KATHMANDU: The government will provide relief packages to the industries and enterprises which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as per Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel.
He said that relief packages introduced in the annual budget of fiscal year 2021/22 will be distributed starting from mid-July (Nepali month of Shrawan) in a bid to revive and rescue them.
“We will complete all the formalities by Ashar-end (mid-July) and carry out all the activities targeting revival of the corona-impacted economy,” Poudel added.
According to the National Federation of Entrepreneurs, 40 percent of the small scale and medium scale industries have been shut down due to COVID-19.
A Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply report, unveiled last year, relieved that small and middle scale enterprises were the worst affected ones. According to the report, 85 percent of the industries which were completely shut down were small and cottage industries. Similarly, 88 percent of the small and cottage industries failed to perfectly carry out marketing of their goods and 75 percent of them faced raw materials crunch.