Nepalse economy to be affected

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Sept 15: The Tuesday’s attacks on New York and Washington will have a great impact on the global economy which could drag the world into a recession from which according to economists, the economy of the developing and least developing nations (LDCs) including Nepal, India Bangladesh, China and Pakistan will be greatly affected. Though the US envoys here have assured to continue their support to the country like Nepal, industrialists particularly in garment, carpet and tourism fear that the ripples of the ghastly attacks on the USA will have a multiplier impact on the beleaguered Nepalese economy. The World Trade Center (WTC) was the center from where world’s forty per cent trade transactions used to take place. Its collapse has almost paralyzed the world trade at the moment and far reaching impact of this event will be great, say economists.

‘This incident will further intensify the cancellation of hotel bookings from American tourists, says Narendra Bajracharya, chairman of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN).

On the one hand the number of tourists are declining owing to unrest and domestic problems, on the other the terrorist attacks on the USA have created problems in the international tourism industry. And Nepal cannot be exception to this, says Bajracharya. After the incident took place, according to him 500-1000 American tourists have already cancelled hotel bookings. Following the incident American government has already alerted its citizen not to visit abroad taking the safety of its citizen into consideration. A total of 17401 American tourists had visited Nepal from January to August this year.

Total export volume to the USA in the fiscal year 2056-57 was equivalent to Rs 13.677 billion and major items of the exports were garment, carpet and handicrafts. Similarly number of American tourists coming to Nepal each year is also significant.

Chandi Dhakal, third vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) fears that the impact of the incident on the world economy will be great. The situation of the ailing garment, carpet and tourism industry will be worse, he said. Major export items to America are garments, carpets pashmina shawl. Nepal had exported goods amounting to Rs.1.4399 billion in the last fiscal year alone. After Germany, the USA is the second biggest importer of handicrafts. The demand for Nepalese products is on the rise, says K.K Tamrakar, chairman of the Handicraft Association Nepal.

Out of total handicraft export nearly 14.27 per cent goes to the USA in the last fiscal year, he says adding that the demand has increased by almost 70 per cent each year. A total of Rs 1.3868 billion of handicraft were exported to the USA in the fiscal year 2056-57, according to him.

Regarding the impact of the incident Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, chairman of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce says ‘it will be tremendous.’’

Are in a position to grapple with this problem? A senior official at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies in condition of anonymity said ‘ Obviously the incident will have greater impact on the global economy. But Nepal still does have such program for the crisis.’

Export of Handicraft goods to USA

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