Nepali economic performance not satisfactory: finance minister

Nepali Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat has said that the current Nepali fiscal year (July 16, 2005-July 15, 2006) could not be satisfactory from the standpoint of national economic performance, state-run Nepal Television (NTV) reported Wednesday.

"The survey has pegged the gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the current fiscal year at 1.9 percent," Mahat said when presenting an economic survey for the current Nepali fiscal year at House of Representatives, or Parliament on Tuesday.

Nepal's GDP growth stood at 2.7 percent during the last fiscal year.

"This poor growth rate has been attributed to poor showing in agriculture, which is projected to grow by 1.7 percent," Mahat said.

He said the non-agriculture sector shows an improvement. The forecast is it would grow by 2.8 percent against 2.1 percent of last Nepali fiscal year.

The per capita GDP has improved by about 7 percent, he said. The annual average income of a Nepali stands at 311 U.S. dollars, which is up by 14 U.S. dollars from the last fiscal.

The survey shows a gloomy picture on the social development front. "For an instance, only 17 km of roads were built and not a single new hospital was added to the existing 87 hospitals throughout the country during the entire fiscal year," he said.

Source: Xinhua