Government reiterates commitment on reforms in easing doing business

The government reiterated its commitments in creating an investment friendly environment through regular policy revision and reforms.
The parameters for Doing Business is one of the key benchmarks for reforms, said secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Krishna Hari Baskota, addressing a workshop on 'Doing Business in Nepal: Updates of Reforms undertaken in 2012-13 and Planned Reforms Initiatives,” jointly organised by IFC and the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
"It will allow us to set targets and provide an objective measure of our progress," he said, adding that the government has taken several measures in easing the doing business in Nepal.
Recently, there has been some remarkable reforms like the Office of the Company Registrar has introduced online business registration to expedite setting up a business to formalise business operations easily, apart from tax reforms like a series of reforms to broaden the tax base and make tax compliance faster and easier for businesses.
Taking stock of the reform process over the last one year, they both — the private sector and government — also assessed future plans agreeing on to work continuously towards the common goal of addressing constraints to business as one of the ways to enhance economic growth in Nepal.
"International Finance Corporation (IFC) is committed to supporting the government in improving laws and business regulations governing private investment," head of IFC’s Investment Climate Reform Programme in Nepal Fred Zake, said, on the occasion.
"Simplifying the laws and business regulations relating to banking and financial institutions will help make investors doing business environment friendlier and attractive, he said, adding that a lot, still, needs to be done to address the country’s infrastructure needs and bring down high transaction costs.
The country ranks 108th among the 185 economies, according to the Doing Business report 2013 published by the World Bank that noted that higher score indicates a more efficient business regulatory system.
Earlier a year ago, the country was ranked 107th on ease of doing business among the 183 economies in Doing Business 2012.
The improvements in the ranking due to reforms will help attract foreign Direct Investment (FDI) because the prospective investors' decide on the basis of country’s ranking in the annual Doing Business report that covers 11 indicators that are keys to doing business.
IFC — a member of the World Bank Group — is assisting the government on a comprehensive reform programme to ease doing business and attract private investments into the country, spurring development and creating additional livelihood opportunities.
The SouthAsia Enterprise Development Fund — managed by IFC — in partnership with the UK government and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, is supporting the programme that has brought a slew of reforms lately.
The programme covers a broad spectrum of initiatives, ranging from supporting the Nepal Business Forum, assisting Investment Board to make projects attractive to private investors and simplifying procedures to ease doing business.