The report prepared after a study among labor representatives, opinion makers and business people in nine different parts of the country including Biratnagar, Bharatpur, Bhairawa and Dhangadi said that the respondents largly blamed the deepening political instability, energy deficit and widespread corruption for slowing economic growth in the country.[break]
The report prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in collaboration with National Business Initiative (NBI) has also identified that lack of credit facility, politicization in trade unions, crunch of skilled manpower and tedious bureaucratic procedures as other obstacles in doing business.
“Representatives from labor, business sector and opinion makers selected for the survey put forth common view on the key problems that the economy is facing,” Laura Watson, senior private sector development specialist of IFC for Nepal said while presenting the findings of the survey in the capital.
She further added that the representatives from all three sectors also agreed that government should immidiately initiate the work to address the problems plaguing the economy.
Similarly, most of the respondents opined during the survey that unstable political situation and deficit of power were also responsible for creating negative perception among people about performance of government.
“Lack of domestic investment, poor governance, and high taxes are other reasons to create an adverse environment for the country´s economic prosperity," the finding concludes.
The report also states that a large number of respondents also viewed that government should focus on strengthening the small and medium scale enterprises in the country.
Respondents opined that the government has a crucial role to bring in foreign investment, facilitate international trade, improve competition in the domestic market and create favorable business climate by reducing taxes and improving customs procedures to boost economy.
During the survey 34 percent of the total respondents from business sector had responded that governemnt´s regulatory formalities were responsible in stalling investments in the country.
Similarly, the respondents further complained that the cost and time of complying with the requirements of government-set procedures were too high.
Labor sector representatives who are among the respondents have stressed on the need to regularly revise minimum wage, and guaranty of job security for workers, among others.
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