Nepal's foreign exchange reserves have increased by 2.5 percent.
According to the Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal report based on data of the first four months of the current fiscal published by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Thursday, the total foreign exchange reserves, which were equal to Rs 1215.80 billion in mid-July 2022, have increased to Rs 1246.27 billion in mid-November 2022.
In the US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves increased 1.0 percent to 9.63 billion in mid-November 2022 from 9.54 billion in mid-July 2022.
Of the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB increased 3.3 percent to Rs 1091.22 billion in mid-November 2022 from Rs 1056.39 billion in mid-July 2022.
Reserves held by banks and financial institutions (except NRB) decreased 2.7 percent to Rs.155.05 billion in mid-November 2022 from Rs 159.41 billion in mid-July 2022. The share of Indian currency in total forex reserves stood at 23.5 percent in mid-November 2022.
According to NRB, if the imports of four months of 2022/23 are to be taken as basis, the foreign exchange reserves of the banking sector is sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 9.7 months, and merchandise and services imports of 8.4 months.
The ratio of reserves-to-GDP, reserves-to-imports and reserves-to-M2 stood at 25.7 percent, 70.0 percent and 22.4 percent respectively in mid-November 2022.
Such ratios were 25.1 percent, 57.8 percent and 22.1 percent respectively in mid-July 2022.
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