Finance Minister predicts economic uplift amid slowdown

KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has stated that the nation's economy is emerging from a slowdown. He observed positive indicators in the national economy and expressed confidence in achieving 4.5% economic growth rate.

Minister Pun expressed this view while addressing a workshop on 'Financial Policy for Sustainable Development' in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

It's noteworthy that the National Statistics Office (NSO) projected an economic growth rate of 3.54% on Tuesday.

However, the Finance Minister acknowledged, "Our economy has not fully emerged from the slowdown. There are naturally internal and external factors at play. Statistics have indicated a gradual improvement. The projections made so far by the World Bank, ADB, and NSO are based on nine-month data. Therefore, the government has projected an economic growth rate of over 4.5%," he explained, arguing that we still have three months left to complete the current fiscal year.

The Minister also expressed reservations about claiming that the economy is stable and robust. According to him, the government is formulating policy based on the markets of emerging neighbouring countries, India and China.

He shared that the global sociopolitical scenario, labour market, national natural resources, and geopolitics are also being taken into account.

Despite the economic slowdown, the hotel and tourism sector witnessed 21% economic growth, while the energy sector recorded 17% growth. However, the construction sector has been negative, he informed.

Minister Pun stated that he would not accept the narrative that political instability was behind the slow development works in Nepal. He emphasised that the government's energy policy has created an environment to export energy to India and Bangladesh.