Economic issues are too much politicized: Finance Minister Sharma

KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that false propaganda is being spread that the country is in a state of economic crisis.

Speaking at a press conference organized by the Ministry of Finance in Kathmandu on Monday, Minister Sharma presented some economic indicators and claimed that the overall indicators are still positive.

“The general public and the business community should not be discouraged, they should not be politicized,” he said, adding, “The government is vigilant on all local, regional and global factors influencing the economy and would take due action when needed.”

Minister Sharma said that the finance ministry has submitted a detailed proposal to the government taking into account various measures it might need to take to prevent the economy from aggravating further.

Presenting the statistics to support his claim, he said that the public debt was within the required limits.

According to him, the total public debt of Nepal is only Rs 1.854 trillion. It will be 43.4 percent of the total GDP.

The Foreign Minister claimed that this is lower than other countries in South Asia.

He added that Rs 40.66 billion has to be paid in the current fiscal year, which is less than the current foreign exchange reserves.

He also defended the suspension of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari.