April 12: Nepal’s current account remained at a deficit of Rs 462.93 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. According to the Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation Report of Nepal Rastra Bank published on April 12, such a deficit was Rs 151.42 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

During the review period, capital transfer decreased 41.2 percent to Rs 7 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) increased 60.0 percent to Rs 16.30 billion, the report said. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs 11.91 billion and Rs 10.18 billion respectively.

Likewise, the Balance of Payments (BOP) remained at a deficit of Rs 258.64 billion in the review period against a surplus of Rs 68.01 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP remained at a deficit of 2.17 billion in the review period against a surplus of 565.8 million in the same period of the previous year.

According to the central bank’s report, total trade deficit increased 34.5 percent to Rs 1160.99 billion during the eight months of 2021/22. Such a deficit had increased 1.6 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.