Remittance inflow stands at Rs 900 billion in first seven months of current FY

Kathmandu, March 10: The remittance inflow in the country increased 7.3 percent until the first seven months of the current compared to the same period last year, according to the central bank.     

Issuing a report on Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal on Monday based on seven months data ending mid-February, the Nepal Rastra Bank stated that remittance inflows increased 7.3 percent to Rs 900.58 billion in the review period compared to an increase of 18.8 percent in the same period of the previous year.     

"In the US Dollar terms, remittance inflows increased 5.3 percent to 6.65 billion in the review period compared to an increase of 16.4 percent in the same period of the previous year," the NRB stated.     

During the period, a total of 274,622 Nepali migrant workers, both institutional and individual, took the first-time approval for foreign employment and 190,886 individuals took approval for renew entry.     

Likewise, the consumer price inflation stood at 4.16 percent in mid-February 2025 compared to 5.01 percent a year ago.     

The central bank's report stated that food and beverage inflation stood at 4.95 percent whereas non-food and service inflation stood at 3.74 percent in the review month.     

During the period, the net services income remained at a deficit of Rs 50.22 billion compared to a deficit of Rs 36.38 billion in the same period of the previous year.     

"Under the service account, travel income increased 7.7 percent to Rs 49.21 billion in the review period which was Rs 45.68 billion in the same period of the previous year and the travel payments increased 10.6 percent to Rs 115.88 billion, including Rs.64.15 billion for education," according to the central bank.     

The NRB mentioned that the total expenditure of provincial governments stood Rs 51.90 billion and resource mobilization stood Rs 101.89 billion.     

It said that the total resource mobilization of provincial governments includes the grants and revenue transferred from the federal government amounting Rs 80.94 billion and revenue and other receipts of the provincial governments amounting Rs 20.95 billion.     

In the review period, the central bank said, the recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure and financial expenditure amounted to Rs 522.63 billion, Rs 68.42 billion and Rs163.81 billion, respectively.     

Of the total foreign exchange reserves, the reserves held by NRB increased 13.9 percent to Rs 2105.14 billion in mid-February 2025 from Rs 1848.55 billion in mid-July 2024. Reserves held by banks and financial institutions (except NRB) increased 37.1 percent to Rs 263.93 billion in mid-February 2025 from Rs 192.55 billion in mid-July 2024.     

The report stated that based on the imports of seven months of 2024/25, the foreign exchange reserves of the banking sector is sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 17.2 months, and merchandise and services imports of 14.4 months.     

Furthermore, the Balance of Payments (BOP) in the review period remained at a surplus of Rs 284.41 billion compared to a surplus of Rs 297.72 billion in the same period of the previous year.(RSS)