Rupee up, revenue growth 16pc

After free falling for almost a fortnight, the Nepali rupee appreciated against the US dollar by Rs. 1.45 Friday, thanks to a sharp rise in the equity market on expectations of fresh capital inflows in India after the US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates.

Nepal Rastra Bank, the monetary authority of Nepal, fixed the selling rate for a US Dollar at Rs. 79.35 for Saturday whereas the rate was Rs. 80.80 on Tuesday before the bank closed for three days for the Tihar festival.

The partially convertible Nepali currency, which maintains a fixed exchange rate with the Indian currency, has depreciated by around 25 percent against the US dollar in 2008. According to AFP, the US Federal Reserve slashed its key interest rate by a half point for the second time this month, to a historic low of 1.0 percent, and signaled more rate cuts were likely. Meanwhile, the government's revenue growth rate slipped to 16 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, indicating that the budgetary target of raising growth rate to 32 percent might be a tougher task. According to a statement issued on Friday by the Ministry of Finance, the government mobilized revenue of Rs. 22.23 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year and the growth rate was 16.3 percent. The budget for the current fiscal year has vowed to raise revenue mobilization by almost 32 percent to Rs. 141.72 billion compared to Rs. 107.55 billion recorded last year.

The press statement further added that the government had spent Rs. 23.84 billion during the period. Of the amount, Rs. 18.51 billion was spent under the heading of Recurrent Expenditures, Rs. 1.11 billion under Capital Expenditures and the remaining Rs. 4.21 billion was used for repaying principal of debts.

During the period, the government released Rs. 28.37 billion, the finance ministry said.
Source: eKantipur