The approach paper for the 13th development plan prepared by National Planning Commission (NPC) envisages, among others, upgrading Nepal to the status of developing county from existing Least Developed Country (LDC) by 2022-- achieving annual growth of six percent.
The NDC meeting chaired by the chairman of Interim Election Council, Khilaraj Regmi, passed the paper after two days of marathon discussion on the proposed plans and policies for the next three fiscal years with experts, leaders of political parties, top bureaucrats, among others stakeholders.
"The meeting passed the approach papers today (Saturday) after incorporating some suggestions from different stakeholders. The paper is expected to get cabinet´s endorsement within a week," Gopi Mainali, joint secretary at the NPC told Republica.
Chairman of Interim Election Council Regmi, who is also chair of NDC, said upcoming budget will be formulated in line with the programs planned in the approach paper.
"Policies and plans incorporated in the paper will show the course of development programs for next three years," Mainali added.
To meet the goal of graduating to the rank of developing nations by 2022, the three-year plan has set a target of attaining six percent economic growth rate per annum for the next three years.
However, experts say Nepal has to attend at least 7 percent annual growth to achieve the target. This year the government expects only 3.6 percent growth owing to low capital spending and the poor performance of agriculture sector.
To attain six percent growth rate, the plan has focused on agricultural growth rate of 4.5 percent per annum till 2015/16. It has also set a target of attaining 6.7 percent growth rate per annum in non-agricultural sector till 2015/16.
These growth rates are expected to trigger employment growth rate of 3.2 percent per annum till 2015/16, while reducing population living below the poverty line to 18 percent.
Effective mobilization of public sector, private sector and cooperatives are the major strategies to achieve the set targets.
Development of physical infrastructure, expansion of social services, enhancement of good governance in public and other sectors, inclusive and sustainable development are the other priorities.
Similarly, development of hydropower and energy sectors, commercialization and diversification of agricultural sector, enhancement of farm productivity and increased access to basic education and health services, drinking water and sanitation, are also among the programs incorporated the approach paper.
The plan has also given emphasis to development of road, other physical infrastructure, and tourism, industrial and trade sectors, along with conservation of natural resources and environment.
Plans to spend a total Rs 1.62 trillion till 2015/16 are formulated in the paper. Of this, Rs 960.69 billion rupees will be spent to cover recurrent expenses, while Rs 277.94 billion will be allocated for capital spending.
These expenses, according to the plan, would be met through estimated revenue collection of Rs 1.13 trillion in the three-year period, while the rest would be raised through domestic debt, and grants and loans from development partners.
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