Money & Finance

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the government is committed to resolving problems in the country's economy.

"The government does not have different views towards the private sector. It is an important part of the country," said Minister Sharma, addressing the 13th annual general meeting of the Nepalese Association of Financial Journalists (NAFIJ) on Wednesday.

The government considers the business sector an importan part, the minister said, proposals from the private sector will always be integrated into government policy.

Sharma parried the economic problems facing the country, saying that they had occurred more because of external scenarios. “The government and private sector should move ahead together to resolve the problems.”  

Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari acknowledged the private sector’s problems, including a liquidity crunch, but assured that the situation would not last forever.

“Liquidity in the market has eased to some extent in the recent period, but there will be some challenges from mid-December 2022 to mid-January 2023,” Adhikari said.

However, taking exception to the private sector’s demand for state intervention to end problems in the country's economy, the central bank governor warned: “The state’s direct intervention may be counterproductive. Reforms in one sector may disturb the balance in another. So, everything cannot be corrected at once.”

Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal Ramesh Kumar Hamal said that the regulator was making efforts to make the stock market effective and transparent.

Senior Vice President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Chandra Dhakal underscored the need for prioritising the issues of the economy instead of politics.
"The private sector is also struggling for investments due to a liquidity crunch. Inflation is high. These problems have been affecting revenue collection," he said.

Senior Vice President of the Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industry Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal suggested the government should avoid collecting internal loans to ease the liquidity crunch. "Collecting internal loans may aggravate the liquidity problem."

With RSS inputs