KATHMANDU, APRIL 30
The country's trade deficit has narrowed by 17.06 per cent to Rs 1,083 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year compared to last year when the trade gap stood at Rs 1,306 billion.
According to statistics unveiled by the Department of Customs (DoC), Nepal imported goods worth over Rs 1,201 billion in the review period, a decrease of 18.08 per cent compared to the imports over the same period last year.
The goods were imported from over 163 countries.
Meanwhile, exports from the country stood at Rs 118 billion, down 26.34 per cent compared to the same period last fiscal year.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-April), Nepal's total foreign trade stood at over Rs 1,319 billion, a drop of 18.89 per cent than of the previous year. In the review period, the imports-to-exports ratio increased by 11.21 per cent compared to last year in the first nine months of this fiscal year.
Nepal continues to have the highest trade deficit with its neighbours - India and China.
According to the data, Nepal imported goods worth Rs 753.75 billion from the southern neighbour in the review period, while exports to India amounted to Rs 82 billion. The trade deficit with India stood at Rs 670 billion in the review period.
Meanwhile, the trade deficit with China stood at Rs 164.44 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
Furthermore, the country's exports share to total trade stood at 8.96 per cent, down from 9.87 per cent in the previous year.
Similarly, the imports share to the total trade was 91.04 per cent, an increase of one per cent compared to the same period in the last fiscal year.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 1, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
