Nepal's forex reserve hits 2.61 bln USD

Nepal's foreign currency reserve has scaled up to 171.56 billion Nepali rupees (around 2.61 billion U.S. dollars), local newspaper The Kathmandu Post reported Saturday. Remittance stood at 72.39 billion Nepali rupees during the first nine months of the current fiscal year and the amount was 3 percent more than the same period last year.

According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, the amount however is less than 177.94 billion Nepali rupees recorded a month ago mainly due to the 4.44 percent appreciation of Nepalese currency against the U.S. dollar within a month. The official exchange rate in mid-April was one U.S. dollar against 68.40 Nepali rupees and the rate slipped to 65.46 Nepali rupees within a month. According to a NRB official, the accumulative appreciation of the domestic currency against the U.S. dollar has scaled up to 13. 26 percent within the current fiscal year, starting in mid-July.

U.S. dollar stood at 96.5 percent of the total foreign currency reserve while the remaining was Indian currency. The NRB had held almost 79 percent of the total foreign currency reserve while the commercial banks had kept the remaining till mid-May 2007.