Foreign exchange reserves accumulated as remittances increased and imports decreased

According to the monthly report of the Public National Bank on Sunday, the foreign exchange reserves in US dollars were 11.71 billion at the end of June 2018, which increased by 18.6 percent to 13.89 billion by the end of January. As of last January, out of the country's total foreign exchange reserves, Nepal Rastra Bank has 16 trillion 23 billion 92 billion rupees. Compared to last June, it has increased by 20.7 percent. Last June, such reserve was 13 trillion 45 billion 78 crore rupees.

The share of Indian currency in the total foreign exchange reserves as of mid-January 080 is 22.6 percent. Rashtra Bank claims that the reserves up to January will cover 14.7 months of goods imports and 12.3 months of goods and services imports. The target was to maintain foreign exchange reserves sufficient to import goods and services for at least 7 months in the current financial year.

Although the domestic economy remains sluggish due to fragile government finances, current account surpluses and current account surpluses continue to be on the back of rising remittances and declining imports. In this way, while the external sector is strong, the government should increase capital expenditure on a large scale in order to overcome the laxity of the domestic economy, says Nar Bahadur Thapa, former executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank. "Government has a great opportunity to increase capital expenditure," he says, "now we should make full use of the opportunity."

Shivraj Adhikari, Head of Central Research Department of Tribhuvan University, says that the government should not hesitate to increase capital expenditure as the private sector will retreat even more when the government is slow to invest. "The government should make the economy viable by clearing the outstanding liabilities," he said. In the current financial year, 8 trillion 39 billion rupees have been received through remittances. This is 21.16 percent more than the same period last year. However, compared to last month, remittance inflow has decreased by 15 billion in January. "Remittance inflow in US dollars increased by 19.1 percent and reached 6.31 billion," said the monthly report of the National Bank. Last year, such flow increased by 16.4 percent.

In the seven months of the current financial year, the number of Nepalis who took the final work permit (institutional and individual-new) for foreign employment is 247 thousand 12 and the number of those who took the work permit again is 158 thousand 540. During the same period of last year, such numbers were 3 lakh 14 thousand 767 and 1 lakh 67 thousand 7 hundred 8 respectively.

As of last January, the current position is 2 billion 97 billion 72 billion in surplus. During the same period of the previous year, the balance sheet was in surplus by 1 trillion 28 billion 55 crores.

"In the same period of the last year, the situation of research and development, which was in surplus of 975 million US dollars, is in surplus of 2 billion 240 million dollars in the review period," it is mentioned in the report. Last January, the annual point consumer price increase rate was 5.01 percent. In the same month last year, the rate of price increase was 7.88 percent.

Last January, the price increase of the food and beverage group was 6.51 percent and that of the non-food and service group was 3.85 percent. The annual point price index of maramsala sub-group under food and beverages group increased by 32.11, pulses and pulses by 11.15, dairy products and eggs by 10.78, food and food products by 9.06 and vegetables by 7.58 percent, according to the report. . In the same period, the annual point price index of ghee and oil sub-group has decreased by 12.33 percent.

In the seven months of the current financial year, the annual point price index of the entertainment and culture sub-group under the non-food and service group has increased by 12.61 percent, miscellaneous goods and services by 9.15 percent and education by 7.31 percent. But the report pointed out that the annual point price index of the transport sub-group decreased by 1.41 percent. By last January, loans from banks and financial institutions to the private sector have increased by 1 trillion 97 billion 21 crores (4.1 percent). During the same period last year, such loans increased by 1 billion 48 billion 120 million (3.2 percent).

On an annual point-by-point basis, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the private sector increased by 4.7 percent at the end of January 2018. During the same period, the deposits in banks and financial institutions increased by 3 trillion 97 billion 20 crores (7.0 percent). During the same period last year, such deposits increased by 2.53 billion 97 crores (5.0 percent). According to the National Bank, deposits in banks and financial institutions increased by 14.4 percent at the end of January 2018 on an annual point-by-point basis.