China contributes over 80% of FDI pledges to Nepal

China contributed to around 87 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments received by Nepal during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year that began in mid-July 2017, Nepal's Department of Industry (DoI) said on Tuesday.

Nepal received FDI pledge of NPR 43.22 billion ($396 million) from China against total FDI commitments of NPR 49.87 billion ($457 million) received by mid-May from the beginning of the current fiscal year, Xinhua news agency reported citing the DoI statistics.

Chinese investment pledges stand at 86.66 per cent of total FDI commitment received by Nepal over the period. India came second with FDI pledges of NPR 4.04 billion ($37.11 million). The US came third followed by Japan and South Korea.

China had topped the chart in committing FDI in the last two consecutive fiscal years, 2016-17 and 2015-16, according to the DoI.

Information Officer at DoI Durga Prasad Bhusal told Xinhua on Tuesday that they were seeing the surging flow of Chinese investors at the DoI for registration of industries in recent years.

"We feel it is just a part of growing Chinese investment across the world," he said. According to him, Chinese investment in Nepal has grown in the areas of hydropower, agriculture, and tourism.

During the first 10 months of this fiscal, the highest Chinese FDI pledge came into areas of energy-based industries. Mineral, manufacturing and agro- and forest-based industries came second, third and fourth in terms of receiving FDI pledges from China, according to DoI.

--IANS

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