Kathmandu, 3 February: The total foreign exchange reserves in the country have reached 2316.84 billion rupees. According to the six-month details of the current fiscal year made public by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the total foreign exchange reserves, which were worth 2041.10 billion rupees in July/August, increased by 13.5 percent to reach 2316.84 billion rupees in January.
Such reserves in US dollars have increased by 10.3 percent to 16.84 billion rupees in mid-July from 15.27 billion rupees in mid-January. Of the total foreign exchange reserves, the reserves held by Nepal Rastra Bank have increased by 12.1 percent to 2072.34 billion rupees in mid-January.
The foreign exchange reserves held by banks and financial institutions (excluding Nepal Rastra Bank) have increased by 27 percent to 244.5 billion rupees in mid-January from Rs 192.55 billion in mid-July. The share of Indian currency in the total foreign exchange reserves as of mid-January was 24.3 percent.
Based on six months of imports in fiscal year 2081/82(2024/025), the foreign exchange reserves held by the banking sector appear to be sufficient to cover 17.3 months of goods imports and 14.4 months of goods and services imports. Similarly, the balance of payments position is in surplus by 249.26 billion rupees. In the same period of the previous year, the balance of payments position was in surplus by 273.52 billion rupees. In US dollars, the balance of payments position, which was in surplus by 2.6 billion rupees in the same period of the previous year, has been in surplus by 1.82 billion rupees in the review period.
According to the central bank, the current account was in surplus by 148.17 billion rupees during the review period. In the same period of the previous year, the current account was in surplus by 162.56 billion rupees. In US dollars, the current account, which was in surplus by 1.22 billion rupees during the same period of the previous year, has been in surplus by 1.8 billion rupees during the review period. Net capital transfers during the review period were 4.29 billion rupees. Such transfers were 3.11 billion rupees during the same period of the previous year. Similarly, direct foreign investment inflows of 6.5 billion rupees were received during the review period. Such direct foreign investment inflows were 4.54 billion rupees during the same period of the previous year.
