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Nepal
AsiaSouth Asia

Nepal bans car, alcohol, tobacco imports as it fast runs out of cash

  • The ban, in effect until the end of the financial year in mid-July, also forbids imports of toys, playing cards, diamonds and other ‘non-essential’ goods
  • It is aimed at pre-empting the situation now faced by Sri Lanka, which is enduring its worst economic crisis in decades after running low on foreign currency

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A Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, smokes a cigarette at a temple in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
Associated Pressin Kathmandu
Nepal has banned imports of cars, alcohol, tobacco and other luxury items and shortened its work week to help conserve its dwindling supply of foreign exchange.

A notice published in the government gazette on Wednesday said only emergency vehicles can be imported. No imports of any type of alcohol or tobacco products, large-engine motorcycles and mobile phones costing over US$600 dollars will be allowed.

The ban, in effect until the end of the financial year in mid-July, also forbids imports of toys, playing cards, diamonds and other “non-essential” goods.

A man sits outside a money exchange in Kathmandu earlier this month. Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen below US$10 billion. Photo: Reuters
A man sits outside a money exchange in Kathmandu earlier this month. Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen below US$10 billion. Photo: Reuters

Without such drastic measures, the foreign currency reserves needed to import almost everything will last only a few more months, officials said.

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Nepal’s main sources of foreign currency are tourism, remittances from overseas workers and foreign aid.

Hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists usually visit the Himalayan country every year, but the number of visitors plunged during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Rising prices for oil have added to pressure on Nepal’s foreign reserves. To conserve fuel, Information Minister Gyanendra Karki announced on Wednesday that the government would reduce the work week from five-and-a-half days to five.

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