20 % people living below poverty line: Statistics Office; FM says economic indicators seem positive

Kathmandu / Feb 12: The National Statistics Office (NSO) has stated that 20.27 per cent people still live below the poverty line in Nepal.

Releasing the Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS) 2079-080 here Monday, the NSO said that country’s poverty rate could not decrease as expected due to Gorkha Earthquake of 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the NLSS report, the rate of poverty is intense in the rural areas compared to the cities, with the poverty rate in the cities remaining 18.34 per cent while it is 24.66 per cent in the rural areas.

During the programme, National Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Dr Min Bahadur Shrestha argued that the country’s progress in poverty alleviation has faded due to the corona pandemic, natural disasters and other reasons.

As per the survey, four provinces have more poverty rate against the national record of the poverty rate. Sudurpaschim Province has the highest rate of poverty with 34.16 per cent while Karnali Province has 26.69 per cent, 24.35 per cent in Lumbini Province and 22.53 per cent in Madhes Province.

Gandaki has the least poverty rate with 11.88 per cent followed by 12.59 per cent in Bagmati and 17.19 per cent in Koshi Province.

Mid-term review of budget: Economic indicators seem positive

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that the country’s economy indicators in the country have witnessed impressive growth in the mid-term review of the current fiscal year’s budget and added that the economy has gradually improved.

Releasing the review report of the current fiscal year’s budget on Monday, the Finance Minister argued that the reforms measures initiated by the government have shown good results.

Dr Mahat stated that the economy has gradually returned to normal state from the beginning of the current fiscal year though the entire economic activities were slow due to stringent monetary policy taken to address the pressure of decreasing foreign exchange reserves caused to high inflow of loans and loose fiscal and monetary policies taken in the time of COVID-19.

“Positive results have started coming from the efforts initiated through budget speech on policy-level, system and procedural levels,” the Finance Minister said.

Likewise, the Finance Minister pledged to move ahead in a more coordinative manner in the days ahead by institutionalizing and strengthening the efforts taken so far for economic reforms.

The revenue collection in the current fiscal year is 6.54 per cent more compared to the last review period of the last fiscal year though it has not met the target for the current fiscal year.

Minister Mahat also argued that some major initiatives have been advanced to ensure effectiveness in public spending and capital expenditure.

Finance Minister Mahat claimed that loan mobilization of the international development assistance is being done only on the basis of needs and relevance.

However, there has been pressure on public spending due to sharp increase in reimbursement of the public debt and mandatory liability.

On the occasion, he stated that the new development projects will be initiated by ensuring budget for their timely completion. RSS