Exports: total value: $343 million (f.o.b., 1996 est.) but does not include unrecorded border trade with India commodities: carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods, grain partners : India, US, Germany, UK

Imports: total value: $1.3 billion (c.i.f., 1996 est.) commodities: petroleum products 20%, fertilizer 11%, machinery 10% partners: India, Singapore, Japan, Germany

Debt - external: $2.85 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $310 million (1993) note: total bilateral and multilateral aid of $217 million in 1996

Currency: 1 Nepalese rupee (NR) = 100 paisa

Exchange rates: Nepalese rupees (NRs) per US$1 - 57.030 (January 1997), 56.692 (1996), 51.890 (1995), 49.398 (1994), 48.607 (1993), 42.718 (1992)

Fiscal year: 16 July - 15 July

@Nepal:Communications

Telephones: 115,911 (1996 est.)

Telephone system: poor telephone and telegraph service; fair radiotelephone communication service domestic: NA international: radiotelephone communications; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)