November 23: Analysts believe that the overall economy of the country will gain normalcy due to the election expenses. They expect that the money spent by the political parties and the government for the elections held on November 20 will flow to the market and the economy will revitalize.
According to the economists, the expenses incurred by political parties, poll candidates and the government for the elections will help the economy of the country as a whole.
Economist Keshav Acharya remarked that Rs 10 billion spent by the candidates will flow to the market, which will help in revitalizing the economy. He said that the candidates have spent extensively on vehicles, hotels and social media during the elections. Economist Acharya added that millions of rupees will return to the banking system and liquidity crisis will also ease.
Banking expert Analraj Bhattarai said that the expenses incurred in the election will help the country's economy to return to normalcy to some extent.
However, he added that it is not capable of making big contribution to economic growth. He said that the expenses incurred by the government and the expenses incurred by the candidates of the political parties in the elections have is almost Rs 50 billion. He said that the expenses of the election will bring some relief to the liquidity crisis in the banks. Bhattarai said that now the banks will distribute cash dividends after the election expenses eases liquidity problem. He however estimates the liquidity problem will persist for a long time due to the demand of Rs 300 billion in the market, continuous recession in business and the reduction in revenue collection due to the government's ban on imports.
Bhattarai stated, “In 2017 elections, the growth rate of the economy increased due to the increase in expenses. At that time, the economic growth rate reached 8 percent. However, currently the global economy is unstable due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine-Russia War. Nepal as well is not an exception to their impacts.” He said that the economic growth rate of Nepal could be 5 percent in the current fiscal year. He remarked that the newly formed government will face challenges and will need to do a lot of work to improve the economy.