Investment friendly environment created in Nepal: Finance Minister Paudel

Kathmandu, November 22 — Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has said that an investment-friendly environment has been created in the country.

Speaking in a news conference held here today, he mentioned that after Nepal got a BB score in the sovereign credit rating, Nepal has become a suitable environment for investment. He said that the rating indicates that Nepal's economic structure, public finance mobilization and macroeconomic and financial conditions are investment-friendly and advanced.

He said, "The result of the credit rating has created a situation where Nepal's credit capacity is high, its financial and economic capacity is good, which means that it can get loans at low interest rates from the international market."

Minister Paudel expressed his belief that this condition will help to increase the confidence of the private sector and attract foreign investment.

In the sovereign credit rating, there is the rating of basically four sectors of the economy: structural aspects of the economy, macroeconomic performance, and public and external sector economic indicators, it is learnt. While rating the country's sovereign credit, these aspects are evaluated independently from various sovereign rating models and qualitative measurement methods, and the score obtained is given a rating from minimum to maximum.

In the rating, the economic structure of Nepal, the state of public finance, the status of internal and external debt, the state of the indicators of the monetary and financial sector, the economic index of the external sector, the medium-term and long-term blueprint of the economic growth reflected in the Sixteenth Plan and other details and statistics were analyzed. In addition to that, as part of the qualitative evaluation phase, the researchers carried out on-site visit to Nepal, and consulted and discussed with high officials of government agencies such as the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the National Planning Commission, the Nepal Rastra Bank, etc.

Also, the officials of the private sector and bilateral and multilateral development partner agencies in Nepal were consulted during the study. The Nagadhunga tunnel was observed as a model to evaluate the implementation of the mid-term and long-term plans of infrastructure development presented by Nepal.

Joint Secretary at the Ministry Narayan Prasad Risal, informed that the sovereign credit rating is used by the world's investors and financial service providers as a basis for evaluating the investment environment of any country. According to him, it will evaluate the structure and condition of the country's economy from the eyes of independent experts and bring the real situation to investors around the world.