Interim plan targets 5.5 percent growth

The interim three-year plan which is to be implemented from coming fiscal year has set a target of spending Rs. 527.1 billion and achieving an average annual growth rate of 5.5 percent.

Proposed Macroeconomic framework being discussed among the planning experts at the National Planning Commission (NPC) expected that the plan would see a growth of 4.5 percent while the economy, in the remaining two consecutive years, would grow by 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.

Employment oriented and inclusive economic growth has been supposed as one of its key strategies of the plan. The plan has aimed to achieve average growth of 3.3 percent in the agriculture sector, which contributes around 40 percent to the GDP.

Likewise, the government also set a goal of achieving an average growth of 6.93 percent in the non-agriculture sector as against the 4.11 percent set for the Tenth Plan. The annual average inflation rate during the period is expected to stand at 5.6 percent.

Of the total expenditure planned for the period, Rs. 295.5 billion has been allocated for the purpose of meeting recurrent expenditures plus serving principal repayments while the remaining Rs. 231.6 billion will go for financing capital expenditures, mainly for supporting development activities.

The interim plan is expect to mobilize revenue of Rs. 338.5 billion in the period and the GDP-revenue ratio is planned to remain at 14.1 percent. The Tenth Plan has set a target of achieving 14 percent GDP-revenue ratio but the actual achievement, which has not yet been made public, is likely to remain less then target.

Similarly, the plan has a target of mobilizing foreign aid of Rs. 153.7 billion during the period to finance both the capital as well as recurrent expenditures. Of the total expected foreign aid, the plan has anticipated Rs. 87.4 billion in grants and remaining Rs. 66.4 billion in the form of net loans.

A net outstanding deficit of Rs. 34.8 billion is expected to be met through domestic borrowing. The planned mobilization of internal borrowing will remain at 1.47 percent of the GDP, higher than the ceiling of less than one percent set by International Monetary Fund for Nepal.