3rd Economists’ Conference being held on April 5-6

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Mar. 31: The third edition of the National Economists’ Conference will be held in Kathmandu on April 5 and 6.

National Economic Concern Society (NECS), Nepal, has been organising the National Economists’ Conference annually with the aim of contributing to building an independent and advanced economy in line with the national character.

President of the NECS Nepal Ganga Bahadur Thapa said that all preparations for the conference have reached the final stage.

He said, “On one hand, the increasing uncontrolled import during the last decade has destroyed the national industry and made the country more dependent and economically unstable, investments from banks and financial institutions have also been unable to mobilise in the productive sector on the other.” 

Likewise, the government's low revenue collection and the implementation of the new federal governance system, along with increasing recurrent expenses, irregularity and corruption, have prompted questions about the federal system itself, Thapa added.  

“In addition to this, the growing migration of skilled and young people abroad will create an imbalance in the country's demographic structure and labour market, and it seems that it will deplete the desire to build a prosperous nation with rapid economic growth,” said the NECS. 

It said that the conference was being organised as an annual event with a sense that an initiative should be taken from the academic, economic and political levels to strengthen the national economy through policy and structural changes.

At the 3rd Economists’ Conference, more than 10 working papers on various issues, including the challenges and opportunities of upgrading Nepal from a least developed country to a developing one, liquidity problems in the banking sector and the impact of unstable interest rates on the production sector will be presented and discussed, said Keshab Raj Panthi, chief of the Research Division of the NECS.

According to the organisation, the conclusions obtained from the academic debate on the working papers presented at the conference will be submitted to the government, political parties and bodies involved in policy-making for implementation.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has been invited as the chief guest of the conference, said the NECS.

The Speaker, former Prime Ministers, Finance Ministers and former Finance Ministers, representatives of political parties, current and former vice-chairmen of the National Planning Commission, governors and former governors of the NRB, senior and emerging economists, heads of local bodies and investors will attend the conference. (RSS)