Take a long-term view

We need to rise above petty issues and work as a group on a long-term economic plan.

When one reads about the extension of the import ban on certain items, one begins to question the state of the Nepali economy. However, the restricted items form less than 2 percent of total imports. From local liquor cartels trying to stop the import of alcohol to auto dealers clearing their stocks, and grey market specialists finding ways to block legal imports, the race is on. Similarly, there are comparisons made in the Sri Lankan and Indian social media which have been going berserk in trying to pull China into the conversation, knowing very well that it had nothing much to do with the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy. Then there is the news of the enormous spending in the last month of the fiscal year, where nearly one-third of the government’s annual spending happened. Every combination of political parties has never swayed from the tradition of sizeable distributive expenditure in the last month of the fiscal year to keep relatives, party workers and construction cartels happy, and add a few million to their pot of slush funds.