Bijay Damase

February 27: With the slowdown in economic activities, the economic growth rate of the country has dropped even lower than during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first three months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), the size of the economy ie the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 0.8 percent.

The economic growth rate of the first quarter of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) was 3 percent. According to the figures released by the National Statistics Office under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the same year, 2.9 percent in the third quarter and 9 percent in the fourth quarter.

In the year 2020/21, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. Even in the first quarter of that year, the economic growth rate was 0.9 percent. The economic growth rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal year is less than that in the corresponding period of the year of the pandemic.

All sectors have been affected since the beginning of the current fiscal year. According to the National Statistics Office, the economic growth rate in the first quarter of the current FY is less than 1 percent, which has raised questions about the working style of the government.

Facts and figures show that the economy is getting more and more in crisis when the government sets ambitious goals but is unable to deliver on its commitments due to its working style.

The government had set a target of achieving 8 percent economic growth in the current fiscal year's budget. However, while revising the budget, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel admitted that the target is unattainable. Due to the tightening of import, there has been a decline in revenue collection.

According to the National Statistics Office, which was earlier known as the Central Bureau of Statistics, the output of the mining and mineral sector has declined the most in the first quarter of this year.

In the first quarter, the production of mining and mineral sector decreased by 29.2 percent. In the same period last year, this sector had increased by 24 percent. In particular, this sector has declined due to the extreme reduction in the demand for cement, the main construction material. Due to the slowdown in construction activities in the country, the demand for construction materials such as cement and sand has decreased. Due to the decrease in public construction and the slow pace of private housing construction, the consumption of such materials has decreased. The data shows that the construction sector has shrunk by 24 percent. In the same period last year, the construction sector had increased by 18 percent.