Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has remarked that the government and the private sectors should work together to resolve the economic crisis in the country.
Addressing the 13th annual general meeting of the Nepalese Association of Financial Journalists (NAFIJ) in Kathmandu, the Finance Minister said, “The government does not have different views towards the private sectors. It is considered an important part of the country.”
The government has taken the private sector as its own part and the suggestions by the private sector would always be incorporated into the government’s policy, he shared.
Saying the problems seen were not stemming only due to internal reasons but also due to external scenarios globally, he expressed the view that the government and private sectors should move ahead together to resolve the problems.
He further said that newly elected people’s representatives should carry out activities according to first priorities of the necessity of development activities.
The FM said, “Citizens have desires for development activities. It is a constitutional requirement. Increasing production and replacing imports are important in the current situation. I urge all bodies of the state to be committed to the same.”
Similarly, the Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari, opined that although the private sector was facing problems due to various reasons including a liquidity crunch, this situation would not last forever.
Although liquidity in the market has eased to some extent in the recent period, there were still some challenges taking place from mid-December, 2022 to mid-January 2023, mentioned Adhikari.
He stressed the need for serious thinking over the concerns of the private sector for the state to intervene to end problems seen in the country’s economy.
“The private sector wants the state to directly intervene with the country’s economy. But, there may be a counterproductive. Balance in one sector may get disturbed while carrying out reforms in another. So, all things cannot be corrected at once,” he said.
Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal Ramesh Kumar Hamal shared that the regulator was at work to additionally 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 prioritizing the issues of the economy instead of politics.
“Present problems are not that facing only the private sector. There are problems in increasing investments due to a liquidity crunch. Inflation has also affected. These problems have been affecting revenue collection,” he said.
Senior Vice President of the Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industry Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal viewed that the government should stay away from collecting internal loans at a time when there is a liquidity crunch. “Collecting internal loans may aggravate the liquidity problem.”
