Economic survey presented in Karnali Province Assembly

Karnali Province Government Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Bindaman Bista has presented the Economic Survey 2022/23 in the Province Assembly. He presented the document in the 12th meeting of the 10th session of the Province Assembly on Saturday.

The Economic Survey contains the statistics on the overall economic status of the province. As per the Economic Survey, the gross national product is estimated to increase by 5.84 per cent based on consumer price index and by 5.49 per cent on basic price.

The economic growth rate of the previous fiscal year was 4.25 per cent based on consumer price. Similarly, the national GDP in fiscal year 2022/23 is estimated at Rs 485.163 billion based on consumer price. It was Rs 427.730 billion in the last fiscal year.

According to him, the economic growth rate of Karnali Province is estimated to be 5.47 per cent in the current fiscal year. Last year, it was 4.34 per cent.

The gross domestic product of the province is estimated to be Rs 197.99 billion based on consumer price. Last fiscal year, it was 175.55 billion.

The proportion of Karnali province to the GDP in fiscal year 2018/19 was 3.94 per cent and it has increased to 4.08 per cent in this fiscal year.

The growth rate of agriculture sector is expected to be 3.22 per cent and that of the non-agriculture sector 6.50 per cent in the fiscal year 2022/23. The growth rate of agriculture sector and the non-agriculture sector last fiscal year was 3.44 per cent and 4.16 per cent respectively.

The contribution of the agriculture, industry and service sectors to the GDP of the province is estimated to be 31.5, 11.1 and 57.4 per cent respectively in the fiscal year 2022/23.

The per capita income of Nepal is expected to be 1,381 US Dollars and that of Karnali province 964 USD in fiscal year 2022/23.

The national average multi-dimensional poverty rate is 17.40 per cent and that of Karnali province is 39.5 per cent.

The expenditure of the province as of April 13 this fiscal year has increased by 30.68 per cent to reach Rs 8.411 billion compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. The current and capital expenditure until April 13 of the current fiscal year is Rs 4.015 billion and Rs 4.261 billion respectively. The province had received Rs 14 billion 641 million 483 thousand from the federal government in terms of equalization, conditional, matching and special grant in fiscal year 2021/22. Of this amount, Rs 12 billion 957 million290 thousand was spent.

Rs 234 million 474 thousand was collected in internal revenue in fiscal year 2020/21 while internal revenue Rs 639 million 492 thousand has been collected in fiscal year 2021/22. Revenue worth Rs 444 million 382 thousand was collected in revenue as of April 13 of the current fiscal year. This is 74.1 per cent of the total revenue target.

The number of commercial banks in the Karnali province as of April 13 of the current fiscal year 2021/22 is 197, that of development banks is 21, that of finance companies is three and that of micro-finance institutions is 230. There were total 412 branches of banks and financial institutions in the province last fiscal year.

The number of life and non-life insurance companies in the province as of March 14 was 191, including 191 branches of life insurance and 46 non-life insurance companies.

The production of rice in Karnali province is estimated to be 125 thousand 187 metric tonnes in the current fiscal year 2021/22 as against the 5 million 130 thousand 625 metric tonnes in the whole of the country, the Economic Survey showed.