Himal Press 
Farmers taking their produce to market in Khotang. (Photo: RSS)
KATHMANDU: Nepal Statistics Office (NSO) has forecast Nepal’s GDP in basic prices to grow to Rs 5,704 billion in the current fiscal year 2023/24.
Issuing a press note on Tuesday, the NSO said GDP size was Rs 4,976 billion in 2021/22, while it is estimated to have reached Rs 5,348 billion in 2022/23.
According to the NSO, the GDP is forecast to grow by 3.54% in basic prices and 3.87% in consumer prices in the current fiscal year. The economy grew by 5.28% in basic prices in 2021/22, the NSO said in its press note.
The forecasts are higher than the forecasts made by the Asian Development Bank and World Bank. While ADB has forecast the Nepali economy to grow by 3.6% (in market prices) in the current fiscal year, the World Bank has forecast a 3.3% growth for Nepal.
For the current fiscal year, the preliminary estimates for the economic growth rate are 3.54 percent at basic prices and 3.87 percent at consumer prices. The revised estimated growth rate for the previous fiscal year 2022/23 is 2.31 at basic prices. Similarly, as per the final data, the economic growth rate at basic prices for the fiscal year 2021/22 was 5.28%.
Likewise, the revised estimate for economic growth at consumer prices in (2022/23) is 1.95 percent, while the final figure for 2021/22 was 5.63% percent.
For the current fiscal year 2023/24, the preliminary estimates are 3.05% growth in the agriculture sector and 3.75% in the non-agriculture sector. As per the revised data, the estimates for the previous fiscal year 2022/23 are 2.76% growth in agriculture and 2.13% in non-agriculture. Similarly, the final data for the fiscal year 2021/22 shows 2.35% growth in agriculture and 6.54% in the non-agriculture sector.
The NSO has categorized the overall industrial sector into three major groups – primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors – for study purposes.
For the current fiscal year, the preliminary estimates for growth rates in the primary, secondary, and service sectors are 3.03%, 1.20%, and 4.50%, respectively. As per the revised data, the estimates for the previous fiscal year are 2.72% in the primary sector, 1.40% in the secondary sector, and 2.36% in the service sector. Similarly, the final data for the fiscal year 2021/22 shows growth rates of 2.50% in the primary sector, 10.79% in the secondary sector and 5.32% in the service sector.
According to the preliminary estimates, the primary, secondary, and service sectors are expected to contribute 24.6%, 12.5% and 62.9%, respectively, to the GDP in the current fiscal year.
The final data for the fiscal year 2021/22 shows contributions of 25.0% from the primary sector, 13.7% from the secondary sector and 61.3% from the service sector to the GDP.
Compared to the previous fiscal year, the contributions of the primary and service sectors to the GDP have marginally increased, while the contribution of the secondary sector has marginally decreased.
