Government revises GDP growth to 4.5 per cent

The government has revised GDP growth to 4.5 from its earlier projection of five per cent.
Launching a mid-term budget review today, finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said all micro economic indicators are looking up despite the unrest in Tarai and our presumption of economy doing bad. "The revenue collection is up by 25.4 per cent to Rs 47.39 billion within the first six months of current fiscal year," he said. Last year, it was up by only 19.7 per cent.
Similarly, the income from tourism has also gone up by
65.3 per cent and remittance is up by 18.2 per cent contrary
to the saying that the remittance is going down.
"In the first six month of last fiscal year, the dollar reserve was at $2.55 billion whereas it has touched $2.62 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year," Dr Mahat said, adding that except the exports that has gone down by 5.8 per cent, all the micro-economic indicators indicate that the economy is on right track. He blamed the labour unrest and regular strikes, Chhakka jam and tyre-burning culture for the down slide in exports.