Urja Khabar
Kathmandu; Nepal’s energy sector grew by 27.5 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, although the overall economy posted sluggish growth during the period.
The first quarterly report unveiled by the National Statistics Office (NSO) shows that the sector under the heading of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply grew by the aforementioned percentage during mid-July and mid-October. It was record high growth that the sector achieved till the date.
In the review period of the fiscal years 2021/22 and 2020/21, the sector’s growth rates were 16.6 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively. The NSO records show that the energy sector started to take an upward leap mainly in the past few years, mainly due to an increasing attraction for investment in the energy sector citing the soaring demands.
In the last fiscal year alone, the energy sector grew by 69.3 percent. Despite being an aspiring figure of energy, performances of most other sectors were pathetic at a time when the economy started facing a threat of sustaining recession.
According to the NSO, Nepal's overall economic growth rate was at mere 0.8 percent in the review period. The mining sector was the most affected area in the first three months of this year. Compared to the review period last year, the production of the mineral sector decreased 29 percent this year.
Similarly, the construction sector was negative by 24 percent. The growth rate of the agricultural sector, however, was maintained at 1.6 percent, while the output of other service sectors was also positive during the period.
