Kathmandu. In the first month of the current fiscal year, foreign trade worth Rs 166.97 billion has been recorded.

According to the Department of Customs, imports worth Rs 143.04 billion and exports worth Rs 23.93 billion were recorded last month. During this period, the country suffered a trade deficit of Rs 119.10 billion.

Imports have increased by 11.42 percent and exports by 95.75 percent in the same period of the current fiscal year compared to the foreign trade in the first month of the last fiscal year. Imports worth Rs 83.53 billion and exports worth Rs 19.45 billion from neighbouring India in July 2018 resulted in a loss of Rs 64.87 billion.

Imports worth Rs 27.99 billion and exports worth Rs 54.8 million have resulted in a trade deficit of Rs 27.94 billion with China. Germany, Afghanistan, the United States, Russia, Belgium, Norway and other countries have seen profits in the review period.

Petroleum products have been imported the most in July. According to the Department, petrol worth Rs 5.77 billion, diesel worth Rs 5.88 billion and LPG worth Rs 4.66 billion have been imported. Crude soyabean oil worth Rs 10.80 billion, smartphones worth Rs 3.41 billion, motorcycles worth Rs 1.74 billion, iron products worth Rs 3.07 billion and gold worth Rs 1.52 billion have been imported into the country.

Groundnut oil is at the first place in the goods exported from the country. Oil worth Rs 10.69 billion was exported in July this year. During the review period, products like plywood, fruit juice, yarn, carpet, cardamom were exported.