Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Remittances increased at a slower rate of 10% to Rs 1,191.31 billion over the first nine months of fiscal year 2024/25.
According to the Current Macroeconomic Situation Report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Sunday, remittances in US dollar terms remained at $8.74 billion.
In the same period of the previous fiscal year, remittances had grown by 17.2%.
The number of Nepali workers receiving first-time approvals for foreign employment increased to 358,222, with another 249,652 receiving re-entry approvals.
Net secondary income, which includes remittances and other current transfers, reached Rs 1301.94 billion in the review period. The current account showed a surplus of Rs 210.22 billion ($ 1.55 billion), up from Rs 179.83 billion ($1.35 billion) a year earlier. The Balance of Payments (BoP) also remained in a surplus of Rs 346.23 billion ($2.55 billion), slightly lower than Rs 365.16 billion ($2.75 billion) in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Forex Reserves Rise Sharply
The gross foreign exchange reserves rose by 18.9%, reaching Rs 2.426.84 billion in mid-April, up from Rs 2,041.10 billion in mid-July last year.
In US dollar terms, such reserves increased from $15.27 billion in mid-July last year to $17.63 billion in mid-April.
Reserves held by NRB alone stood at Rs 2,136.46 billion, while those held by commercial banks surged 50.8% to Rs 290.38 billion. The share of Indian currency in total reserves was recorded at 20.4%.
Based on the import data of the past nine months, the foreign exchange reserves are sufficient to cover 17.1 months of merchandise imports, and 14.2 months of goods and services imports.
