By Ranju Kafle

Kathmandu, May 3: Leaders of private sector have said that they are expecting relief package with the orientation to economic stability from the government in the upcoming budget of the fiscal year 2020/21.
Participating in a virtual pre-budget discussion organized by Management Association Nepal (MAN), they expressed worries to uncertainty, prolonged lockdown period and disruption of economic activities.
All economic activities except trading of some essential and fast moving consumer goods and medicines are stopped since March 24 as the government imposed lockdown amidst the fear of spread of deadly coronavirus.
According to them, sustaining the business, paying wages to the workers and interest to the banks was the most challenging job in the crisis.
“Private industries, businesses are hard hit in this duration. If it’s not dealt with carefully, unemployment will increase which can create chaos in the society,” they had a common voice.
Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal, Vice-President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) said that protecting the private sector with liberal relief packages was equally important as saving lives from the pandemic.
Stating that economic activities had come to a halt, Agrawal said that business communities were worried about paying bank interest in time. “Government should bring fiscal relief packages equal to at least 5 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” he said. He maintained that industries required rebates of electricity on lockdown period.
Bhawani Rana, President of the Federation of Nepali Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), agreed with Agrawal. She said that prioritizing the programmes of fiscal resurrection was expected to be announced in the budget of the coming fiscal year.
Rana focused on fiscal stability and said that business community was asking for due care from the government to cope with the impact of global crisis. “Agro production sector needs to declare income tax-free zone with a priority in the budget and value added tax (VAT) should be slashed to 10 per cent,” she added.
Similarly, Vishnu Kumar Agrawal, Senior Vice-President of Confederation of Nepali Industries (CNI) said that private sector was in stress due to the uncertainty and lockdown.
“If private businesses cannot revive, unemployment would increase and that could lead towards a chaotic situation,” he said.
Fiscal rehabilitation package will be unveiled: FinMin Khatiwada
Minister for Finance Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada assured the business community that the government would disclose fiscal rehabilitation package balancing national capacity and need for the recovery.
He said that the government would assist business community in the recovery efforts in the post-COVID-19 scenario.
Dr Khatiwada, who is also the Spokesperson of the government,

focused on relief requirement, national capacity and shareholders’ losses and said common effort was required to defend against global crisis.
“Economy cannot be salvaged from COVID-19 pandemic only with government efforts, we all need to equally contribute to overcome this crisis,” he added. He assured that the government would take some positive steps to support the revival and growth of the private sector businesses.
Minister Dr Khatiwada asked the private sector to play constructive roles in fixing the budget priorities.