Nepal received foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments worth Rs 16.23 billion between Shrawan and mid-Ashwin in the first quarter of fiscal year 2083/84, a 53.8 percent decline from the corresponding period a year earlier, according to the Department of Industry. The total was about Rs 19 billion lower than the commitments recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
First-quarter commitments fall sharply
The figures show a substantial year-on-year reduction in the value of investment commitments reported for the opening period of the current fiscal year. The Department of Industry attributed the decline to the lower commitments recorded this year.
Based on the reported difference of about Rs 19 billion, commitments in the comparable period last year were approximately Rs 35.2 billion. That comparison is an estimate, since the Department’s stated difference is rounded. The reported Rs 16.23 billion is the commitment total for the current period; the Department’s figures describe commitments rather than a separate amount of investment actually brought into the country.
The 53.8 percent decrease compares the two periods on a like-for-like basis: Shrawan to mid-Ashwin in fiscal year 2083/84 against the same stretch of the preceding fiscal year. It does not compare the current first-quarter figure with the full-year total, and it does not by itself describe investment commitments for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Department points to lower commitments
The Department’s explanation was that the first-quarter total declined because commitments recorded this year were lower. The information reported does not identify a further cause for the drop, so the figures alone do not establish why the amount fell or whether the change will continue in later periods.
The main measure in the report is the value of commitments, not a count of individual projects or a breakdown by sector. The stated total therefore gives an overall comparison of the amounts recorded by the Department during the two periods. No project-level or sector-specific figures are included in the reported information summarized here.
The year-on-year comparison provides an early indicator of how the opening period of the current fiscal year compares with the same period last year. However, the first-quarter figure covers only commitments recorded through mid-Ashwin. The final position for fiscal year 2083/84 will depend on figures reported for subsequent periods, which are not included in this first-quarter comparison.
