Nepali economy on road to recovery: Minister Badu

Kathmandu, Aug. 26

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu has said that Nepali economy is on the path to recovery.

"We all know that the economy of the country needs a serious handling. There is a threat of growing trade deficit and dwindling foreign currency reserves. But the recent policies adopted by the government, including the budget for the current fiscal year and monetary policy, are helping to bring the economy back on the track," he said while addressing the 42^nd Annual General Assembly of the Nepal Foreign Trade Association (NFTA) in the capital on Friday.

He also informed that discussions are underway to address the economic challenges and attract domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

He requested the private sector to increase investment and expand production. Stating that the government and its policies want greater role of the private sector in the development and economic growth, Minister Badu said that the policies are designed in a way to support this theme.

"We have decided to increase the threshold of land ownership so that it would support the businesses and industries in multiple ways. The government is moving ahead towards attracting FDI in close collaboration with the private sector," he said. The government has recently downsised the threshold for the size of investment to Rs. 20 million from Rs. 50 million.

He said that the government believed the private sector is the engine for the economic growth and that it would always strive to increase the domestic production, export and investment.

He pledged to implement the reforms at the earliest, within a few days.

"I want the business community to tell me the hurdles in making investment. I don't want to listen that the private sector is discouraged. I assure you that you are fully safe, so invest with full confidence," he said.

Newly elected President of the NFTA, Binod Kumar Sethia, said that although imports have a large contribution to the national revenue, it is being blamed for all wrong reasons. Open border has facilitated the smuggling of the banned foreign goods to Nepal from India and China.

The government should seriously work to check this malpractice, he suggested.  

According to him, if the government wants to attract more foreign investment into the country, it must offer better facilities than our neighbours and competitors elsewhere in the word to the investors. Reduced cost of production, tax discounts and policy facilitation are the fundamentals to attract income.

Shekhar Golchha, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) said that growing size of import is basically the result of the growth price of goods including petroleum products, steel and food in the international markets rather than the amount of goods.

Likewise, Motilal Dugar, former Minister of State, said that the government has failed to control the grey market while the ban on luxury goods is on. It has done less good to the nation and the foreign exchange reserves but traders have been facing troubles.

He maintained that there shouldn't be a communication gap between the government and private sector. Business is a peaceful community so it should be treated in the same way.

AGM elects new leadership

The AGM has unanimously elected a new 21-member working committee in the leadership of Binod Kumar Sethia.  

Newly elected members of the working committee are Anil Kumar Agrawal, Akash Golchha, Rishi Raj More, Kumar Bahadur Karki, Govinda Lal Sanghai, Gaurav Sarada, Jayanta Kumar Agrawal, Pawan Kumar Agrawal, Pawan Kumar Sancheti, Pardip Rajgadhiya, Prabhat Kumar Sarraf, Bishnu Kumar Joshi, Madan Mittal, Mayank Kedia, Ratan Lal Kedia, Ramesh Kumar Thapa, Ram Chandra Khetan, Shiva Kumar Agrawal, Swati Rungta Agrawal and Sumit Kumar Bansal.

  Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 August 2022.