IMF forecasts Nepal’s economic growth rate at 4.2 percent

Kathmandu / Oct 24: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a new projection of Nepal’s economic growth rate of 4.2 percent in 2022.

While publishing the report ‘World Economic Outlook: Countering the Cost of Living Crisis’ this week, the IMF revised the initial estimate of the economic growth rate. Last January, the IMF predicted that Nepal’s economic growth rate would be 4.1 percent.

The IMF has estimated that the economic growth rate of Nepal will decrease in 2023. According to the forecast made by the IMF last January, it was estimated that Nepal will achieve an economic growth rate of 6.1 percent in the coming year. However, the projection has been reduced to five percent now. The government is aiming to achieve an economic growth rate of eight percent for the financial year 2022/23.

Similarly, the IMF has also revised the previous estimate of price increase. Inflation was initially estimated at 6.3 percent in 2022 and 7.7 percent in 2023. But now it is revised and estimated to reach 8.1 percent in 2022 and 7.2 percent in 2023.

Through the budget of the current financial year, the government has projected to keep the price increase within the desired limit of seven percent. Recently, due to price increases, the world economy is in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine are considered to be the main causes of the global economic recession.

According to the IMF, the growth rate of the world economy is six percent in 2021, and it is estimated that it will decrease to 3.2 percent in 2022. Similarly, in 2023, it is estimated that it will drop further to 2.7 percent. This is the slowest since the last two decades. The IMF estimates that the world inflation rate will remain at 8.8 percent this year. In the year 2023, it is estimated that it will decrease to 6.5 percent.