Govt to use domestic goods soon

Kathmandu, Jan. 10: Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Thursday said that the Directives to Use Domestic Goods in government offices would be presented to the Cabinet within a couple of days.

"It will increase the use of domestic goods and help boost confidence in Nepali entrepreneurs," he said while speaking at the National Workshop on Cooperative Enterprise Promotion.

He urged the cooperatives to establish and run manufacturing enterprises and promised financial support to such establishments.

In an effort to increase the consumption of made in Nepali products and develop entrepreneurship in the country, the government had implemented the directives in 2013 making it mandatory for the government offices to buy domestically produced goods even if they were 10 per cent more expensive.

The government had also announced that the public offices would have at least 50 per cent local products. The directive included 14 local products such as stationery materials, uniform and other clothes, furniture, medicines, biscuits, farm tools, construction materials and electronic items.

But the directives couldn't boost the use of Nepali goods in public offices. The business community, specially the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) time again urged the government to implement the directives but to no avail.

This time, the government has corrected the provisions that were nullified by the Public Procurement Act.

Finance Minister Dr. Khatiwada urged the cooperatives to run homestay and other tourism activities.

"Homestay should be developed as a cooperative industry and it can be supported further with organic farming. The government is ready to support such initiatives," he said.

He asked the cooperatives to involve in agricultural enterprises like animal husbandry, milk processing, meat processing, herbal industry and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs).

"If needed, the government is ready to protect the agriculture-based products produced by the cooperatives. In the recent past, the government has discouraged the import of ghee and powder milk," he said.

Chairman of the National Federation of Cooperatives Keshab Prasad Badal said that the cooperatives would enter into the manufacturing sector and contribute to the development of national economy.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 11 January 2018.