CHITWAN, DECMBER 5

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that the country's economy is on improvement trajectory.

Talking to journalists here today, he said the economy has started to pick up. "The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal and the remittance inflow has increased. The problems of entrepreneurs who are in difficulty would be addressed. Overall, remittance inflow from abroad has gone up by 30 percent. The tourism entrepreneurs are excited with the growing number of tourists," he said.

He, however, said it will take some time for the economy to fully revive. Stating that many policy-level decisions have been made for improving the economy, the Finance Minister opined that some problems have been seen in the economy as the investment from these decisions takes time to give results.

Responding to journalists' query regarding the selling of shares of Ncell, the telecom service provider company, Minister Mahat said the government is not informed on this till now. "We have been gathering information. Telecom is the regulatory body on this topic. There is provision that permission has to be taken while carrying out such a huge transaction," he added. Minister Mahat said the government is inquiring with the Telecom officials on the impact this would have.

After the Malaysian company, Axiata Group Berhad decided to sell 80 per cent of Ncell's share to another company Spectrlite UK Limited last Friday, the agreement has generated widespread curiosity and concern in Nepal.

Questions have been raised about the legal process and financial transparency of this offshore transaction.

On a different note, he made it clear that the government has not forwarded any process for mining sand and stone from the Chure region for now.

"No such process has moved ahead now. It is only propaganda. However, in the related proposal we have not mentioned Chure specifically and you should also note this. Stones and gravel also fall under the mineral-based materials with production potentiality."

According to the Finance Minister, how these resources could be utilized for the nation's benefit without harming the environment is an issue to be considered.