प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमतामा भुटानले जित्यो नेपाललाई

राजनीतिक अस्थिरता, पूर्वाधारको अभाव, भ्रष्टाचार, असक्षम कर्मचारीतन्त्र तथा नीतिगत अस्थिरताका कारण व्यवसाय गर्ने वातावरण बिग्रँदै गएकोले नेपालले आफनो प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता गुमाउँदै गएको छ ।
वल्र्ड एकोनोमिक फोरमद्वारा हालै सार्वजनिक विश्वको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता २०१६ का अनुसार नेपाल गत वर्षभन्दा सूचकांकमा एक तह माथि उक्ले पनि दक्षिण एसियाको तेस्रो प्रतिस्पर्धी अर्थतन्त्रबाट तल झरेर चौथो हुन पुगेको छ ।
निरन्तरको राजनीतिक संक्रमण तथा औद्योगिक असुरक्षा तथा ऊर्जाजस्ता अत्यावश्यक पूर्वाधार अभावले पनि नेपालको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमतामा ह्रास आएको हो । गत वर्षको प्रतिवेदन अनुसार नेपालको दक्षिण एसियामा भारत तथा श्रीलंकापछि प्रतिस्पर्धी अर्थतन्त्र रहेकोमा यस वर्ष भुटानले उछिनेको हो । विश्वको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता २०१६ को सूचकांक अनुसार दक्षिण एसियामा भारत ३९औं स्थानमा, श्रीलंका ७१औं स्थानमा र भुटान ९७औं स्थानमा रहेका छन् । नेपाल भने १३८ राष्ट्रको सूचीमा ३.८७ अंकका साथ ९८औं स्थानमा छ । नेपालभन्दा पछाडि बंगलादेश १०६ स्थानमा र पाकिस्तान १२२ स्थानमा छन् ।
विश्वको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता २०१५ मा नेपाल १४० राष्ट्रको सूचीमा १००औं स्थानमा थियो । सूचकांकको आधारमा नेपाल एक स्थान उक्ले पनि दक्षिण एसियाका अन्य देशको दाँजोमा प्रतिस्पर्धि क्षमता भने गुमाउँदै गएको हो ।
पछिल्ला सरकारहरु आर्थिक मुद्दामा भन्दा राजनीतिक मुद्दामा बढी केन्द्रित हुनु, संविधानसभाबाट संविधान जारी भएपछि आर्थिक क्रान्तिको पालो भने तापनि अझै राजनीतिक संक्रमणकाल लम्बिनु तथा आर्थिक सुधारको दोस्रो चरणले अपेक्षा गरेअनुरुप गति लिन नसक्नुले पनि नेपालको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता घटेको हो ।
यति हुँदाहुँदै पनि, प्रतिवेदनका अनुसार, नेपाल दक्षिण एसियामै सबैभन्दा राम्रो बृहत आर्थिक वातावरण भएको देशमा पर्छ । त्यस्तै, स्वास्थ्य तथा प्राथमिक शिक्षामा पनि नेपाल दोस्रो उत्कृष्ट छ ।
‘तर, पूर्वाधारको विषयमा भने नेपाल अत्यन्त नाजुक रहेको प्रतिवेदनले जनाएको छ । नेपालमा पूर्वाधारको गुणस्तर खस्केको छ,’ प्रतिवेदन भन्छ । 
प्रत्येक वर्ष वल्र्ड एकोनोमिक फोरमद्वारा सार्वजनिक गरिने विश्वको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता सूचकांक आधारभूत आवश्यकता, सक्षमता अभिवृद्धि तथा नविन खोज र विकास जस्ता ३ प्रमुख सूचकका आधारमा तयार गरिन्छ । 
यस वर्षको प्रतिवेदन अनुसार नेपाल आधारभूत आवश्यकता र सक्षमता अभिवृद्धि दुवै सूचकमा ९८औं स्थानमा र नविन खोज र विकासको सूचकमा अत्यन्त कमजोर अर्थात १२७औं स्थानमा छ ।
यी ३ सूचक अन्तर्गत पनि विश्वको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता सूचकांकले १२ वटा आधारशिलाका आधारमा प्रत्येक देशको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता मापन गछ । आधारभूत आवश्यकता अन्तर्गत संस्था, पूर्वाधार, बृहत् आर्थिक वातावरण तथा, स्वास्थ्य तथा प्राथमिक शिक्षा पर्छन् । यस्तै, सक्षमता अभिवृद्धि सूचकअन्तर्गत उच्च शिक्षा तथा तालिम, वस्तु बजारको क्षमता, श्रम बजारको क्षमता, वित्त बजार विकास, प्राविधिक रुपमा तयारी र बजारको आकारका आधारमा कुनै पनि देशको अर्थतन्त्रको प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता मापन गरिन्छ । माथि उल्लेखित आधारमध्ये यस सूचकअन्तर्गत वित्त बजार विकासबाहेक अन्य उच्च शिक्षा तथा तालिम, वस्तु बजारको क्षमता, श्रम बजारको क्षमता, प्राविधिक रुपमा तयारी तथा बजारको आकारमा नेपालको स्थिति त्यत्ति राम्रो छैन ।
तेस्रो नविन खोज र विकास सूचकले कुनै पनि देश विकासको क्रममा अगाडि बढेपछि मात्र महŒव राख्दछ । नेपालजस्ता अर्थतन्त्रको लागि यो सूचकको खासै महत्व छैन किनकि अर्थतन्त्र सबल हुदै जाँदामात्र नविन खोज, अनुसन्धान तथा विकासको अर्थ रहन्छ । 
विश्व प्रतिस्पर्धी क्षमता सूचकांक २०१५ मा १४० देशमध्ये १००औं रहेको नेपाल त्यसभन्दा अघिल्लो वर्ष १४४ देशमध्ये १०२औं स्थानमा थियो । प्रतिवेदनले स्विजरल्यान्डमा संसारको सबैभन्दा प्रतिस्पर्धी अर्थतन्त्र रहेको जनाएको छ । सिंगापुर दोस्रो तथा अमेरिका तेस्रो सबैभन्दा प्रतिस्पर्धी अर्थतन्त्र भएका देश हुन् ।
अर्थतन्त्र प्रतिस्पर्धी भएपछि विदेशी लगानीकर्ताको आकर्षण बढ्नुका साथै देशको आर्थिक स्तर पनि बढ्ने प्रतिवेदनले जनाएको छ ।

