Though we have been arguing all along that the government should get out of the business as much as possible, and the room left for the Finance Minister to play with the economy by playing with the allocation of the government expenditure should be reduced as much as possible, the situation is still such that the in-charge of Bagh Durbar has a lot of power to influence the future course of the economy. Recognizing this, we would like to join the rest of the nation in suggesting the new finance minister a few points that he may consider while preparing the government budget for the coming fiscal year.

Everybody agrees that the country desperately needs a boost in investment. For this, the business community is pressing the finance minister to grant concessions in some duties while the fiscal reality does not allow much room for such concessions. The private sector can take solace in that the customs duties are not likely to increase given the readiness of the country to join WTO. We think that the minister would still do better by concentrating in measures to create some showcase examples of success in generating big investment in the country from domestic or foreign sources. It would not matter whether such investment is in some greenfield project or it comes by way of acquisition of some existing sick units by foreign or domestic investor. Even a single such case will be enough to work as an endorsement for Nepal sending out a message that the condition in Nepal is quite conducive for business. However, the example should be really very impressive. The Norwegian investment that came in Butwal Power Company recently was one such case. But the government failed to use this effectively as a success story.

Another important step could be to set up an autonomous but highly competent authority (in the line of the investment promotion authority we suggested in the May 2003 issue of Nubiz) to carry out all the negotiations and promotional activities for the country's international tr trade. This may need amalgamating the innumerable (some say they are 16) existing government and semi-government bodies that are charged with often overlapping tasks related to foreign trade.

Yet more important step would be to reform the rules and government guidelines so as to encourage the marketing organizations. So far, the only production aspect has been emphasized by all the policy measures of the government, neglecting the marketing. The result is the fate of the garments, carpets and Pashmina. Those who have good marketing expertise do not get the facilities offered by the government. Those who are good manufacturers, may not be good in marketing. This policy reversal should mean easier bank finance for marketing organizations and extension of the duty concessions to those exporters who are not the manufacturers.