By first week of February of the current fiscal year, the balance of payments has reached a surplus of more than NPR 500 billion, according to Nepal Rastra Bank.
The significant improvement in the balance of payments surplus is attributed to controlled imports due to weak overall market demand, along with increases in remittance inflows and exports. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, by the first week of the current fiscal year, remittance inflows increased by 39 percent and exports rose by 43.8 percent. During the same period, imports increased by 14.2 percent.
The current account recorded a surplus of NPR 429.91 billion. In the same period of the previous fiscal year, the current account surplus stood at NPR 165.67 billion. In US dollar terms, the current account, which had a surplus of USD 1.23 billion during the same period last year, recorded a surplus of USD 3.03 billion.
The net capital transfers amounted to NPR 10.76 billion, compared to NPR 4.29 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Similarly, during the review period, foreign direct investment (equity only) inflows totaled NPR 8.17 billion, up from NPR 6.48 billion in the corresponding period last year. The overall balance of payments recorded a surplus of NPR 501.24 billion. In the same period of the previous fiscal year, the balance of payments surplus was only NPR 249.26 billion.
