Nepal Seeks Foreign Investment in IT, Hydropower and Tourism

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Paudel on Friday, October 25, said that Nepal’ information technology (IT) sector has a huge potential, urging the US investors to take advantage of the opportunity.

Paduel, who flew to the United states earlier this week to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund, made the remark at an interaction programme organised by the American Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

The programme saw representatives from multinational companies including Google, Meta and Coca-Cola among others, reported RSS, the state-owned news agency. 

Read: FNCCI President Dhakal Appeals International Community to Invest in Nepal

The Nepal Government and the private sector have been appealing foreign firms to increase investment in Nepal as the country faces a severe resource gap to achieve its development goals.

The government aims to collect Rs 547 billion in public debt this fiscal year, of which around Rs 217 billion will be in external loans. 

Nepal has also been getting only a fraction of the pledged foreign investment.

Though Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Nepal surged by 36.1 percent in the last fiscal year, the amount was still only Rs 8.4 billion. It is notable that the country had received the FDI commitments totalling Rs 61.9 billion, which means only around 13.5 percent was materialised.

Read: Nepal Receives Nearly a Third of FDI from Tax Havens: Report

In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Nepal received FDI commitments worth Rs 16.4 billion for 204 industrial projects.

Alongside Paudel, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Chandra Dhakal, who is also in the US, stressed the investment opportunities for foreign firms in Nepal's hydropower and tourism sectors. 

Read: Changes in Exchange Rates Deduct Nepal’s Public Debt by Rs 5.58 billion: PDMO

Earlier on Wednesday, October 23, Dhakal had highlighted the enabling environment for foreign investment in Nepal such as amendments to legislations.

DPM Poudel holds talks with MCC CEO and IMF DMD

On Thursday, October 24, Minister Paudel held talks with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Alice P. Albright in Washington DC. 

The duo discussed the projects in Nepal being implemented under the MCC Compact Agreement, the Embassy of Nepal in Washington DC told RSS. 

Read: MCA-Nepal Signs Contract for 18 km Cross Border Transmission Line

Paudel also met with Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Thursday. They discussed issues regarding financing, consultation and technical assistance.

Deputy Managing Director Bo remarked that Nepal's economic progress was satisfactory, according to the RSS.

Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari, Finance Secretary Ram Prasad Ghimire and Charge' d'Affaires of Nepal Embassy Kumarraj Kharel accompanied Paudel in the meeting.

(With inputs from RSS)