By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Apr. 20: Finance Minister and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada Sunday said that the private sector should play a responsible role to ease the supply of essential commodities, including medicines.
The banks and financial institutions should be service-oriented instead of focusing only on the profit in this abnormal situation created by the COVID-19, said Dr. Khatiwada during a meeting with the representatives of Nepal Chamber of Commerce today.
He said that the government would initiate a process to ease the cash flow and extend the timeframe to pay loan and interest considering the present crisis.
Minister Dr. Khatiwada urged the concerned authorities of the government and the private sector to distribute the relief packages introduced by the government to the targeted people.
“The government will introduce the future programmes by incorporating the suggestions of the private sector and including the representatives of the private sector in the high level task force to be formed to study the impact of COVID-19 in the national economy,” he said.
During the meeting, the delegation of NCC led by its president Rajesh Kazi Shrestha submitted a 24-point memorandum regarding the impact of COVID-19 in the national economy.
They demanded that the government should provide special discount on tax, fines and interest for the industries sector affected badly from the lockdown. The government should review the tax imposed by the State and the federal governments and provide discount on electricity tariff, they said.
Stating that there was no any concrete study on the impact of virus on the economy, the NCC asked the government to form a high level task force including the representatives of private sector to study the impact of COVID-19 on the national economy.
“The government should introduce an economic package in a phase wise basis by analysing the effect of coronavirus. The size of the relief package should not be less than 5 per cent of the GDP,” read the statement of the NCC.
The NCC suggested the government to manage the refinance facilities provided by the Nepal Rastra Bank to the industrial sector to revive their production and make the country’s economy vibrant.
Stating that the business sector would face a shortfall of cash to run the business during this crisis, the NCC suggested the government to provide 4 per cent subsidy on interest of loan by the government and two per cent by the banks and financial institutions.
It also suggested focusing to increase the domestic production.
Likewise, the government should introduce a policy to create job opportunities for the overseas returnees.
Stating that the government was preparing budget for the next fiscal year 2019/20, it said that budget should focus on reviving the economy affected from the virus.
The state and federal governments should allocate budget for entrepreneurship development, training and awareness heading, they demanded.