KATHMANDU, April 12: Country's economy that was marred by global COVID-19 pandemic for over two years is returning to normalcy, according to the government.
Around 98 percent industries were operative till the end of Nepali month of Kartik, 2078 BS as compared to Falgun, 2076 BS, said Finance Minister Janardan Sharma at a press conference organized on Monday at the Ministry of Finance.
Signs of improvements are observed in the registration of industries and direct foreign employment for Nepali migrant workers, added Minister Sharma.
Expressing his hope that there would be a positive impact on economic growth in the country, Minister Sharma expressed his confidence that there would be positive results in the effective implementation of mechanism related to fiscal policy and monetary policy, foreign exchange reserve, remittance inflow, increment in the operation of industries and discouragement in the loan flow into low productive sector and in the import of non-productive goods.
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The Ministry, according to him, is ready to formulate and implement policies to increase inflow of remittance through banks, reduce import of luxury goods, create investment-friendly environment, increase capital expenditures and investment in productive sectors.
The government aims to achieve seven percent economic growth in the current fiscal year 2021/22. Government is hopeful that it would reach closer to achieving the target since overall indicators of the economy are positive.
Inflation rate has reached 5.4 percent in eight months of the current fiscal year while the figure stood at 5.18 percent on average in the past three years, according to the Ministry. Increasing prices in petroleum products in the international market have had a direct impact on increasing prices of whole things including daily consumables in the country.
Similarly, the country's trade deficit has increased to over Rs 1,290 billion until 8 April, 2022 of the current fiscal year.
During the period, goods worth over Rs 1,450 billion were imported while goods worth over Rs 159 billion were exported. The import and export increased by 33.9 and 72.8 percent respectively as compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year, according to the Ministry.
Similarly, at present, the country has foreign exchange reserves amounting to over Rs 1,171 billion as compared to more than Rs 1,399 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.
In the current fiscal year so far, remittances amounting to over Rs 631 billion were remitted to the country, a 4.9 percent decrease as opposed to the same period in the previous year.
(RSS)
