Rup Narayan Dhakal

Pokhara, April 11:

Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) is to survey the fourth family budget in the coming fiscal year to make the price index lucid and easy to understand. Jhalak Sharma Acharya, deputy-director of the price index investigation department of the NRB, informed in a programme which is being organised to find the situation of the price index and price load of the materials on the basis of consumption.

He said that the price index, currently prepared by the bank, is not cent per cent credible. "The credibility of price index is only 80 per cent and we are trying hard to raise it," he added. He said that the survey results would exact the price load of the materials consumed. Earlier, the bank had surveyed the previous three family budgets in 2030, 2040-041 and 2052-53 BS.

The NRB had been collecting price list of paddy, salt, oil and kerosene and other daily-consumable materials since its inception in 2013 BS. The bank has been collecting the index of 300 different materials from different parts of the country, informed the NRB, Banking and Investigation department, Pokhara, in the programme. Among the 300 items, 70 per cent are domestically manufactured. Acharya added that the price of construction material has gone up by 23.1 per cent this month. "Though the price of cement and iron rods have drastically increased, the price of bricks and sand have remained more or less constant and thus the increase percentage is not so high," He said adding that comparatively, the price of fuel, education and health has rocketed. There is a 20 per cent price hike in fuel while price increase in paddy and vegetables are low."

Rajendra Kumar Lalchan, officiating chairman of the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on the occasion said that the businessmen are working together with the bank to prepare the price index and hoped that this help will be continued in the future also.

Kunja Raj, a lecturer at the Prithvi Narayan Campus, said that the price of many materials vary from one season to other and government should take stock of such situation to see that this would also affect the price index.

Similarly, Ganesh Man Palikhe, chief of Jana Priya Campus, said that it is important to take care about the price load on each material. Bimal Nath Rimal, acting chief manager of the NRB, Pokhara Branch, said that the programme was organised to form healthy relationship with the businessmen for the smooth-operation of the survey. The survey is done to find out the actual situation of the price deflation or the accurate price situation, to find out the purchase power of the currency, to make financial policies and projects and currency policy, to analyse huge projects and to convert the gross domestic production (GDP) in the current currency.