Doha Bank CEO Dr R Seetharaman (third left) with Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari (second right) during a business meeting held at Hotel Sheraton.
DOHA: To mark the official visit of Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari, an interactive business meeting was held at Hotel Sheraton. The meeting was attended by Yousuf bin Mohamed Al-Hail, Ambassador of Qatar to Nepal and Nepal’s Ambassador to Qatar, Prof Ramesh Prasad Koirala.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Doha Bank CEO Dr R Seetharaman delivered a speech, highlighting the economic growth of Nepal.
Citing IMF data, Dr Seetharman said Nepal economy is expected to grow by 6.3 percent. The main sector of the economy is agriculture, which employs over 70 percent of the population and accounts for 33 percent of GDP.
As Nepal is home to the highest mountains in the world, tourism has been steadily growing in importance and is an important source of revenue. The growth rate is the result of stable government, good monsoon and implementation of big projects, he said.
The Nepal government has presented a budget of $12.15bn for the 2018-19 fiscal year, with a target of achieving an economic growth rate of 8 percent.
Development of highways, railways, irrigation, energy and urban infrastructure, post-earthquake reconstruction and good governance were the other priorities of the budget.
It aims to create additional employment for 500,000 people in the next fiscal.
The government has sought to encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in export oriented sectors. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country’s central bank. NRB is currently supervising 196 banks and financial institutions, including 28 commercial banks, for an economy of just $21bn, he said.
Speaking on India-Nepal trade relations Dr Seetharaman said India-Nepal trade volume stood at above $7bn in 2017-18. Nepal’s main imports from India are petroleum products; motor vehicles and spare parts, rice & paddy and vegetables.
Nepal’s export basket to India mainly comprises jute goods, zinc sheet, textiles, threads & polyester yarn.
Indian firms are the biggest investors in Nepal, accounting for about 40 percent of the total approved foreign direct investments. There are about 150 Indian ventures operating in Nepal.
They are engaged in manufacturing, services, power sector and tourism industries.
Around 600,000 Indians are living/domiciled in Nepal” Ambassador Prof Koirala said with a presence of more than 400,000 Nepali expatriates in Qatar, Nepal constitutes the second largest expatriate community in the country.
He said Nepal has a huge potential for investment in various sectors such as hydropower, tourism, agriculture, infrastructure and other sectors.
