Surging imports and decline in tourism take toll on forex reserves

Foreign currency reserves, enough to fund imports for 10 months at fiscal year’s start, drop by about Rs100 billion.

At the end of the fiscal year 2020-21 in mid-July, Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves stood at Rs1399.03 billion ($11.75billion), sufficient for importing goods and services for 10.2 months. In two months since, the foreign exchange reserves decreased by nearly Rs100 billion to Rs1306.95 billion ($11.14 billion) in mid-September. This is sufficient to sustain the imports of goods and services for just 7.8 months, officials say.