Kathmandu, 10 June : The current economic and financial situation report of the country released by Nepal Rastra Bank  (NRB)on Friday shows that the country has only 9.28 billion US dollars in reserves till mid-April last year. That was  9.61 billion a month ago. Reserves declined by  330 million in the same month. The government has been pursuing one policy after another to discourage imports as foreign exchange reserves continue to decline. Last month, imports of 10 luxury items were banned. Earlier, the NRB had set a 100 per cent margin (cash) requirement when opening import letters of credit for dozens of items to discourage imports. Foreign exchange reserves declined by 21.1 percent compared to mid-July last year. As foreign exchange reserves dwindle, the country may lose the ability to purchase essential goods and services in the future. Domestic inflation is on the rise. Annual point-to-point consumer price inflation reached 7.87 percent in April. It was 3.65 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year. Last April, the inflation rate was 7.28 percent. Prices of food and beverages rose by 7.13 percent and non-food by 8.45 percent in April. The prices of most essential oils rose by 24.86 per cent, transport by 21.81 per cent and fruits by 12.61 per cent. People's News Monitoring Service