Industrial sector not satisfied with financial policy

KATHMANDU, NOV 22: 

The budget has once again failed to meet the expectations of the industrial sector. “The budget is quite traditional and there is nothing encouraging for the industrial sector,” said vice president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pradeep Jung Pandey.

“We have always been asking for a full budget which would be able to address most of the issues, plans and programmes of different sectors, but the partial budget has disappointed us,” he said, adding that there will not be any competitiveness in our products followed by low production and overall export figures will observe another fall. “The traditional budget will not help the national GDP grow.”

It should have focused more on hydropower, tourism and agricultural sectors. “We were expecting the government to launch programmes that could increase competitiveness, employment opportunities, and infrastructural development,” he added. It should have included a common economic agenda and should have provided continuity to national projects. 

“We are quite disappointed with the budget as it has not addressed infrastructure development which is a must for the development of the tourism industry,” said president of Hotel Association Nepal Shyam Sundar Lal Kakshapati. “The tourism industry has great potential which can be utilised only through infrastructure development,” he said. 

“We had some expectations from the budget but it has nothing for export promotion and development,” said president of Garment Association –Nepal Uday Raj Pandey. He said that there was a need for a full budget. 

“The partial budget does not have special programmes for the economic sector,” he said, adding that the budget includes only government expenditure and has totally stayed away from addressing any economic programme. 

“Currently, the economic sector is in need of some strong programmes. There was nothing exciting about the budget,” said Pandey. “We were expecting the budget to come up with better programmes to revive declining exports, develop new opportunities, and increase industrial activity,” he said. 

During the first three months of fiscal year 2012-13, exports have increased by 14.9 per cent, while total import has increased by 36.1 per cent. Meanwhile, during the first three months of the last fiscal year, total exports increased by 17.8 per cent, while total increment in import was 14.5 percent. According to government statistics, the ratio of export to import has declined to 15.2 per cent, which was 18.5 per cent. The government brought a special budget of Rs 351.93 billion yesterday, which was a continuation of the first special budget of July 15.

Source: THT