Investment doubles in Nepal in 2017-18 fiscal

KATHMANDU, July 29 (Xinhua) — Industrial investment more than doubled in Nepal in the last fiscal year 2017-18 that concluded in mid-July, the Department of Industry (DoI) said on Saturday.

Investors registered 496 industries at the DoI with the committed investment of 350.58 billion Nepali rupees (3.18 billion U.S. dollars) in the last fiscal, DoI data showed.

In the previous fiscal year 2016-17, about 510 industries were registered with planned capital investment of 163.15 billion Nepali rupees (1.48 billion U.S. dollars). It means, planned capital investment by industries grew by 115 percent in the last fiscal year, the highest in the past 10 years.

Chandra Prasad Dhakal, vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the apex private sector body of Nepal, told Xinhua on Saturday that the improved investment climate in Nepal was contributed by three factors — political stability, improved electricity availability, and largely peaceful labor-employer relations.

According to DoI, among the industries registered, the largest investment was in energy-based industries, followed by the manufacturing sector.