KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 16

Nepal's current account surplus jumped to Rs 78.14 billion in the first month of the current fiscal year, more than double the Rs 33.08 billion recorded a year ago, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said on Monday in its latest macroeconomic update. In US dollar terms, the surplus reached $561 million, up from $246.8 million last year.

The Balance of Payments also strengthened, posting a surplus of Rs 89.30 billion, compared to Rs 40.90 billion in the same period of the previous year.

Foreign exchange reserves rose 4.8 percent to Rs 2.81 trillion by mid-August from Rs 2.68 trillion a month earlier. Of this, NRB holdings climbed to Rs 2.51 trillion, while reserves of banks and financial institutions increased to Rs 294.58 billion. The central bank said these reserves can cover about 20.4 months of merchandise imports or 16.6 months of goods and services imports.

Foreign direct investment, however, dipped to Rs 691.5 million (equity only) from nearly Rs 800 million a year ago, while net capital transfer rose to Rs 1.04 billion from Rs 223.2 million.