Nepal economy goes negative first time in 4 decades 1 minute read
Kathmandu, Mar 4 (EFE).- Nepal’s economy has registered negative growth for the first time in nearly 40 years mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a government survey released on Thursday.
The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have severely impacted Nepal’s service industry, especially tourism, while small and medium enterprises suffered a deadly blow, causing unprecedented job losses.
The growth plunged 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 that ended mid-July, recording a year-on-year negative growth rate of 1.99 percent, the Central Bureau of Statistics said.
“This is the first annual negative growth rate since 1982-1983 when Nepal’s economic growth rate plunged to 2.97 percent,” Hem Raj Regmi, deputy director-general of the bureau, told EFE.