Government encouraging pseudo-industrialisation

Manufacturing sector – victimised by politics and energy crisis – has been further damaged by the government's equal treatment to raw materials and finished products.
The government has been encouraging deindustrialisation by levying equal customs duty on raw materials and finished products, according to business fraternity. The government levies equal tax on most of the raw materials and finished products, which is discouraging the industrial sector, according to president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Haribahkta Sharma.
There is a need to eliminate negative protection, he said, adding that industries have to pay equal customs for import of raw materials and finished products.
Most of the business groups have entered into trading business in recent years, pulling down shutters on their industry due to equal treatment to finished products and raw materials apart from deteriorating investment climate.
On one hand politics in labour unions has reduced productivity of employees and on the other lack of energy has squeezed production capacity of the plants, he said, adding that prolonged political transition will only increase the pace of deindustrialisation despite the government promise to encourage industrialisation in the country.
Likewise, the increasing cost of energy due to lack of regular power supply has made the domestic products expensive, eroding comparative and competitive capacity of domestic industries, added Sharma.
Managing director of Nimbus Ananda Bagaria seconded Sharma. According to him, the government has to immediately revisit its tax policy on raw materials.
The government is preparing the budget for the next fiscal year aiming to increase agriculture productivity and kick-start industrialization. However, without changing the existing tax policy that has failed to encourage industries, it seems Nepal will not see any industrialisation, said Bagaria.
The business fraternity has also asked the government to set separate customs duty for raw materials and finished products. "In many cases, import duty for finished products and concerned raw material are same," Bagaria said, adding that such policy does not protect domestic industries. "To promote industrialisation, there must be level playing field while converting raw material into finished products."
The industrialists have requested the government, which is preparing budget for the next fiscal year aiming at encouraging industrialisation, to adopt a clear policy of 2 tier difference in import duty on raw materials versus finished product.
The government policy in the past has encouraged industries based on duty difference with India, like the vegetables ghee industry. The government has to promote industries that have local raw material strength, according to Bagaria.
He opined that the country has been trapped into pseudo-industrialisation, fueling imports and increasing trade deficit, despite have huge local resources with competitive advantage over imported finished products.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the manufacturing sector will contract by 9.86 per cent in the current fiscal year 2015-16. "The negative growth is likely to reduce manufacturing sector's contribution to the economy to 5.53 per cent in the current fiscal year from as high as 9.03 per cent in 2000-01," the CBS data revealed.

