Nepal's foreign reserves rises to over Rs.474 billion

KATHMANDU: The total foreign currency reserve has increased by 7.9 per cent to Rs 474.16 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Earlier, the foreign currency reserve was Rs 439.46 billion during the same period of the fiscal year 2068/069.

Of the total reserve, the NRB owns Rs 387.56 billion which is 3.2 percent more than of the last fiscal year.

Likewise, the reserve of Indian currency reached 64.52 billion with an increase by 6.8 percent against the same period of the last fiscal year.

According to the NRB, the reserve of the foreign exchange is sufficient to import goods and service of 9.2 months.

Similarly, the revenue mobilisation of the government during the review period has reached Rs 210.47 billion increasing by 22.3 per cent, thanks to rise in exports. The revenue mobilization was Rs 172.9 billion in the last fiscal year.

Likewise, value added tax (VAT) revenue has reached Rs 60.64 billion increasing by 15.7 per cent as compared to the last fiscal year.

During the review period, customs tax contributed Rs 41.64 billion which is more by nearly 39 percent than the review period of the last fiscal year.

According to the central bank, the income tax revenue has also increased by 31.1 percent contributing a total of Rs 48.26 billion due to reform in income tax administration and positive impact of taxpayer education.

Similarly, the excise duty revenue collection has reached Rs 26.19 billion during the review period contributing 20.5 percent increase than the same period of the last fiscal year.

However, the non-tax revenue has deceased to Rs 23.82 billion in the review period against Rs 25.25 billion of the same period of the last fiscal year, according to the NRB.

Source: The Himalayan Times, 14th May 2013
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Nepal's Inflation comes down to 9.5 percent

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

Inflation moderated to 10-month low of 9.5 percent in April, as prices of non-food items and services rose at a slower pace in the month. Inflation last hovered at this level in May 2012.

Consumer price hike eased on the back of deceleration in rise in prices of clothes, footwear, furniture and household equipment, the latest macroeconomic report of Nepal Rastra Bank shows. Slower hike in transport and health costs also helped inflation to ease in the month, the report states.

In one-year period to April, prices of clothes and footwear went up by 10 percent than 15.1 percent recorded in the same period last year. Hike in prices of furniture and household equipment also eased to 12.1 percent in the one-year period, as against 13.6 percent registered in the same period a year ago.

Similarly, transport and health costs rose by 7.6 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, in one-year period to April, in comparison to hike of 17.8 percent and 7.7 percent seen a year ago.

During the period, prices of most of the food items, however, surged, exerting pressure on low-income group which spends significant portion of disposable income to purchase rice, lentil, vegetables, cooking oil and spices.

In the period, prices of cereal grains and their products surged by 13.5 percent, while prices of legume varieties shot up by 11.8 percent. Similarly, prices of meat and fishes climbed by 16.2 percent and prices of ghee and oil rose by 10.3 percent in the period.

Price hike in Nepal is generally attributed to rise in prices of commodities in India, from where Nepal imports most of the goods.

Imports from India went up by 22.9 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, shows the report, as against the increment of 13.1 percent recorded in the same period last year. Similarly, imports from other countries rose by 15.5 percent in the nine-month period compared to a hike of 28.3 percent reported in the same period a year ago.

Overall, Nepal´s merchandise imports surged by 20.3 percent to Rs 408.83 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

In contrast, Nepal´s exports in the period went up by marginal 3.5 percent to Rs 57.16 billion, the report shows. In the same period last fiscal year, exports had gone up by 15.9 percent to Rs 55.24 billion.

Nepal´s total exports grew at a tepid pace as exports to India increased by a marginal 0.4 percent during the period, as against a rise of 18.4 percent recorded in the same period last year.

Exports to other countries, on the other hand, went up by 10 percent in the nine-month period.

As imports surpassed exports, Nepal´s trade deficit surged by 23.6 percent to Rs 351.67 billion in the period. This, in turn, played a major role in causing the country´s current account surplus-difference between exports and imports of goods and services and transfers from the country and aboard-to shrink to Rs 22.23 billion in the nine-month period as against a surplus of Rs 41.95 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Nepal managed to post a current account surplus despite widening trade deficit because of 21.9-percent growth in workers´ remittances to Rs 302.58 billion. In the same period last year, workers remittance had surged by 36.5 percent, indicating lower growth rate this year.

At the same time, the net service income posted a surplus of Rs 4.56 billion in the nine-month period compared to a surplus of Rs 12.49 billion in the same period last year.

As current account surplus shrank due to widening trade deficit, the overall balance of payments -- the country´s total transaction with other nations -- surplus narrowed to Rs 30.77 billion in the first nine months as against Rs 92.55 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Source: myrepublica, May 13th 2013

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Norway offers to assist Nepal in building Transmission Lines

Norway is interested to help Nepal build electricity transmission lines and ultimately remove one of the major bottlenecks in evacuation and distribution of hydropower.

"We are ready to provide assistance to the Nepal government if it comes up with strategic plans to develop transmission lines in the country," Alf Arne Ramslien, Norwegian ambassador for Nepal, said at an interaction on ´´Norwegian assistance to Nepal in hydropower development: Challenges and Opportunities´ organized by Society of Economic Journalists Nepal (SEJON) on Tuesday.

Highlighting the importance of hydropower in the country´s development, Ramslien said erection of transmission lines is a major task to tap the country´s hydropower potentials. “There are challenges as well as opportunities in hydropower development in Nepal," Ramslien said speaking in the interaction on ´Norwegian assistance to Nepal in hydropower development: challenges and opportunities´ organized by Society of Economic Journalists Nepal (SEJON).

Stressing the need for political stability and policy consistency for economic development, Ramslien said the government should come up with strong plans if it wants Norwegian support to help build transmission lines. “The power trade agreement between Nepal and India is important to build North-South and cross border transmission lines," Ramslien added.

He also said the Norwegian government was ready to support Nepal in conducting feasibility study of different large scale projects.

“Our efforts will be on helping Nepal. We want to invest here as the country has comparative advantage in hydropower sector,” Ramslien said, adding that the Norwegian Embassy in Nepal is currently working on developing new plans to support Nepal in energy sector.

According to information posted on website of Norwegian Embassy in Nepal, the Norwegian mission is working on accelerated hydropower development, rural renewable energy development and technical energy development.

"The embassy is planning to enter into a co-financing agreement with the Asian Development Bank for development of transmission projects in Nepal," the Norwegian mission in Nepal has posted on its website.

Source: myrepublica (Feb 6th, 2013)

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