Country’s foreign trade decreases by 35 per cent in past five months

Kathmandu / January 7: The country’s foreign trade has been adversely affected in the past five months, witnessing a sharp fall in the export and import due to obstructions in the major customs points.

According to Trade and Import Promotion Center, country’s foreign trade transactions in the first five months dropped by 35.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. Foreign trade transaction worth Rs 232.66 billion was recorded in this period. Though import to India drastically went down in this period, foreign trade with the third countries was not so much affected, Center Director Suyash Khanal said.

Likewise, there was a significant shrink in the import of petroleum products, industrial raw materials, machineries, vehicles and foodstuff from India.

Country’s trade with northern neighbour China too remained affected in this period as the April-May (2015) earthquake inflicted damages on the bilateral transport services along major Nepal-China customs points. There is a contribution of 11.2 per cent of export business and 88.8 per cent of import transactions to the country’s total trade index.

Increase in the export of readymade garments, woolen garments and cardamom has prevented the export trade from suffering further losses, the Center said. RSS