December 20: Foreign investors have expressed commitment to invest Rs 20.61 billion in Nepal in the first five months of the current fiscal year (FY) 2080/81.

Foreign investors committed to invest Rs 2.25 billion in the month of Mangshir (mid-November to mid-December) alone.

Investors have made commitments for 199 projects proposed between mid-July to mid-December. According to the statistics of the Department of Industry, most of the investment commitments received in mid-November to mid-December are for small industries. Commitments were made for 19 small and two medium industries in the review month. There was no commitment to invest in large-scale industries in mid-November to mid-December.

According to the department, foreign investors have pledged to invest in three big projects in the current fiscal year. The have also made commitments to invest in 7 medium and 189 small scale industries.

In the first five months of the current fiscal year, foreign investors have shown interest in the tourism, service and manufacturing sectors. Foreign investors have always been interested in the tourism sector. During this period, foreign investors have submitted proposals to invest in 95 projects in the tourism sector.

In the second place is the service sector. Investors have pledged to invest in 74 service industries and 10 manufacturing industries. During this period, there was no investment commitment in the energy sector. Sectors such as agriculture, minerals, construction, information technology etc have very little investment commitment.

It seems that the investment commitments have gradually increased at a time when the government is preparing to hold an investment summit in the month of Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May).