Presence of commercial banks in 424 local levels

Kathmandu, May 17 : The commercial banks have shown their presence in 424 out of the 753 local level governments in the process of implementing federalism as of mid-April 2018.

It was revealed in the current macroeconomic and financial situation of Nepal based on nine Months’ data of 2017/18 released by Nepal Rastra Bank on Thursday.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year the remittance inflow has reached Rs 540.38 billion with an increase of 5.6 %. The increase was 6.3 % in the corresponding period of the previous year, stated a review issued by the central bank.

Likewise, the net transfer income has reached Rs 621.66 billion in the review period while the increment was 9.9 % in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The macroeconomic outlook stated that the number of Nepali obtaining work permit for overseas employment has increased by 6.8 % which saw decrease by 3.2 % in the corresponding period last year.

The consumer price inflation increased to 5.3 percent in mid-April 2018 from 3.8 percent a year ago. The increase in food inflation contributed to the rise in overall inflation in the review period. However, the average consumer price inflation in nine months of 2017/18 remained low at 4.1 percent.

Food inflation rose by 4.7 percent in mid-April 2018 from 0.7 percent a year ago. A surge in prices of vegetables, fruits, milk products and eggs, among others are mainly responsible for the rise in food inflation in the review period, stated the outlook report.

Non-food inflation has moderated to 5.8 percent in mid-April 2018 from 6.3 percent a year ago. A slower growth in prices of clothes and footwear, furnishing and household equipment, education, among others accounted for a moderation in non-food inflation in the review month.

The Mountain region witnessed relatively higher rate of inflation of 7.0 percent followed by 6.0 percent in Hill, 5.7 percent in Terai and 4.3 percent in the Kathmandu Valley, according to the NRB. In the corresponding period of the previous year, these regions had witnessed inflation rates of 2.8 percent, 5.6 percent, 3.4 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.

The consumer price inflation was slightly higher at 5.3 percent in Nepal in mid-April 2018 compared to 4.6 percent in India, showing inflation wedge of 0.7 percent between the two countries. A year ago, the rate of inflation was 3.8 percent in Nepal compared to 3.0 percent in India.
The salary and wage range index moderated to 6.8 % in mid-April 2018 from 14.7 % a year ago.
In the review period, the merchandise exports increased 8.2 percent to Rs. 59.74 billion compared to an increase of 12.1 percent in the same period of the previous year.
Total trade deficit widened 21.7 percent to Rs. 816.55 billion in nine months of 2017/18. The export-import ratio declined to 6.8 percent in the review period from 7.6 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The NRB report stated that the unit value export price index based on customs data increased 1.7 percent while import price index increased 6.4 percent in mid-April 2018.(RSS)