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Kathmandu, March 19
The government will open fair-price shops at five locations around the valley in response to artificial shortages and price hikes amid coronavirus scare.
The shops will open on Friday, said Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Lekharaj Bhatta at a press conference in Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, today.
Stating that there was fear among people about possible disruption in the supply of daily essentials, Bhatta urged all not to panic as Nepal had enough stock of supplies.
According to Bhatta, food stock was enough for the next four-six months, while medicine stock would last for around eight months.
Salt and sugar stocks are also enough.
Moreover, the imports are continuing and have not been halted.
As far as industrial raw materials are concerned, industries already had them enough for the next three to four months.
&There are no problems with fuel supplies, although we see some pressure due to panic buying and rumour,& said Bhatta.
&We also do not have any problem outside the valley.& Bhatta said the government would take strong action against black marketeers, hoarders and those involved in any market anomaly.
Briefing about the COVID-19 impact on various sectors of the economy, Minister of Finance, Communications and Information Technology Yuba Raj Khatiwada said the tourism sector was the hardest hit.
Khatiwada urged tourism entrepreneurs not to panic as the situation was getting under control in China and also in India and that the tourism sector in Nepal would soon return to normalcy.
&As soon as this epidemic ends, we will promote off-season tourism.
This will cover the losses,& said Khatiwada.
He also said the government was doing homework to bring loan restructuring facility for tourism entrepreneurs facing losses due to the crisis.
Khatiwada also ruled out any big impact on the economy because of the struggling tourism sector, which contributed only three percent to the national economy.
As for the foreign employment sector that remains completely halted, Khatiwada said although there might be some pressure on remittance, it would not affect to the national economy much as remittance growth was higher in previous years.
He said banks also had around Rs 70 billion of lonable fund, so there were no liquidity problem with banks.
According to Khatiwada, the construction sector was another area hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.
&Especially, projects employing Chinese technicians and workers are facing problems because the workers were stuck back in China,& said Khatiowada.
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