The main opposition CPN-UML has accused the current government of derailing the country's economy that its government had left in a healthy state.
Organizing as press conference about the current state of economy Sunday in presence of three former finance ministers from the party—Bishnu Paudel, Surendra Pandey and Yuba Raj Khatiwada—UML presented the party's position on the current economic state in 12 points including the economic indicators at the time of the KP Sharma Oli government to compare wth the gloomy ones now.
The party has also slammed the arbitrary suspension of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari, who was appointed by the then Oli government on April 6, 2020, apparently over the differences with Finance Minister Janardan Sharma.
"We had left a healthy and strong economy. The country's economic state is under risk. Nobody can stop us from being Sri Lanka if we don't make meaningful interventions," Paudel, who preceded Sharma at the ministry, claimed. "The country is deteriorating due to the current policy and behavior."
Speaking after Paudel former minister Pandey raised the issue of rumored differences between Minister Sharma and suspended Governor Adhikari over the release of money arriving from abroad that the NRB has stopped.
He pointed that the finance minister does not have authority to write to the NRB to release the amount when a friendly country has written that the said amount has arrived illegally, as has been reported in the media, and opined that the agencies concerned should punish Sharma for giving such instruction violating international treaties and conventions Nepal has signed.
Khatiwada, who preceded Paudel at the helm of the Finance Ministry, accused the government of making hay even as the country's economy is facing serious problems. "Government ministers are in busy plundering. They are openly collecting election expenses," he claimed. "The governor has been punished when the NRB tried to become active as the economy weakened. Inflations has increased abnormally. The general public fears whether we will suffer the fate of Sri Lanka."
