Economic growth of 4.61% estimated for FY 2024/25

Kathmandu, Aug 24: The economic growth rate has increased, and inflation has decreased in the last fiscal year, 2024/25, compared to the previous fiscal year.     

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) stated this in its report entitled Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal (Based on Annual Data (Mid-July 2025 of 2024/25) which was issued today. According to the central bank, the economic growth rate for 2024/25 has been estimated to be 4.61 per cent. In the previous year, the economic growth rate was 3.67 per cent.     

Agriculture, industry and service sectors are estimated to grow 3.28 per cent, 4.53 per cent and 4.21 per cent, respectively. Share of agriculture, industry and service sectors in GDP stands at 25.16 per cent, 12.83 per cent and 62.01 per cent, respectively in 2024/25.     

Gross domestic saving to GDP stands at 6.55 per cent in 2024/25. Ratio of gross fixed capital formation and gross national saving to GDP stands at  24.07 per cent and 36.24 per cent, respectively.

Annual average Inflation remained 4.06 per cent in 2024/25. In the previous year annual average inflation was 5.44 percent.     

The y-o-y consumer price inflation stood at 2.20 per cent in mid-July 2025 compared to 3.57 per cent a year ago.     

Under the food and beverage category, the annual average consumer price index of the vegetable sub-category increased 10.71 per cent, ghee & oil 8.72 per cent, pulses & legumes 7.90 per cent and cereal grains & their products 6.13 per cen,t while the annual average consumer price index of spices decreased 2.62 per cent and meat & fish 0.34 per cent.     

The annual average non-food and services category inflation stood at 3.71 per cent in 2024/25 compared to 4.64 per cent a year ago. The y-o-y non-food and services category inflation stood at 4.12 per cent in mid-July 2025 compared to 3.26 per cent a year ago.     

The NRB report stated that Balance of Payments remained at a surplus of Rs 594.54 billion compared to a surplus of Rs 502.49 billion last year.     

Imports and exports increased 13.3 per cent and 81.8 per cent, respectively. In the previous year, imports and exports decreased 1.2 per cent and 3.0 per cent, respectively.     

Remittances increased 19.2 per cent in NPR terms and 16.3 per cent in USD terms. During mid-June to mid-July 2025, remittance inflows stood at Rs. 189.11 billion, according to the report.     

Gross foreign exchange reserves stood at 19.50 billion in USD terms. It is stated that this level of foreign exchange reserve is sufficient to cover merchandise and services imports for 15.4 months.  The broad money (M2) increased 12.5 per cent in 2024/25. In the previous year, M2 increased 12.9 per cent.     

Deposits at BFIs increased 12.6 per cent, amounting to Rs 7264 billion, while private sector credit increased 8.4 per cent, amounting to Rs 5498 billion in 2024/25.     

The installed capacity of electricity increased to 3591 Megawatt in 2024/25, which consists of 3390 Megawatt from hydroelectricity.     

The total number of tourist arrivals increased by 1.7 per cent to 1,147,834 in 2024/25. (RSS)