Kathmandu, Apr. 20

Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun Friday said that government was working to create a favourable investment environment in the country to achieve the double-digit economic growth.

To achieve the high rate of economic growth, we require a huge amount of foreign investment, he said and added that the government was working to create a favourable business climate in the country to attract the foreign capital to fulfill the investment deficits.

Minister Pun made this remarks while addressing a three-day ‘International conference on Economics and Finance’ organised by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) here.

The government was encouraging the private sector in investments according to the policy of liberal economy to attract more and more investment in the country, he said.

Minister Pun said that indicators show that the Nepalese economy was likely to grow by 5 per cent in the fiscal year 2012/13.

He said that the government was effortful to make the development process sustainable, more inclusive and just.

Governor of NRB Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada said that the Nepalese financial sector was about to make a safe landing from the crisis surfaced for the past few years.

Stating that most of the financial institutions were concentrated in certain sectors and territories, Dr. Khatiwada said that expanding the financial sector among the vulnerable sectors of the remote areas was still a great challenge.

Though the Nepalese financial sector was growing rapidly, people’s access to the financial service is still unsatisfactory, he said. Access of the people living in the remote areas with agriculture as their main occupation to the finance is still poor, he added.

Faisal Ahamed, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Cambodia, said that quality of development was the main problem in the developing countries.

Lower saving rate was affecting the investment in the developing countries to achieve their development goal.

He stressed the need of prudential management of the financial system to manage the capital needed for the country.

Around 200 participants from different countries are participating in the conference.

More than 50 research and academic papers on public finance, fiscal policy, global economic integration, financial crisis, post crisis cooperation, international flow of financial resources, microfinance, access to finance, financial inclusion, international financial architecture, sovereign debt crisis, and financial system, financial stability, corporate governance would be presented during the three-day conference.