KATHMANDU, JANUARY 23
Even as the country's exports in the first six months of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-January) nearly doubled, the increase of 51.13 per cent in imports during the same period caused Nepal's trade deficit to widen by 46.64 per cent to Rs 880.49 billion.
Trade statistics of the first six months of the current fiscal year 2021- 22 released by the Department of Customs show that Nepal's exports during the review period stood at Rs 118.85 billion, significantly higher than Rs 60.80 billion worth of goods and services exported in the six months of fiscal year 2020-21.
The top export commodity was refined soyabean oil, followed by refined palm oil. Both the commodities are imported in their raw form, processed here and again exported abroad.
The country's imports, meanwhile reached Rs 999.34 billion in the first six months of this fiscal, against Rs 661.24 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The top imports included petroleum products, and unsurprisingly crude soyabean oil and crude palm oil.
The country witnessed total foreign trade worth nearly Rs 1.19 trillion in the review period compared to Rs 722.45 billion during the corresponding period last fiscal year. The foreign trade in the first six months of the current fiscal year was 54.86 per cent more as compared to the foreign trade in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, primarily because of the restrictions put in place to curtail the spread of the coronavirus during the second wave in previous fiscal.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 24, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
