Kathmandu, Apr. 22
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has said that
the centralized mentality among the political leaders and bureaucrats has been
the major hindrance to the process of change and national development.
“We have not been able to distribute the power of the state
among the subnational governments. Power is still concentrated at the Singha Durbar.
It has created obstacles in development initiatives,” he said while addressing
the Golf and Economic Symposium organised by Baarhakhari Media on Saturday at
the Gokarna Forest Resort.
According to him, there is no readiness and motivation to
assimilate the changes and move forward. Stating that the constitution has
adopted a three-pillar economic system including public, private and
cooperative, PM Prachanda said that all should understand the essence of this
provision.
Likewise, he said that all Nepalis must shed off the notion
to give importance to foreign goods and ideas and adopt domestic policies and
goods.
“We celebrate the foreign goods and despise the domestic
ones,” he said while adding that creation of self-reliant economy was possible
by the use and promotion of domestically produced goods and services.
Meanwhile, the prime minister criticized the private sector
for its opportunity-seeking nature. “When the state and governance are weak,
the private sector seeks opportunity to fulfill its vested interests and ways
to evade taxes or so,” he said.
Stating that he was aware about the procedural complexities
and corruption while establishing business and industry, PM Prachanda said that
he would take immediate initiatives to implement change in this regard. “Private
sector must feel respected inside the country. It is also important to attract
foreign investment,” he said.
PM Prachanda also informed that the government was in the
final stage to complete the policy and programmes as well as the budget.
Speaking at the programme, Finance Minister, Dr. Prakash
Sharan Mahat, pledged to lead the economy to the right direction.
“People have high expectations from the government and
Ministry of Finance. But you should have some patience as there are many
problems and many things need to be rectified,” he said.
According to him, for the immediate measures, the country
needs to implement steps to increase revenue and enhance capacity to mobilise
capital budget.
He said that the efficiency of public expenditure is needed
to infuse capital in the market.
“There are inefficiencies, limitations and challenges in
development management. But we must take into account the effectiveness of our
expenditure because we have limited resources to meet high expectations of
people and their representatives,” said FM Dr. Mahat.
Likewise, there are instances we have allocated less than a
million rupees for a project of Rs. 500 million and said we ensured the
resources for it. This tendency has impacted the implementation of development
projects and increased dissatisfaction among the people, he said.
Dr. Mahat said that all small projects would be implemented
by the local governments. He also maintained that the country needed to do a
lot of homework to define what to accept from the donors and what not. “We must
not accept all the conditions set by them,” he stated.
Similarly, Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad
Adhikari, said that when the creditors didn’t want to repay loans, banks and
financial institutions become apprehensive in extending loans.
“I would like to assure the investors about the availability
of resources for their business endeavours. Promoting the business environment
is our main motive and many policies have been made for the same,” he said.
Governor Adhikari said that the central bank was regularly
getting the updates from the private sector as its representation is maintained
at various government mechanisms and organisations like Office of the
Investment Board, and Revenue Advisory Board.
Economist and Registrar of the Kathmandu University, Prof.
Dr. Achyut Wagle, said that the country should abandon its initiatives to
attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). In the past more than one decade,
Nepal has attracted only US$2.5 billion FDI.
Economic and legal reforms should be accorded priority to
motivate Nepali businesspeople in investing in the priority and competitive
areas, he said.
Likewise, Rajendra Malla, President of Nepal Chamber of
Commerce, said Nepal should seek opportunities in electricity and herbs export.
Forest should also be managed in a way it creates economic opportunities for people
and businesses.
Vice-president of Confederation of Nepalese Industries
(CNI), Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, stated that increasing Non-Performing Assets was a
warning of the future economic challenge that the banking sector and economy
would face.
He also said that the government should promote domestic
investors before putting efforts for attracting FDI.
Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of
Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), stated that the private
sector had pledged to create 750,000 jobs in the next seven years.
“There is a need to increase credit mobilisation. For it,
interest rates should go down and business environment should be improved,” he
said.
He also reiterated that the government should expand the tax
net rather than increasing tax rates.
Number of unemployed youth is increasing but businesses are
not getting skilled and required human resources. Therefore, I would like to
propose a joint initiative from the FNCCI and government in developing manpower,
Dhakal said.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 April 2023.
