Kathmandu - Gross foreign exchange reserves decreased 16.5 percent to Rs.1167.92 billion in mid-April 2022 from Rs.1399.03 billion in mid-July 2021. In the US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves decreased 18.2 percent to 9.61 billion in mid-April 2022 from 11.75 billion in mid-July 2021.
Of
the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB decreased 17.9
percent to Rs.1021.45 billion in mid-April 2022 from Rs.1244.63 billion in
mid-July 2021. Reserves held by banks and financial institutions (except NRB)
decreased 5.1 percent to Rs.146.48 billion in mid-April 2022 from Rs.154.39
billion in mid-July 2021. The share of Indian currency in total reserves stood
at 24.3 percent in mid-April 2022.
Foreign
Exchange Adequacy Indicators
Based
on the imports of nine months of 2021/22, the foreign exchange reserves of the
banking sector
is
sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 7.4 months, and
merchandise and services
imports
of 6.6 months. The ratio of reserves-to-GDP, reserves-to-imports and
reserves-to-M2 stood at
24.1
percent, 55.2 percent and 21.9 percent respectively in mid-April 2022. Such
ratios were 32.7
percent,
84.7 percent and 27.1 percent respectively in mid-July 2021.
Price
of Oil and Gold
The
price of oil (Crude Oil Brent) in the international market increased 72.7
percent to US dollar
108.49
per barrel in mid-April 2022 from US dollar 62.83 per barrel a year ago. The
price of gold
increased
13.1 percent to US dollar 1976.75 per ounce in mid-April 2022 from US dollar
1747.95 per
ounce
a year ago.
Current
Account and Balance of Payments
The
current account remained at a deficit of Rs.512.71 billion in the review period
compared to a
deficit
of Rs.210.51 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar
terms, the current
account
registered a deficit of 4.28 billion in the review period compared to deficit
of 1.80 billion in
the
same period last year.
In
the review period, capital transfer decreased 39.5 percent to Rs.7.78 billion
and net foreign direct
investment
(FDI) increased 33.7 percent to Rs.16.51 billion. In the same period of the
previous year,
capital
transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs.12.86 billion and Rs.12.35 billion
respectively.
Balance
of Payments (BOP) remained at a deficit of Rs.268.26 billion in the review
period against a
surplus
of Rs.42.54 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar
terms, the BOP
remained
at a deficit of 2.25 billion in the review period against a surplus of 348.1
million in the same
period
of the previous year.
