Kathmandu, June 27
The National Planning Commission (NPC) has said that the
upcoming 16th periodic plan (Fiscal Year 2024/25 to 2029/30) would
include methods and strategies to smooth the transition to the developing
nation status and meet the middle-income criteria.
The country is graduating from the Least Developed Country
(LDC) status to a 'developing' one on
November 24, 2026 by meeting the human assets, and economic and
environmental vulnerabilities without meeting the criterion of per capita
income at the time the United Nations took the decision on the graduation of
Nepal, Bangladesh and Laos. However, this year the PCI of a Nepali is projected
to reach the average of US$1,399 against the graduation requirement of $1,222.
Nepal is graduating from the LDC club 55 years after it was
included in it.
As per the target of the government, Nepal needs to increase
the PCI to about US$4,000 by 2030 to be a middle-income country which seems
unlikely given the current rate of economic and per capita growth.
Meanwhile, the country also needs to make sure that it
achieves the targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
"Therefore, the orientation of the planning for the
next five years would be to achieve these development targets,"
Vice-Chairman of the NPC, Dr. Min Bahadur Shrestha, said at an interaction with
journalists at his office on Tuesday.
He said that achieving the SDGs or maintaining the current
trade and business scenario after graduation would ensure that the development
dividends would reach all the people.
Meanwhile, the planning body has also developed a strategy
for the smooth LDC transition of the country.
According to Dr. Shrestha, the NPC has identified the
structural challenges to the planning, process and implementation of the
development projects. He also said that there are challenges to find out
suitable strategies and frameworks to resolve the prevailing crisis.
The upcoming plan will exclusively include the approaches
for the wise use of natural resources like forests, stones and pebbles so that
it would support employment generation, development and economic growth.
However, the new plan is being formulated at a time when the
national economic scenario is not so encouraging with the poor prediction of
economic growth of just 1.6 per cent for the current year, negative growth in
three economic pillars – manufacturing, construction and trading, and external
pressures on price due to Russian invasion of Ukraine, and disturbance in the
supply chain since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Yet, we must not forget that there could be positive
results as demonstrated during the period of 14th plan. We achieved
above 7 per cent growth on an average, and good results were achieved in
social, health and education sectors in the past one or two decades," said
Dr. Shrestha.
The NPC has begun soliciting suggestions from the experts
and stakeholders on the upcoming 16th plan since last week. This
discussion would run for the next about eight months.
A steering committee, five thematic committees and many
technical committees are active in the plan formulation process.
Secretary of the NPC, Dr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, said that
the new plan will also offer some pragmatic strategies to promote livelihood,
promote export and reduce the ever-growing trade deficit.
Likewise, Suman Dahal, Joint Secretary at the NPC, said that
the constitution of the country, national and sectorial policies, the 15th
plan and its review, LDC graduation strategy, SDGs and mid-term expenditure
review would be the basis for the 16th plan.
He said that the ideas generated during the mid-term review
of the current periodic plan would be immensely helpful in the process.
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