KATHMANDU: The country’s trade deficit has reached Rs. 1,015.80 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2021/22. This year’s trade deficit is higher by 38.45 per cent than the deficit of the corresponding period last fiscal year, according to the Department of Customs.
Trade deficit during the same period last year was Rs. 733.72 billion.
Despite significant increase in export, the country’s trade deficit has widened significantly during the review period due to low volume of exports compared to the imports.
Foreign Trade Statistics of the Department of Customs says that export trade has increased by 88.30 per cent to Rs. 131.65 billion during the first seven months (mid-July 2021 to mid-February 2022) of the current fiscal year.
Nepal had exported goods worth Rs. 69.91 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Meanwhile, import trade increased by 42.78 per cent to Rs. 1,147.46 billion during the review period.
In the same period of the last fiscal year, the country had imported goods worth Rs. 803.64 billion.
With the increase in exports, its contribution to total trade also increased from 8 per cent to 10.19 per cent during the review period. The share of export in the total trade has decreased to 89.71 per cent from 92 per cent last year.