Economy is not as depressing as rumored outside

Published On: March 11, 2022 01:58 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, March 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the economy is not in a depressing state as rumored outside. He said that the economy was under the control of the government and the problem would be resolved soon.

In the first six months of the last fiscal year- FY 2020/21, the inflation rate was 3.56 percent. The continuous rise in prices of petroleum products, edible oil, plastic, steel and steel products in the international market since the beginning of the current fiscal year has had an impact on Nepal. “However, in the mid-term review of the current FY 2021/22, the inflation rate remained at 5.03 percent and remained within the required range,” he said.

"Prices of petroleum products have gone up by 100 percent in the international market, edible oil by 70 percent in the international market as compared to last year," he said. “With the increase of prices in the international market, there is pressure on the balance of payments (BoP). However, we are trying to reduce the current BoP deficit by adopting a policy of tightening imports.”

Minister Sharma said that the government has started regulating the hundi business to solve the problem of declining remittances and is working in coordination with the police, Department of Revenue Investigation and Department of Money Laundering Investigation after holding discussions with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to curb illegal economic activities including cryptocurrency, digital networking and hyper fund.

He said that the export trade has improved significantly in the current fiscal year. "Exports have improved significantly. In the past, one had to wait for one financial year to export goods worth Rs 100 billion,” he said. “Exports have improved by 95.5 percent to Rs 118 billion in just six months. By mid-February, exports have improved further to Rs 131 billion.

He shared that the share of exports in the total foreign trade has increased from 8 percent till mid-February last year to 10.29 percent in the corresponding period of the current fiscal year. Similarly, the share of exports in the total foreign trade will be increased.