Tuesday, October 9, 2018

IMF keeps growth projection unchanged at 5 per cent

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has kept Nepal's economic growth projection for the current fiscal year 2018-19 unchanged at 5 per cent.
Earlier in April, IMF had projected Nepal's GDP to grow by 5 per cent for the current fiscal year.
Releasing World Economic Outlook – a survey conducted and published by the IMF twice a annually – on the sidelines of 2018 annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, in Bali of Indonesia today, the IMF said that the growth is expected to post 5 per cent. However, the growth projection is far below the government’s target to achieve 8 per cent.
According to IMF’s mission chief to Nepal Gerard J Almekinders, reduced political uncertainty and markedly improved power supply, for instances, could form the basis for an acceleration of structural reforms and sustained pickup in investment which could boost medium-term growth.
However, much will depend on progress in reforms, particularly with regard to strengthening key institutions and administrative capacity, including at the state and local levels to which substantial spending responsibilities have been devolved under the new framework for federal fiscal relations, and improving the business climate to boost private investment,” he said in the statement.
Earlier last month, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has lowered the growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 5.5 per cent, whereas the World Bank (WB) on Sunday predicted the GDP to grow by 5.9 per cent.
According to Almekinders, the IMF may revise the growth projections for Nepal upward in the context of the mission for the Article IV consultation that starts in late-November. Generally, IMF every year sends a mission to Nepal for assessment of the country’s economic and financial developments as part of its surveillance of the economy which is commonly known as the Article IV Consultation.

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