The adverse impact of coronavirus pandemic has now been felt everywhere in the country. It has brought all economic activities to a halt stifling the economic growth rate. The pandemic has caused a total shutdown of economy for more than a month now, forcing the authority to maintain that the current year would witness a considerable contraction of economic growth as all sectors have been hit hard by the pandemic.

According the Central Bureau of Statistics, which functions under the National Planning Commission, the economy in the country will grow by only 2.27 per cent this year as against 6.75 per cent last fiscal year. The growth is the lowest since 2015/2016 after the country was rattled by the devastating Gorkha Earthquake and Indian blockade. The high growth trajectory was broken, all thanks to the COVID-19, which forced all trades, businesses, industries, services belonging to primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to shut down completely for more than a month. The CBS prepared the growth report based on the first seven to nine months of current fiscal year. The current estimates were made largely on the basis of impacts on the hotel, restaurant and transportation sectors, the three sectors hit hardest among all sectors by the pandemic as the fate of these sectors will remain unknown for the coming months. It, however, exuded confidence that other economic sectors would revive gradually soon after the lockdown is lifted during May.

The growth rate of all three sectors- primary (agriculture, forest, fishery, mines and excavation), secondary (industries like construction, manufacturing, energy and water) and tertiary (service business like wholesale and retail trade, hotel, restaurant, transportation, financial intermediaries, real estate) sectors, are said to be shrunk by more than half which will unequivocally leave their negative impacts on the growth of Gross Domestic Product. The likely reduction of GDP will leave a negative impact on the growth of the Nepali people's growth of per capita income. Though the current per capita income was estimated to reach US$ 1,085 this fiscal year, the pandemic led shutdown has kept it to US$ 1,032, though the planning commission had, before pandemic, projected the per capita income would go up to US$ 3,222 before 2030, the year Nepal would graduate to a middle income country status from a developing one.

Undeniably, the impact of pandemic on our economy is severe one and the nation that relies heavily on foreign borrowings and grants to keep its economy afloat will have an uphill task in bringing the economy on right track. The pandemic has also hit hard the country's revenues collection target this year. The sectors that have suffered huge losses during the lockdown period would without doubt be looking up to the government for the latter's assistance. The government will need to extend financial and other helps to bail out the industries and businesses, especially the worst-hit sectors. Without government's bail-out, many of them cannot be brought to their old self which would be detrimental to growth. The lack of assistance means the country's economy will not achieve considerable growth in due time. The government, therefore, requires mobilising all its financial tools to instil a new life into the worst-hit economy.