Lalitpur, September 9, 2024: A two-day seminar on "Nepal's Economic Policy" commenced today at10.30 am at the Annapurna Hall of the Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC), Jawlakhel, Lalitpur. This seminar is part of the Advanced Course on Management and Development (ACMD), organized under the module titled "Know Your Economy (KYE)." The program aims to enhance participants' understanding of key economic issues and policy frameworks affecting Nepal. A total of 26 trainee participants, who are undergoing the training, have been divided into four groups where each group was assigned to present on specific topics related to the seminar theme. The first day of the seminar focused on Fiscal Policy and Economic Aid, while the second day will cover Monetary Policy and Revenue Policy.

The first session of the seminar was dedicated to Fiscal Policy, with the discussion centered on the topic "Challenges and Opportunities of Capital Budget in Nepal." The session was chaired by Mr. Ramesh Adhikari and moderated by Mr. Anil Kiratee. The presentation was delivered by Mr. Hira Neupane, Mrs. Anita Poudel, and Mr. Tularaj Sunuwar. Mr. Hira Neupane also served as the rapporteur for the session after opening the presentation. Mr .Bishnu Hari Ghimire, one of the participants from group was played the role of event manager for the first session. The Chief Guest of the event was Dr. Rajan Khanal, Executive Director of the Training Centre, while Mr. Dila Ram Panthi, Joint Financial Comptroller General from the Financial Comptroller General Office, attended the program as an expert resource person. Senior officials and trainers of NASC and all of the trainees of ACMD were the participants of the first session of the seminar.

The presentation during the first session was focused on analyzing the challenges and opportunities of capital expenditure of federal government of Nepal. It tried to analyze the trend of capital expenditure of Nepal for the past 10 years after the implementation of the federal system in Nepal. Similarly, it tried to find out root causes of low capital expenditure and concluded with some recommendation and tools to solve the problems regarding low capital expenditure. The presentation was followed by interaction and discussion among the participants of the program. Mr. Krishna Bahadur Thapa from NASC suggested to incorporate capital absorption ratio in the study report. Similarly, Mr. Trilochan Poudyal, Senior Instructor of NASC, focused with the view of improving allocation efficiency and implementation effectiveness for expediting capital expenditure. Mr. Dila Ram Panthi, JFCG of FCGO, provided insightful thoughts and feedback on the presentation. He illustrated legal provision of "Financial Procedure and Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2076" and focused on effective implementation for better performance of capital expenditure. Executive Director of NASC, Mr. Rajan Khanal evaluated the presentation as best practice of KYE module which was successfully adopted in the training module since last 3 years. He suggested incorporating the feedback and suggestion from the participants in the final report of the study. At the end of the program, Chairman of the session, Mr. Ramesh Adhikari gave a short speech with vote of thanks to the chief guest, external expert and all the participants of the program and assured them to incorporate the feedback and suggestion the final report of the study. The seminar will continue tomorrow, with presentations and discussions focusing on Monetary Policy and Revenue Policy, further exploring Nepal's economic strategies.

Second Session: Economic Aid

The Session was chaired by Mr. Hari Bahadur Oli and Mr. Hari Prasad Chapagain facilitated the session as Moderator from the KYE Group 3. Mr. Dirgha Bahadur Rawal, Director from Nepal Rastra Bank was present as the Expert for the session. Dr. Rajan Khanal, Executive Director of NASC was the chief guest for the session. Similarly, Dr. Raghu Bista, Director of Studies was present as special guest in the session. On the said topic Mr. Ramashray Yadav, Mr. Manish Kumar Aryal and Mr. Rajan Man Shrestha from KYE Group 3 presented on the topic. The seminar was managed by Mr. Rajesh Lal Karna, Event Manager for the Session and Mr. Ravi Shakya was the Rapporteur for the session.

The presentation was focused on the topic Economic Aid as the financial support to promote economic development of the country. The study was mainly based on secondary data. The presentation highlighted the major problems in the Economic Aid in Nepal are Political Instability, Dependency on Foreign Aid, Lack of Coordination among Donors, Inadequate Infrastructure, Institutional Problems, Corruption and Mismanagement, Socio Cultural Barriers, Inequality and Discrimination, Natural Disaster & Climate Change. The presentation also focused on the potentials of the Economic Aid on Agricultural Sector Development, Game Changer Projects, Health Sector Development, Climate Change Management, Disaster Management, Tourism Development and ICT (Information Communication Technology).

After the comprehensive presentation on the topic many participants came up with questions and suggestions. It is said that the Economic Aid is the necessary evil. It could be utilized in the increment of productivity in Nepal. Questions like the expectation and trend of Economic Aid in Nepal and what could be the gap between commitment and disbursement of economic aid in context of Nepal were raised from the participants in the session. Likewise, questions like whether the foreign aid is our compulsion or necessity, how to utilize the foreign aid in required area, how to achieve timely expenditure and what could be our economic goal were raised.

Many questions like: why do we need loans, is loan a disease, why loans to developing countries were floored. The suggestion was focused on the research and development; technology transfer as a resource for the country. The session was concluded with the overview of federal government to being responsible in financial stability. The session concluded with a note that effective and efficient utilization of Economic Aid is more important in Nepal.