KHATMANDU: The total trade deficit of the country in first 10 months of this fiscal has widened by 37.5 per cent to Rs 747.65 billion as against a contraction of 2.4 per cent in the same period of last fiscal, shows the macroeconomic and financial situation report unveiled by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) today.
However, export-import ratio has declined to 7.5 per cent in the review period this fiscal year from 9.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The merchandise exports in the first 10 months of 2016-17 has increased by 9.8 per cent to Rs 61.02 billion as against a drop by 21.7 per cent in the corresponding period of 2015-16. During the review period, export to India, China and other countries increased by 15 per cent, 5.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively. Similarly, the merchandise imports in the review period increased by 34.9 per cent to Rs 808.68 billion compared to a drop of 4.6 per cent in the same period of the previous year.