The Nepal government has been trying to prevent the decline of foreign exchange (forex) reserves in the country for quite some time and they have now decided to ban the import of luxury items in order to take care of the problem.
Nepal Rastra Bank spokesperson Gunakar Bhatta explained that the biggest challenge for the government is to maintain the forex reserves properly, according to a report on myRepublica, an English-language National daily newspaper published by Nepal Republic Media in Kathmandu.
"The import of luxury items has been stopped to prevent the decline in foreign exchange reserves due to the rising deficits and high imports," Bhatta was quoted as saying in the report.
However, Bhatta made it clear that the step was not taken due to any economic crisis in Nepal and asked the public to not panic because of the ongoing rumours of problems with the economy.
According to the report, he said that NRB currently has forex reserves to continue the imports for another six to seven months and it can increase depending on how the economy performs.
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In the latest move, imports of machinery, silver, readymade garments, electrical appliances, rice, textile, motor equipment, mopeds and other design vehicles, bicycles, gold and paddy were banned.
Besides the aforementioned products, the imports of a number of different items like fish, vegetables, honey, eggs, meat, bananas and chips, betel nuts, plants, chillies, dairy products along medical, optical and surgical instruments were also banned according to the new order issued by the authorities.
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