Foreign Exchange Reserves Stand at Rs 1292 billion; Enough to Sustain Nine Months’ Import 

January 13: Nepal has witnessed improvement in foreign exchange reserves in the first five months of the current fiscal year.

The current macroeconomic and financial situation published by the Nepal Rastra Bank on Friday showed that foreign exchange reserves increased by 6.3 per cent to Rs 1292.56 billion till mid-December 2022 from Rs1215.80 billion in mid-July 2022.

In the US Dollar terms, foreign exchange reserves increased by 3 per cent to 9.54 billion in mid-December 2022 from 9.82 billion in mid-July 2022. 

Out of the gross foreign exchange reserves, Nepal Rastra Bank had reserves of Rs 1056.39 billion in mid-July 2022. The NRB’s foreign exchange reserve rose by 7.8 per cent and reached to Rs 1139.22 billion in mid-December 2022.

Foreign exchange reserves held by banks and financial institutions, except Nepal Rastra Bank, however, decreased by 3.8 per cent to Rs 153.34 billion in mid-December 2022 from 159.41 billion in mid-July 2022.

Indian currency covers 22.9 per cent of the total foreign exchange reserves. 

Based on the import of the first months of the current fiscal year, the current foreign exchange reserves is sufficient to import merchandise for ten months and merchandise and services for 8.7 months, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank.