Major Political Parties Unveil Economic Reform Agendas Ahead of Elections

Major political parties have unveiled their manifestos with the goal of qualitatively improving the nation's economy. Focusing on the House of Representatives election scheduled for this coming Falgun 21, the main political parties have put forward plans to upgrade and strengthen the country's economy.

Plans for increasing the size of the economy, qualitative economic growth, and the third phase of economic reform are also included in the manifestos. Major political parties have given importance to multi-dimensional expansion of the economy, self-reliance, and internal strengthening.

The Nepali Congress has declared the next five years as the 'Half Decade of Economic Revival' and aims to grow Nepal's economy to NPR 115 Kharba through second-generation economic reforms. The Congress also vows to raise the per capita income to US$2,500.

To achieve this, the plan is to mobilize a large amount of investment, with the private sector maintaining an 80 percent share, limiting the state's role to that of a facilitator and impartial regulator. The Congress also plans to control inflation within five percent.

A liberal economy establishes the private sector as the main engine of prosperity, creating policy stability and an environment for healthy competition, where the government only plays the role of a skilled regulator for market fairness and cleanliness.

The Congress has put forward a plan to achieve high, sustainable, and broad economic growth based on employment generation and production, recognizing that youth are not just laborers but true partners in wealth creation and entrepreneurship.

The Congress aims to ensure special economic opportunities and protection for low-income and marginalized communities, enabling them to create wealth and become productive asset owners.

The Congress plans to immediately address policy ambiguities, legal hassles, and institutional complexities faced by various industries currently in operation by making the one-door system effective and creating an environment for hassle-free industrial operation.

A simplified digital system is planned to be implemented to ensure that tax rates and conditions remain stable for at least 10 years, and all processes from industry registration to renewal become paperless and hassle-free.

Furthermore, the party has included in its manifesto a plan to merge the Investment Board and the Department of Industry to establish a transparent, powerful Investment Promotion and Protection Board, and to make necessary policy and legal arrangements to effectively manage Special Economic Zones currently established and in operation.

The Congress manifesto, titled 'Congress's Pledge,' outlines a plan to facilitate the gradual formalization of the informal economy by providing necessary knowledge, information, and services.

The CPN (UML) has set a target of building an economy worth NPR 100 Kharba in half a decade and an economy worth NPR 200 Kharba in a decade. The target is to achieve economic growth of up to seven percent by making strides in agricultural productivity, electricity generation capacity, mineral and industrial production, information technology, and physical infrastructure development.

The goal is to mobilize all national resources and capabilities to raise the per capita income to approximately US$3,000 in five years. The UML's plan aims to end extreme poverty through equitable rapid economic development.

The UML has set a target of modernizing agriculture and transferring surplus labor from this sector to industrial and service sectors through education, skills, and technology development. It has put forward a plan to make macro-economic and sectoral policies investment-friendly and production-supportive. The UML plans to allocate capital from the financial sector to productive sectors, develop and strengthen the capital market, and mobilize investment for high economic growth by mobilizing further domestic and foreign capital.

The UML aims to increase state investment in sectors that have a multiplier effect on economic growth, and to formulate the budget sufficiently to complete major projects that will increase production and productivity in all sectors of the economy and qualitatively improve the living standards of the general public.

The UML plans to enhance the efficiency of public enterprises, cut down on expenses other than capital formation and mandatory liabilities for the next five years, and increase investment in job-creating productive sectors. The plan is to implement the budget by enacting legal provisions to penalize those who violate the budget amount, set deadlines, results, and quality standards, or fail to meet benchmarks.

The UML states that public debt will only be taken for implementing nationally prioritized projects, and public debt will not be allowed to exceed a safe ratio of national capacity. The party has put forward a plan to control inflation, ensure food security, increase production, regulate prices and supply, and protect consumer interests by increasing consumer awareness.

Similarly, the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has given significant importance to initiating a new phase of economic reform in its commitment paper. The CPN envisions a socialist-oriented economy in line with the concept of a socialist-oriented economy envisioned by the Constitution of Nepal.

Considering the changing national and international economic environment, the CPN's commitment paper mentions advancing a new phase of broad and structural economic reform centered on economic prosperity with social justice through production growth, job creation, financial inclusion, and self-reliance.

In the context of an international body placing Nepal on the grey list concerning issues like money laundering, the CPN is committed to bringing a time-bound action plan to get out of it.

The CPN has prioritized the transformation of the agricultural and rural economy, energy and infrastructure development, industrial and entrepreneurial promotion, information technology and digital economy, quality development of tourism and service sectors, and the social sector.

The CPN aims to utilize the demographic dividend through production-oriented employment, adding an additional 150,000 jobs annually to ensure 500,000 jobs per year. The CPN aims to reduce the current multi-dimensional poverty rate from 20.15 percent to five percent in five years by reducing economic and social inequality.

The objective is to build a production-oriented, export-promoting, and self-reliant economy, gradually reducing import dependency, enhancing the investment capacity of the domestic private sector, and attracting foreign investors. The CPN's objective is to lay the foundation for a green and digital economy through the judicious use of natural resources.

The CPN has set an objective in its commitment paper to develop each province as a specific economic activity zone based on its potential, ensuring economic development by maintaining a balance between the private, cooperative, and public sectors.

The CPN has put forward a plan to strengthen the three pillars of the economy and make the community sector the fourth pillar. The CPN has advanced a plan to reduce production costs through policy and structural reforms and make domestic production prices competitive. It has also put forward a plan to ensure self-reliance in strategic goods and services, including food grains.

The CPN's commitment paper includes plans to control the trade deficit by increasing the production of high-value goods with comparative advantage, diversifying foreign trade by country, and opening export-oriented industries in specific production areas through the sole or partnership of government, private, and cooperative sectors. The CPN has put forward programs to increase production and employment through the development of the agriculture and industry sectors.

The CPN plans to eliminate the situation where a large portion of financial sector resources is controlled only by business houses by setting targets for medium and small loans, thereby encouraging banks to invest in productive sectors.

The CPN is committed to transforming the agricultural and rural economy, setting a target to make financial services and systems easy, simple, fast, accessible, and transparent in line with the concept of FinTech.

The CPN has set a target to reduce the poverty rate to five percent, distribute identity cards and classify all farmers within one year, and generate an additional 110,000 MW of electricity in five years. The CPN's commitment paper includes a plan to make 20 cities 'Smart Cities' and 100 rural settlements 'Smart Villages,' provide health insurance to all citizens by 2088 BS, and reduce the cabinet size to a smaller one, including experts, from the current 25 ministers.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) believes that the continuous increase in productivity will be the main basis for our economic upliftment. The RSP's view is that overall development should be measured not just by income growth but by qualitative improvements in employment expansion, social harmony, equality of opportunity, and environmental balance.

The RSP's plan involves promoting the dynamism, innovation, and creativity of the private sector through a liberal economic policy, and ensuring equitable redistribution of national income through public education, health, transport, housing, and social security.

The party has promised in its manifesto to scrap about two dozen obsolete laws, systematically abolish or reform cumbersome laws and discretionary processes to reduce production costs, improve the business environment, and attract domestic and expatriate investment in priority areas of economic growth. The RSP has set a target to maintain an average annual economic growth rate of seven percent for the next five years for Nepal to become a respectable middle-income country.

The party aims for the per capita income to exceed three thousand US dollars and the size of the economy to approach 100 billion US dollars within the next five to seven years. It has put forward a plan to reduce the burden of all taxes while guaranteeing that revenue does not decrease, based on a liberal economic policy with social justice and an advanced understanding with the private sector.

The party has included in its manifesto the provision of 'One Stop' service for promoting and facilitating domestic and foreign investment, where files can be submitted in one place, eliminating the need to visit other agencies. The party's manifesto includes implementing a target-focused working style for public projects with clear objectives, priorities, guaranteed budget, fixed timelines, qualified and adequate human resources, and result-oriented goals.