Nepal’s trade deficit reaches Rs 880 billion

KATHMANDU: Despite a significant increase in export trade, the country’s trade deficit has further widened in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The main reason for the widening trade deficit is the low volume of exports The country’s trade deficit has increased by 46.64 per cent to Rs. 880.49 billion during the review period.

According to the Foreign Trade Statistics of the Department of Customs, the export trade has increased by 95.48 per cent to Rs. 118.85 billion during the first six months (mid-July 2021 to mid-January 2022) of the current fiscal year. Nepal had exported goods worth Rs. 60.79 billion in the same period last fiscal year.

However, the import trade increased by 51.13 per cent to Rs. 999.34 billion during the review period, leading to high trade deficit. In the same period of the last fiscal year, the country had imported goods worth Rs. 661.24 billion.
With the increase in exports, its contribution to total trade also increased from 8.42 per cent to 10.63 per cent during the review period, and the share of import to the total trade has dropped to 89.37 per cent.

According to the statistics, total foreign trade has also increased. The country’s foreign trade has reached Rs. 1,118.19 billion during the review period which is 54.86 per cent more than the previous year. Soybean oil had the largest share of exports during the review period. Soybean oil worth Rs. 34.26 billion was exported in the last six months of the current fiscal year.