Reduction in International Trade of Nepal

May 18: Nepali international trade is likely to have a downfall in current FY. Due to the affects of the devastating earthquake of last year and the five months long border blockade, Nepal’s international trade might decrease significantly this FY. According to the current macroeconomic and financial situation of Nepal based on nine months data, import and export of Nepal with various countries are likely to decrease by 9.9 percent and 23.4 percent respectively.

According to NRB statistics, Nepal has exported merchandise worth Rs. 49.24 billion while imported Rs. 519.97 billion worth of merchandise. In the last FY, Nepal had exported merchandise of Rs 64.27 billion while imported Rs 577.1 billion merchandise.

Similarly, international trade of Nepal with all countries are in negative trend in the review period. Among them, trade with India, Nepal’s biggest trade partner has shown contraction. In the review period, exports to India have decreased by 33.4 percent while imports have decreased by 14.3 percent. Likewise, export to another major trade partner, China has decreased by 41.3 percent whereas import has increased by 2.8 percent.

In the review period, the export-import price index has improved by 24.5 percent in the review period. The price index has shown improvement due to the increase in price of export items such as cardamom, yarsagumba and fall in the price of petroleum products.