May 16: Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat emphasised on the importance of new financing tools that are needed for mobilising resources in addition to investments.

Speaking at the opening session of the ‘International Conference on Financing for Nepal’ 2023 which was jointly organized by the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) and Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited (SCBNL) in collaboration the Society of Economic Journalists – Nepal (SEJON), Finance Minister Mahat said instead of ‘repackaging’ the resources available in the existing structures and arrangements, there is a need to look for the availability of additional resources.

He stressed on the importance of building a positive macroeconomic story for Nepal, when there are important aspects including no defaults for the country, healthy debt profile, a demographic dividend and digital penetration.

Addressing the opening session of the conference, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Investment Board Pushpa Kamal Dahal shared that this conference will present the latest financial tools and measures needed for economic and social development of the country and also reassured the government’s commitment for legal, institutional and procedural reforms to promote, facilitate and encourage private investment.

The PM also highlighted that the recommendations from national and international participants during the conference can be included in the upcoming annual fiscal budget and monetary policy.

Besides Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Investment Board Nepal Sushil Bhatta; Registrar of Kathmandu University Prof Dr Achyut Wagle; CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited, Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar; SeniorSustainability Advisor of Standard Chartered Bank UK, Dr John Murton; and, the President of SEJON, Janardan Baral addressed the opening session.

Sushil Bhatta, CEO of the Investment Board Nepal (IBN), held the view that the returns of projects will increase with the mix of resources obtained from various financial sources and investors can also get compensated appropriately to opportunity costs.

Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited (SCBNL) said, “Sustainable finance can help Nepal in leveraging its potential for renewable energy by providing the necessary funding and support to help us transition towards a more sustainable and low-carbon future. We must speed up sustainable investments and increase their scope in Nepal.”

Likewise, Professor Dr. Achyut Wagle stressed on the search for and use of new financing tools for Nepal to achieve its ambitious development goals as public finance has its own limitations.

The recently-held conference also had technical sessions on macroeconomics of investment, legal,

institutional and implementation arrangements related to investment, tools and scope of financing in

Nepal along with resource mobilisation and disruption prevention.

The conference was attended by senior secretaries, government officials, diplomats, representatives of the development partners, private sector, banks and financial institutions, experts, researchers and academicians.