Promoting Export Trade
NEPAL Chambers of Commerce organised an interaction programme
in Kathmandu the other day to discuss the challenges and opportunities of export trade in
Nepal. In the interaction programme, traders and business experts stressed the need to
create a more congenial atmosphere for boosting Nepal’s export trade in order to
narrow the ballooning trade deficit of the country. His Majesty’s Government has
declared the year 2003 as the export year and the interaction programme was aimed at
making this declaration a success. As Nepal’s trade deficit is growing, the
government has encouraged export trade. If the country can export more items, only then it
can create a healthy economy and narrow trade deficit. However, Nepal’s trade
imbalance is growing fast. Import has far exceeded the export. However, the situation has
slightly changed over the last few years. After the restoration of democracy in 1990,
Nepal adopted the policy of economic liberalization, which has played a positive role in
the expansion and diversification of foreign trade. Some good and encouraging signs are
visible in the country’s foreign trade sector as a result of the implementation of
foreign trade policy and reforms in the exchange regime. Similarly, the government has
introduced and implemented policies and programmes for the promotion of exportable goods,
quality improvement and market management of foreign trade. As a result, foreign trade was
increased by 12.1 per cent in the last fiscal year. However, the import has the
lion’s share in it. Although export increased by 8.5 per cent in the last fiscal
year, it is still very little compared to imports. The statistics show that the trade
deficit in the last fiscal year decreased by 1.4 per cent totaling 36.248 million rupees.
But the volume of deficit is very high. There has been a decline in the export of items
like woolen carpets and pashminas. Lack of aggressive marketing and quality control may
have affected Nepal’s export trade with the third countries. As Nepal is trying to be
a member of the World Trade Organisation, it needs to give more attention to quality of
exportable items and their prices. Nepal is facing stiff competition every day in the
international market. If we fail to maintain quality and give attention to aggressive
marketing, our export trade is likely to suffer more. In this era of competition, we must
be more competitive in order to sell our products and boost our export trade, which
businessmen and other concerned people must realise. Else declaration of Export Year alone
may not serve the desired purpose.
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