Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that industrialisation is a must to boost the country’s economy.
“The government is focused on increasing domestic production and domestic investment for the economic development of the country,” he said during a meeting with a business delegation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) on Friday.
He said that the government was always ready to cooperate with the private sector for the industrial development and as well as for increasing domestic production through increasing investment.
Finance Minister Sharma also urged the private sector to increase their investment as the government was committed to facilitating them by creating business-friendly environment.
Congratulating Sharma for his appointment as Finance Minister, the business delegation led by its president Rajendra Malla suggested introducing a relief package of at least 5 per cent of the gross domestic products (GDP) to revive the COVID-affected economy of the country.
The NCC has suggested introducing a special relief package for entrepreneurs in tourism, small and medium enterprises and the informal economy, the areas most affected by COVID-19.
“As the economic and other bills related to the private sector are pending in the federal parliament for a long time, the private sector’s problems are yet to be addressed. In this context, the government needs to give priority to passing the pending bills,” said Malla.
Stating that the existing legal provisions on the legitimacy of resources for investment have not been able to attract domestic investment, the NCC has demanded creation of investment-friendly environment by managing it.
In order to provide employment to the workers returning home from abroad in the current difficult situation, the NCC has demanded that the government should bring a policy to encourage domestic investment by using the skills and competencies learned abroad.
In a situation where remittances are being spent in unproductive sectors, there is a need for an incentive policy to invest remittances entering Nepal through banking channels in energy, infrastructure and productive sectors.
The NCC has suggested the government to introduce a policy for encouraging the digital transaction by removing hurdles in it.
It has also suggested that export subsidy policy should be adopted for export trade on the basis of value addition.
Source : TRN,
