Refutation

The report on Monday’s Government-Donor interaction on the budget published in The Rising Nepal, correctly quotes me as stressing the importance of effective implementation of the policies and progarmmes announced. However, the report is wrong in saying that I welcomed the Government’s new policies in support of the rehabilitation of sick industries. In fact, I said that the new policies in support of sick industries would need to be implemented extremely carefully to avoid such industries from becoming a permanent burden on the economy since experience throughout South Asia suggests that turning really sick industries around is extremely difficult. Other than urging the Government to implement the policies for the rehabilitation of sick industry cautiously, our overall assessment of the recent budget is a positive one.

Richard Vokes
Resident Representative
Asian Development Bank
Kathmandu