KATHMANDU: Nepali rupee fell further lower against the US dollar with Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) fixing the exchange rate at Rs 133.14 per US dollar for Thursday.
On October 8, the exchange rate stood at Rs 132.02 per dollar. The rate remained stable for almost the past 12 days.
The US dollar has been setting a new high record of exchange rate mainly in the past few weeks. The Nepali currency has been weak against the USD after the Indian currency (INR), which it is pegged to, fell to a record low at INR 83 per dollar on Wednesday.
The USD has been stronger recently after the US Federal Reserve hiked its interest policy rate citing too-high inflation persisting in the US economy. Since the Nepali currency is pegged to the Indian currency, the weakening of the Indian currency against the dollar has also led to the depreciation of the Nepali currency.
The plunge in the value of the Nepali currency against the US dollar could help increase remittance inflow in the country. However, it increases the market price of goods as the country imports most of the raw materials including the capital goods necessary to produce finished goods.