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Kathmandu, Aug. 31: Kathmandu, Aug. 31: In the fiscal year 2024/25, Nepal traded with over 164 countries, but faced a trade deficit with most of them. Data from the Department of Customs shows that the country recorded a trade surplus with only 37 of its trading partners.

Overall, Nepal’s trade deficit reached Rs. 1,527.09 billion last year, largely due to heavy shortfalls with its main trading partners. Despite this, exports saw a notable rise, jumping 81.80 percent to Rs. 277.03 billion compared to the previous fiscal year. Yet, the growth in exports was outpaced by imports, highlighting domestic production challenges and limited diversification in export goods.

Nepal’s largest trade surplus came with Afghanistan, amounting to Rs. 686 million, followed by Denmark at Rs. 338 million. In the case of Afghanistan, Nepal exported goods worth Rs. 770 million while importing Rs. 84 million. Similarly, exports to Denmark totaled Rs. 701 million against imports of Rs. 362 million. Other notable surpluses were with Russia (Rs. 77 million), Romania (Rs. 65 million), Austria (Rs. 57 million), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Rs. 37 million), Iceland (Rs. 28 million), Latvia (Rs. 17 million), and New Caledonia (Rs. 15 million). Smaller surpluses were reported with Malta, Croatia, Yemen, and several countries where Nepal exported exclusively, including Angola, Aruba, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Chad, Fiji, and Libya.

However, these gains were insufficient to offset the country’s widening deficits. The largest shortfalls were with neighboring India and China. Nepal imported goods worth Rs. 1,071.19 billion from India while exporting only Rs. 224.68 billion, creating a deficit of Rs. 846.51 billion. Trade with China showed a similar imbalance, with imports of Rs. 341.10 billion and exports of just Rs. 2.63 billion, resulting in a deficit of Rs. 338.47 billion.

Other countries with significant trade deficits included Argentina (Rs. 99.29 billion), Ukraine (Rs. 24.90 billion), United Arab Emirates (Rs. 22.31 billion), Australia (Rs. 17.94 billion), Indonesia (Rs. 14.91 billion), Thailand (Rs. 14.75 billion), Malaysia (Rs. 13.88 billion), and Brazil (Rs. 11.80 billion). Smaller gaps were seen with Qatar, France, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Myanmar, Germany, Spain, and Poland.

While Nepal is increasing its exports, the trade data underlines structural challenges in domestic production and the need for greater export diversification to narrow the persistent trade deficit.

People’s News Monitoring Service