June 8: The government has implemented an ambitious export strategy at a time when goods and services exported from the country have been hardly encouraging in terms of quantity and revenue generation.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies implemented a business strategy action plan with the aim of increasing the export of goods and services to more than Rs 1600 billion by the fiscal year (FY) 2027/28.

To achieve this goal, the ministry updated and implemented the 'Nepal Trade Integrated Strategy (NTIS) 2080' with an estimated investment of Rs 463 billion. By April of current FY 2022/823, Nepal exported goods and services worth Rs 130 billion. The data of the Department of Customs shows that goods worth Rs 1335 billion were imported during this period.

The ministry has estimated that the export of goods and services will reach 20 percent of the GDP when the strategy is implemented. Gobinda Bahadur Karki, joint secretary of the ministry said that this plan is ambitious. He said, “During this period, the size of the economy will increase to Rs 8000 billion and export will reach 20 percent of that.”

In the year 2021/22, the ratio of exports compared to GDP was 6.3 percent. By FY 2027/28, it is projected to reach 20 percent. To achieve the target, a total of 15 agencies will be responsible for conducting 183 activities. It is estimated that an investment of Rs 463 billion will be required to carry out those activities. Karki adde that even if it does not involve expenses for legal reform and administrative work, the investment is essential for the necessary infrastructure to the provision of cash subsidies for exports.

According to Karki, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the National Planning Commission along with ministries that overlook industry, finance, physical infrastructure and transport, agriculture and livestock, foreign affairs, culture, tourism and civil aviation, energy and water resources, education, science and technology, forest and environment, communication and information technology, labor, employment and social security, home affairs along with Nepal Rastra Bank are the agencies responsible for implementing the strategy.

For this purpose, the industry ministry has formed a National Director Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Industry, with the secretaries of related bodies as members, looking over to the status of implementation. He said that the mid-term review of the action plan implementation will be done in 3 years and the final review will be done after 5 years. In addition to government agencies, representatives of private sector umbrella organizations are also participating in the action plan.

This 'Nepal Trade Integrated Strategy 2080' was approved by the Council of Ministers on May 9 by adding 24 goods and services. Along with this, 32 goods and services have been listed in NTIS.