KATHMANDU: Against anticipations that the remittance inflow will drop significantly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it has increased by 8.1 percent.
As per the recent statistics released by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), remittance inflow has increased by 8.1 percent to Rs.165.73 billion in the first two months of this fiscal year (till mid-September) against a decrease of 0.6 percent in the same period of the previous year.
In the US Dollar terms, remittance inflows increased 2.6 percent to 1.39 billion in the review period against a decrease of 1.6 percent in the same period of the previous year.
However, number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 99.2 percent in the review period.
As the result of rising remittance flow and falling import, the current account has registered a surplus after long. As per NRB, the current account registered a surplus of Rs 26.07 billion in the review period against a deficit of Rs 22.69 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Likewise, balance of payments (BoP) registered a surplus of Rs 67.63 billion in the review period. Such surplus was Rs 8.83 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Total trade deficit narrowed down 24.9 percent to Rs.158.40 billion in two months of 2020/21. Such deficit had contracted 3.1 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In two months of 2020/21, merchandise imports decreased 22.1 percent to Rs.178.85 billion compared to a decrease of 1.2 percent a year ago. Similarly, merchandise exports increased 10.5 percent to Rs.20.44 billion compared
to an increase of 25.9 percent in the same period of the previous year.