By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, May 17: Private sector leaders on Saturday said that the government’s policy and programmes for Fiscal Year 2020/21 had failed to boost their confidence in doing business.
The government has failed to design a concrete plan to address the need of the economy that is severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown that will complete two months soon, representatives of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), and Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industry (FNCSI) said in a webinar organised by SEJON.
Senior Vice President of FNCCI Shekhar Golchha said that the programmes were not focused on addressing the immediate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.
“The government has ignored bringing a stimulus package. The largest crisis now is the management of liquidity,” he said, adding that the policy document did not mention about the arrangement of internal and external loan for the rehabilitation of the economy while government kept mum on refinancing, reducing interest and managing labourers’ wages.
However, he was hopeful that the upcoming budget – slated to be announced after two weeks – would address the remaining issues.
It is good that the policy has given priority to the investment in health sector, commercialisation of agriculture and employment generation, he said.
According to him, the government should announce a stimulus package, provide 5 per cent concession while exporting goods to India and 10 per cent on export to third countries, offer discount in demand charges and address the wage issues.
Senior VP of NCC Rajendra Malla also said that the government was confused about the relief to the private sector businesses. “To rescue the economy from the crisis, the government should give priority to domestic production growth, reduction of government expenditure, six-month moratorium to agricultural loans and slash down the salary of the chief executive officers,” he said.
He recommended the government to start data collection about the skills of Nepali workers returning from foreign employment, at the airport. He also said that there was a need to merge the airlines company and assess the national need for hotels and resorts in the country.
Senior VP of CNI Bishnu Agrawal also expressed hope that the issues which were not included in the policy and programmes would be addressed by the budget.
According to him, the government should work on the strategy to reduce unnecessary expenses and increase capital expenditure. “We have demanded a stimulus package equal to 5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, but the policy does not say anything about it. Since the downturn in the manufacturing sector can result in a crisis in the economy, the government should work to save them,” he said.
Acting President of the FNCSI Umesh Prasad Singh said that the policy and programmes were brought in a traditional manner.
He appreciated the programmes to provide seed money to potential enterprises and other policies focused on the small and cottage industries.