KATHMANDU: Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma has said that price hike in petroleum products, iron goods and coal brought about challenges in Nepal’s economy.

He added, “Otherwise Nepal would achieve more than 7 per cent of annual economic growth.”

External forces led to increased inflation and export could not increase compared to the imports, leading to slow progress in economy, according to Sharma.

Minister Sharma also said different measures have been applied to maintain balance of payment (BoP), improvement has been reported in remittance inflow and foreign exchange is sufficient to purchase goods and service for six and a half years.

Sharma shared that 77 per cent of the revenue target for the current fiscal year has been collected out of the target of Rs 1180 billion.