Nepal’s trade down in 3 months of new fiscal year

KATHMANDU, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — Nepal’s international trade decreased in the first three months of the current 2024-25 fiscal year starting in mid-July, showed a government report released on Wednesday.
The imports declined by 4.17 percent while the exports plunged by 6.11 percent over the same period of last fiscal year, according to the Department of Customs report.
Nepal’s trade with its two largest trading partners, India and China, went down as well during the period.
Broken connectivity with China following disasters sparked by heavy monsoon rains in late September was blamed for declining trade with the northern neighbor.
The import and export at some Nepal-China border points have been grounded to “a complete halt” following road obstruction due to the disasters, said Mukti Prasad Shrestha, spokesperson for the Department of Customs.
“Similarly, the import of petroleum products has also decreased,” Shrestha told Xinhua.
Petroleum products from India have been the largest import item in Nepal for many years. ■