The trade deficit has gone up by 71.3 per cent in the first six month of the current fiscal year, thanks to heavy increase in goods import despite normal rise in the exports in the country.

According to a statistics released by the Trade and Exports Promotion Centre in the Capital on Thursday, the trade deficit has reached as high as Rs 429.73 billion in the review period.

As per the preliminary report of the Centre, country's foreign trade has crossed Rs 502.3 billion with 58.8 per cent increment as compared to the same period of the last fiscal year. The export and import ratio of the trade is 7.2 per cent and 92.8 per cent in the first six month of the current fiscal year.

The entire export of the country is limited to Rs 36.3 billion while import is Rs 466 billion.

During the period, Nepal supplied carpets, readymade garments, red lentil, polyester and other thread, clothes, iron and steels and their products, handicrafts, noodles, toothpastes, cardamom, tea, ginger, Nepali paper, leather, herbs and others.

Likewise, Nepal imported petroleum products, iron and iron products, vehicles and vehicle parts, and others from India while telecommunications appliances, electronic materials, apples and chemical fertilizers made the huge chunk of imports from China. RSS