Home
B360 National

Country’s BoP remains at surplus of Rs 228.98 billion till mid-June

A A- A+

KATHMANDU: Balance of Payment (BOP) remained at a surplus of Rs 228.98 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 which began on July 17, 2022 and is ending within a week. According to the Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Monday, during the 11 months of the current fiscal year, the BoP remained at a surplus of Rs 228.98 billion. This is a significant improvement compared to the deficit of Rs 269.81 billion recorded in the same period of the previous year. In terms of US Dollars, the BoP surplus for the review period amounted to 1.74 billion, contrasting with a deficit of 2.26 billion reported in the same period of the previous year. Similarly, the gross foreign exchange reserves witnessed a significant increase of 21.8%, thus reaching Rs 1480.87 billion in the review period compared to Rs 1215.80 billion in the corresponding period last year. In terms of US dollars, the gross foreign exchange reserves experienced an 18.5% surge, amounting to 11.30 billion in the review period as it was calculated at 9.54 billion in the previous corresponding period. In mid-June 2023, the foreign exchange reserves held by NRB increased by 25.1%, reaching Rs 1321.25 billion compared to Rs 1056.39 billion in mid-July 2022. Simultaneously, the reserves held by banks and financial institutions, excluding the NRB, experienced a slight increase of 0.1%, totaling Rs 159.63 billion in mid-June 2023 compared to Rs 159.41 billion in mid-July 2022. Additionally, the Indian currency accounted for 22.9% of the total reserves in mid-June 2023. The report states that the foreign exchange reserves held by the banking sector are deemed sufficient to cover prospective merchandise imports for a period of 11.2 months, as well as merchandise and services imports for a period of 9.6 months. Furthermore, the ratios of reserves-to-GDP, reserves-to-imports, and reserves-to-M2 were recorded at 27.5%, 80.3%, and 25.0% respectively in mid-June 2023. These ratios reflect an increase compared to the figures of mid-July 2022, which stood at 24.6%, 57.8%, and 22.1% respectively. The data shows that expenditure of the federal government amounted to Rs 1176.07 billion and revenue collection was Rs 836.85 billion till the end of the first eleven months of the current fiscal year. Similarly, broad money (M2) rose by 7.8% and on y-o-y basis, M2 increased by 10.9% while deposits at BFIs went up by 8.8% and private sector credit increased by 3.4%. On y-o-y basis, deposits increased 12.2% and private sector credit increased 3%. READ ALSO: