Addressing the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Turkish city of Istanbul, Finance Minister Pandey highlighted the three key challenges that Nepal is currently facing and said that the country alone cannot deal with the problem quickly and effectively.
"The first challenge is achieving sustainable peace," he said and added that the country is in the process of writing a new constitution that is expected to complete in the timeline that all political parties have agreed through the interim constitution. He also expressed gratitude for the cooperation that the country has been getting from international community to achieve sustainable peace.
"We thank the international community and the United Nations for their support in the peace process. But we still need more support to complete relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and reintegration," Minister Pandey said.
He further added that widening disparity between the rural and urban economies has lately emerged as the second biggest problem for the country that is slowly healing wounds of the decade-long conflict that claimed over 13,000 lives.
"Though Nepal was able to reduce headcount poverty level, the poverty level in the rural area has not declined much. Much of the rural area does not have access to roads and modern energy and standards of basic social services, such as health and education, " he said.
Minister Pandey stressed on the need of massive investments in basic infrastructures and improving social services. Without big investments, we cannot reduce disparity and without economic prosperity, there is a danger of country relapsing into another violent conflict, he emphasized.
Pandey further said that slowly emerging effects of climate change have emerged as the third biggest challenge for the country. "We have been experiencing the effects in the form of erratic rains and snowfall and there have been floods and droughts at the same time in the country with the highest effect felt in the agricultural sector," he said.
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