By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, July 20: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the government will strongly support the implementation of the 'Make in Nepal-Swadeshi' campaign launched by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries for building a self-reliant economy.
In a meeting with a delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (NCI) on Sunday, Finance Minister Sharma said that his priority was to make a self-reliant economy and that he would be with the private sector in the campaign.
“As soon as I became a minister, I looked at the statistics and saw that our imports were high, exports were weak and foreign exchange reserves were low," Sharma said. “We need to think about reducing imports by increasing domestic production with the mutual cooperation of government and private sector.”
Finance Minister Sharma said that he would always move forward with the private sector for economic development, employment generation and making the economy self-reliant.
Minister Sharma said that creating an investment friendly environment with good industrial relations was his priority.
"The government's aim is to strengthen the economy. We are always ready to create investment climate and policy facilitation for the private sector. You should increase the investment.”
Finance Minister Sharma also said that he would take constructive suggestions and advice from the private sector.
He noted that the government needed the support of the private sector to move forward, minimising the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.
CNI President Satish Kumar More said that vaccination for all Nepali and economic rehabilitation were the major needs of the day.
He also urged the Finance Minister to give keep the private sector in priority for vaccination.
Stating that COVID had underscored the need to build a self-reliant economy, he informed that the CNI had launched a 'Make in Nepal–Swadeshi’ campaign to make it a reality.
The private sector expects that the upcoming monetary policy will be instrumental in reviving the COVID-affected economy, he said.