Off the wire
• Study finds how human height has changed over past century  • Top news items in major S. African media outlets  • Top news items in major Zambian media outlets  • China's rail freight decline narrows  • China, Vietnam vow to boost anti-drug cooperation  • 1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares close mixed Thursday  • Aussies should study in China to get competitive edge: academic  • Urgent: Syrian army captures key rebel stronghold in Aleppo city  • Fiji prepares for 2018 general election  • 1st LD: Assad offers pardon to rebels who surrender within 3 months  
You are here: 　 Home

China tops in FDI pledges to Nepal in 2015-16 fiscal year

Xinhua, July 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

hina topped the chart in making foreign direct investment (FDI) to Nepal in the last 2015-16 fiscal year, pledging more than one-third of total FDI commitments the country received.

According to the Department of Industry (DoI), which registers industries, investment pledges from China stood at 57 million U.S. dollars (6.21 billion Nepalese rupee) against the total FDI pledge of 140 million U.S. dollars (15.13 billion Nepalese rupee) last fiscal that concluded in mid-July.

Britain with investment pledge of 19 million U.S. dollars (2.07 billion Nepalese rupee) came second followed by India in third place with pledge of 18 million U.S. dollars (1.94 billion Nepalese rupee). Switzerland and the United States came fourth and fifth.

Not only in terms of total investment pledge, China also topped the list of total number of industries registered in Nepal last year, according to DoI.

A total of 125 industries containing FDI from Chinese were registered in the last fiscal year out of total FDI-based industries of 341 registered at DoI.

"Chinese investment in Nepal has been pouring because there has been growing connectivity and interactions between the two sides," said DoI spokesperson Rudra Bahadur Malla.

"China also has surplus resources because of its high level economic growth over the last several years and the Chinese investors want to invest their surplus cash in Nepal."

However, Nepal's private sector believes that there is still too much room for attracting more investments from China.

Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, president of Nepal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Nepal is yet to receive large scale Chinese investment that could change the fate of the nation.

Meanwhile, Nepal received far less FDI pledge in 2015-16 compared to the previous fiscal year. The Himalayan nation had received FDI pledge of 626 million U.S. dollars last year, according to DoI.

"As Nepal plunged into political turmoil following the promulgation of new constitution last year and faced subsequent blockade in southern border points for four and half months, foreign investors seemed less attracted to invest in Nepal," said Malla. Endit