Focus on fiscal fundamentals

Nepal’s current economic crisis can be solved only with bold fiscal policy measures.

Since the appointment of Prakash Sharan Mahat as finance minister, top officials of Nepal Rastra Bank have been asserting that the Finance Ministry as the fiscal authority and the central bank as the monetary authority have been working in a better tandem. Minister Mahat also appeared to be striving to strike a balance while appointing three economic advisors at the ministry. Bishwa Paudel and Poshraj Pandey are macroeconomists, and Gunakar Bhatta is a sitting executive director at the central bank’s Regulation Department. In a country where policymaking is invariably marred by political divisions, this indeed is a laudable gesture as the government is working on formulating an “optimistic” budget for the next fiscal year amidst the most testing times in Nepal’s economic history.