KATHMANDU, JULY 19

The production capacity of industries was limited to 66.81 per cent in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021-22, as per the latest report by Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI).

Industry, Commerce and Supply Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu had launched the fourth edition of the industrial report amidst a programme held here on Monday, which showed that the capacity utilisation of the industries in the third quarter was even lower than 71 per cent recorded in the second quarter of previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, as per the report, the average interest rate for the manufacturing industry was 10.96 per cent in the third quarter against 9.4 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Likewise, the service sector industry paid 10.92 per cent interest rate in the review period.

The study shows that manufacturing industries had borrowed 31 per cent of their capital from banks and financial institutions in the third quarter of last fiscal. The rate in the previous quarter had stood at 34.4 per cent of their capital.

Meanwhile, 82.5 per cent of the participants in the study said they were willing to take on new investments.

The report shows that the income growth rate of the industry in the third quarter of the previous fiscal was 12.82 per cent, a decrease of 14.28 percentage points compared to 27.1 per cent of the second quarter.

The industrial situation report was prepared by focusing on the monetary policy of fiscal year 2021-22, said CNI.

Monetary policy and its objectives, comparative studies, suggestions given by the CNI on monetary policy for the financial year 2022-23 were also included in the report.

Unveiling the report, Minister Badu said that such types of industrial reports help in revealing the actual industrial environment of Nepal.

He further stated that it is necessary to gain clarity on the amount of petroleum products consumed by the generators used in the industries and suggested investigating the cost of replacing the coal-fired boilers currently used in the industrial sector with electricity.

CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agrawal said that there had been a significant decline in market demand, which resulted in reduction of industries' income. 'The government should be sensitive and solve this issue.'

A version of this article appears in the print on July 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.