Industrialisation fails to take-off in Nepal

Even after seven decades since Biratnagar Jute Mills, the first industry to be established in Nepal in 1993 BS, industrialisation has gone nowhere in Nepal. This is the primary posit in Nepalma Audyogikaranka Samasya (Challenges of industrialisation in Nepal) written by Bharat Mohan Adhikari, former finance minister and central committee member of the Nepal Communist party, United Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML).
One of the main causes behind the lack of industrialisation in Nepal is the private sector’s indifference towards industrialisation. Private sector’s involvement in manufacturing has been negligible, he writes. “Those, who were interested in industry, could also not sustain in the long run. They were infected by the ‘Open by day and fly by night’ syndrome,” claims Adhikari. He, however, fails to give adequate reasons behind this accusation.
The book begins with a run on of the Five-year Plans, from the first Five-year Plan (2013-2018 BS) to the current tenth Five-year Plan and their focus on industrialisation.
He writes, “In the fifth Five-year Plan (2032- 2037 BS), industrial production has recorded an increment by 6.5 per cent and in the sixth Five-year Plan (2037- 2042 BS) it recorded a 10 to 30 per cent increment.” However, the growth trend did not continue.
The reason behind the growth in industrial production during those years might have been state protectionism. “From the second to seventh Five-year Plan, the industrial policy was more protectionist. After the movement in 2046 BS, Nepal embraced the open market economic policy,” Adhikari writes.
“However, the open market policy could not drive the growth of manufacturing industries upwards,” Adhikari adds, “Though it helped industries like education and health, and the financial sector including banking, financial institutes and transport to grow.”
In the ninth Five-year Plan (2054-2059 BS), the production of export-oriented industries declined. “From the industrialisation point of view, the ninth five-year plan was a complete failure,” writes the author.
The book describes how once Nepal was almost self-sufficient in sugar. But now, 30 per cent of the total sugar demand is being met by imports. The author tries to explore the reasons behind the many failures of the privatisation process in Nepal.
Almost all privatised companies are either on the verge of collapse or have already collapsed, further fuelling unemployment. "There is an urgent need for individual case-studies of privatised companies, if privatisation has to be continued successfully."
He emphasises on small-scale industries instead of big industries. "The best thing Nepal can do and should do is commercialisation of agriculture and promotion of industries like tea, coffee, jute, sugar, cigarette, dairy, leather-based, herbs. Building competitiveness in these sectors can increase export and displace import, the author suggests.
Adhikari has given due space to industrialists’ complaints also in the book. In some places he sounds more like an industrialist than an economist.
Lack of basic infrastructures like road network and communication has impeded growth. High cost of electricity, red-tape, government policies, lack of market diversification and bandhs are some of the hurdles that have hit industrialisation in Nepal, he claims.
There is no doubt that the book could be a good source material for scholars. "If it could encourage students, I will be more than happy," the author himself claims.
The book further delves into the emerging relations between industrialisation in Nepal and global trade and regional organisations like WTO, SAFTA, BIMSTEC.
Nepal has to follow the current global trend of industrialisation, but not blindly, Adhikari suggest. Economic diplomacy is as important tool in today’s open, global market. Unless a country is economically independent, it cannot survive as a sovereign country. “Sooner or later we have to come to a national consensus on industrialisation and the economic agenda. And there is no better time than today," he says.

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BOOK REVIEW
Book: Nepalma Audyogikaranka Samasya (Challenges of industrialisation in Nepal)
Author: Bharat Mohan Adhikari
Publisher: Ratna Pustak Bhandar
Price: Rs 295
Pages: 269