth 17.12 billion have been imported. 

Export trade increased by 65.16 percent in 9 months. According to the department, goods worth 1 trillion 88 billion 19 crores have been exported for 9 months of the current financial year. In the same period of the last financial year, goods worth 1 trillion 13 billion 94 crore rupees were exported.