‘Production-based industries affected by increased interest rate’

KATHMANDU: Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma has said there are bottlenecks to establish manufacturing industries in the country due to the culture of depositing money in banks and financial institutions (BFIs) for the sake of high interest. Inaugurating the NADA EV Auto Exhibition in the Capital City on Thursday, Finance Minister Sharma argued that development and expansion of manufacturing industries have been hindered due to hike in loan interest rates. Minister Sharma questioned how the production sector grows if the returns of the deposit in the banks are as high as 15%. "There are issues which should be addressed," according to Sharma. He also hinted at interventions from the Finance Ministry to control the interest rate adding that there will be no investment in the manufacturing sector if the interest rate is lucrative without investment. He opined that the production sector should be prioritised. He emphasized the importance of cooperation among stakeholders and said import substitution through increased export was the best option. On the occasion, he said we should think of running vehicles through hydrogen along with electric vehicles. "Now, we should also go for green hydrogen as the time has come for this," he added. In regard to the export of surplus power to India at present, Minister Sharma added that the surplus power should be consumed in the manufacturing sector. "Instead of exporting electricity, we need to export electricity-powered goods. Now, we should export electricity-generated hydrogen," he said. By RSS READ ALSO:

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