KATHMANDU, APRIL 8

Finance Minister Janardhan Sharma has said that Nepal's economy will not tailspin like that of Sri Lanka.

Addressing 'National Conference on Economics and Finance' organised by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) here today, Minister Sharma dismissed rumours that Nepal's economy is on the verge of collapse like that of Sri Lanka as Nepal's economy is comparatively in a better position in term of the production and revenue system and the country is not saddled with a huge foreign debt burden.

'The situation facing Sri Lanka and our economy is completely different.

So instead of creating a panic by comparing Nepal's economy with that of Sri Lanka, let's focus on improving our economy,' he said.

During the conference, he mentioned about informing the central bank five months ago on the risks of the capital flight in Nepal via investment in illegal transactions like cryptocurrencies and hyper funds.

According to him, Nepal witnessed illicit financial flows as the concerned authority failed to take timely appropriate action.

Meanwhile, Minister Sharma said that the country's foreign exchange reserves was under pressure due to high imports of petroleum products, vehicles and luxury items and pointed out the need to promote domestic production to control imports. He stressed on the need to utilise the available resources for productivity growth and job creation.

Stating that creating stability in the financial and external sectors is the major responsibility now, Finance Minister Sharma suggested NRB to conduct in-depth study and research for the sustainability of the economy.

'NRB is not only the regulatory body of the financial sector, but also the centre of economic research.

Identifying the existing problems of the economy, I expect to receive regular policy suggestions from the NRB for an economic upturn.'

Acting Governor Neelam Dhungana Timsina said that the economy is facing difficulties due to liquidity crunch, high trade deficit and remittance inflows.

Altogether 17 working papers on economy, monetary, banking, finance, trade, capital market and other issues were presented by the experts from different fields during the fourth edition of the conference.

Prior to this, international conferences were held in 2012, 2015 and 2020 respectively. Due to risk of COVID, this edition was organised at the national level.

Deputy Governor Bam Bahadur Mishra, Director of NRB Shri Ram Poudyal, CEOs of the commercial banks, representatives of various associations, and researchers were also present at the conference.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 9, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.