KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 25
The government's decision to give continuity to the ban on import of non-essential items listed under 10 categories limited the country's trade deficit to Rs 244.92 billion in the second month (mid-August to mid-September) of the current fiscal year 2022-23.
According to Nepal Trade Statistics unveiled by the Department of Customs (DoC) today, the country's total trade gap narrowed by 9.45 per cent compared to Rs 270.48 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Issuing a notice on Nepal Gazette on July 17, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies had extended the restriction on the import of 'luxury' items. Moreover, the government had further tightened the import of two-wheelers and mobile phone sets.
As per the department, the imports fell by 13.01 per cent to Rs 273.60 billion in the review period compared to Rs 314.52 billion in the corresponding period of fiscal 2021-22.
According to the Information Officer of DoC Punya Bikram Khadka, the main reason for the decline of the import is due to the government extending the ban on luxury items listed under 10 categories.
But at the same time, Nepal's exports saw a bigger drop in the review period, as per DoC. The country's exports plunged by 34.88 per cent to Rs 28.68 billion in the review month against Rs 44.04 billion in the same period of previous fiscal.
Khadka said that Nepal's exports have been fluctuating due to external factors as the local industries largely import raw materials and export the refined products with value addition.
"Nepal's top export commodities were refined soyabean oil and refined palm oil, which are largely exported to India and in a sign of growing protectionism around the world due to Russia-Ukraine war, source countries have restricted export of these products in crude form," he said.
The imports-exports ratio in the review period surged by 33.58 per cent to 9.54. This means Nepal imported $9.54 worth of goods for every dollar's worth of goods exported.The ratio had stood at 7.14 in corresponding period of previous fiscal.
Nepal continues to have the highest trade deficit with its two giant neighbours - India and China. Nepal exported goods worth Rs 19.83 billion to India, while importing merchandise worth a staggering Rs 169.65 billion from the southern neighbour, resulting in a deficit of Rs 149.81 billion.
Similarly, imports from China amounted to Rs 37.12 billion, while exports to the northern neighbour was merely Rs 123 million. This caused a trade deficit of Rs 37 billion with China.
The share of exports in total trade slipped to 9.49 per cent in the review period, against its share of 12.28 per cent in the second month of fiscal year 2021-22.The share of imports to total trade, on the other hand, rose to 90.51 per cent in the review period compared to 87.72 per cent in the second month of fiscal 2021-22.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 26, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
