Kathmandu. Minister Khanal said that he was effortful to give an outlet to the country’s economy by creating investment-friendly environment with security guarantee to the private sector.

He said this during a meeting with the office-bearers of Nepal Chamber of Commerce.

The NCC has urged Finance Minister Rameshwor Khanal to ease policies to resolve existing problems in the economy and boost the morale of investors.

During a meeting with Minister Khanal at Singha Durbar, the NCC President Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal urged the government to ensure industrial and business security as well as create investment-friendly environment.

“The NCC is confident that the government has given top priority to policy clarity, investment-friendly environment and business security in partnership with the private sector to strengthen the economy,” the NCC said in a press release. ’

The NCC has also urged the government to further ease the investment policy to attract domestic and foreign investment in the current difficult situation. The NCC also suggested strengthening the dialogue mechanism between the state and the private sector. The agitation has also urged the government to arrange concessional loans, interest grant, tax exemption and renewal fee to the small, domestic and medium enterprises and enterprises affected by the agitation.

“With the drastic changes in GST rates in India, there is a need to create an environment of competitive market by adjusting tax rates in Nepal,” the chamber said. The Chamber has suggested that the customs rate should be set at a maximum of 25 percent. Apart from the negative list, the Chamber has suggested that excise duty should be waived on goods produced in Nepal and the rates of value added tax should also be kept multiple rates. This will help control smuggling and import at the border points and increase revenue, the Chamber said.

The chamber has thanked the incumbent government for addressing the long-standing demand of the NCC to have transaction value as the basis for evaluation and removal of reference books. The Chamber has also requested to implement the online system in all customs offices at the earliest.

According to the Chamber, the customs rate should be fixed on the basis of the invoice value of goods imported from reputed companies, multinational companies, LCs, agency and imported through GST. The Chamber has also drawn the attention of Finance Minister Khanal to put an end to the tendency of tax collection in a pressure-based manner due to lack of clarity in the Acts and laws. The Chamber has suggested that the deadline for payment of tax should be extended and fines and interest should be waived off for the industries and businesses affected by the agitation.

On the occasion, NCC President Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal said that the World Bank’s latest report on Nepal’s economic growth has made Nepal’s private sector worried. The World Bank has projected that Nepal’s economic growth will be 2.1 percent this year.