By Our Reporter
At a time when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat have been arguing that the economy has improved. But the latest survey by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) showed otherwise.
The CNI study has found no improvement in the economy in the first quarter of the current Fiscal Year 2023/24 compared to the situation in the previous FY 2022/23.
While the government has been reiterating the reforms in the economy citing the positive indicators in the balance of payment, foreign exchange reserve, gradually decreasing bank interest rates as well as increasing remittance and decreasing imports, the private sector body’s research has concluded otherwise.
“It is seen that the overall demand in the market has gone down. The price of raw materials is constantly rising. It seems that there has been a decline in the import of raw materials of the industry,” showed the CNI study which was made public on Monday.
“Due to the adverse economic conditions, the morale of the industrialists and businessmen was seen to be weak last year, which has remained the same even in the current year. According to the survey, last year 69.44 per cent of industrialists and businessmen said that they had postponed their investment plans, while in the first quarter of this year, 55.32 per cent of industrialists and businessmen said that they had deferred their investment plans.
It is our understanding that the economy has not improved as claimed by the government, said the President of the CNI, Rajesh Kumar Agrawal. The survey has made a comparative study of the first quarter of the last three fiscal years.
According to the survey, the overall market demand for industrial products decreased by 28.28 per cent last year. It has been seen that it has further decreased by 12.06 per cent during the same period of the current fiscal year.
Compared to the same period of 2022/23, there has been a total contraction of 36.93 per cent in the overall demand of industries in 2023/24. Similarly, the turnover of industries has decreased by 24.94 per cent in the previous year while it went down by 7.46 per cent in the same period of this year.
In comparison to the 2021/22, industrial turnover has decreased by 30.54 per cent.
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