September 7: Biratnagar chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Rajendra Raut shared that the industrial sector has suffered due to exorbitant interest rates of banks and other problems caused by the policy adopted by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Speaking at a round table program organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Biratnagar on Tuesday, Raut said that the private sector, which had made some progress after tackling the issues like political instability, heavy load shedding, and India's blockade, got more affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. He said that the economy is headed towards further crisis due to additional problems including high interest rates of banks.

FNCCI Koshi Province said that attention should be paid to aspects like development of competitiveness, marketing, revenue policy and administration of the government, investment environment, easy supply of energy, anti-export trade economy, preferential trade and open border with India. In the program, IFC's Nepal office head Babacar S. Faye said that the delegation is ready to cooperate with the private sector.

According to the economic census published by the government in 2075, there are 168,518 industries operating in Koshi Province, of which 66,783 industries are operating in Morang and Sunsari alone. In the last 10 years, more than 250 new productive industries have been registered with the Department of Industries in Morang and Sunsari districts of Koshi Province.

FNCCI Koshi Province has been saying that industries that can increase the availability of raw materials based on agriculture, forestry, mining and animal husbandry and industries focused on the processing of those products should be promoted. Officials of the Federation as well as representatives from Morang-Sunsari Industrial Zone, President of Morang Industry Association Rakesh Surana and representatives of business organizations and institutions participated in the program.