May 7 : Representatives of the private sector have demanded the resumption of industries severely affected by the ongoing national lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
At an interaction on the topic related to the policies and programmes as well as the national budget for the fiscal year 2077/78′, organised by the main opposition Nepali Congress on Wednesday (May 6) at the party office in Sanepa, they said that the government should seek other viable alternatives to the lockdown and reduce loan interest rate to support the affected industries.
On the occasion, senior vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Shekhar Golchha, said that the country’s economic development could well be pushed back two years backward due to the lockdown. ” In this connection, the private sector should be properly incentived in a way that will help spur the economic growth.” According to him, the government needs to offer financial incentives like , concession on electricity, bringing down the interest rate of bank loans to five percent and value added tax rate to 10 percent along with 20 percent exemption on income and corporate taxes.”
Saying that approximately 5,000 construction projects were operating before the lockdown, president of the Construction Entrepreneurs Federation Rabi Singh said around Rs 35 billion losses from the projects have been incurred as a result.
President of the Hotel Association Nepal, Sirjana Rana ,demanded that the duration to repay loans should be extended, loan interests capitalised and loans re-tabulated.
President of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, Achyut Guragai, said that an arrangement should be made to provide loans at two percent interest rate to manage the salaries to tourism employees.
On the occasion, NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba pledged that NC would take up demands of private sector with the Parliament and the government and create pressure on the government to address them.
