Kathmandu, June 28 -- Nepal's trade deficit in the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2018-19 reached Rs1.21 trillion on soaring import bills.

The statistics of the Department of Customs show that the country's negative trade balance during the period mid-July to mid-June was higher than the deficit for the whole of fiscal 2017-18. Last year, the country's trade deficit totalled Rs1.16 trillion.

A trade deficit is the difference between a country's export earnings and import expenses. According to the department's records, Nepal's trade deficit surged 17.4 percent year-on-year during the review period.

Over the period, the country's export earnings swelled 18.18 percent to Rs87.83 billion while the import bill rose 17.45 percent to Rs1...