Poll results: Private sector excited; Share market rises
KATHMANDU, Nepal – With the Constituent Assembly (CA) election results coming in favour of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, the impact has begun seen in the financial sector. While, the private sector has hoped for an investment friendly environment and said to increase investment, the capital market saw a huge leap after the initial results.
The share market that started to fall after the government was formed under Unified CPN (Maoist) five years ago has gathered momentum after the results of the CA election looked to be in favour of liberal parties.
Representatives of the umbrella organizations of the private sector—including the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Federation of Nepal Small and Cottage Industries—commented that the agenda of economic liberalization has been approved by the people along with the election results.
In its statement the FNCCI stated that the representatives of the private sector have also voted enthusiastically in the CA election. It urged the parties to focus on economic agendas along with construction drafting. “The parties must respect the unprecedented participation of the Nepali people during the election and the changing form of the public opinion,” President of FNCCI Suraj Vaidya states. “The issues mentioned in the manifestos, now, should be implemented with determination. We will continue to remain a watchdog for that,” he adds.
CNI expressed happiness that the election was held peacefully as per the wishes of Nepalis in spite of different suspicions, and fear. “The big turnout in the second CA election shows that the people are enthusiastic about lasting peace, constitution drafting, economic prosperity and development of strong democracy,” CNI said through a press statement. “This enthusiastic mandate is an important achievement.”
The business community has also urged all the political parties to create mutual goodwill and trust along with the agenda of economic development as per their manifestos.
Meanwhile, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index rose by 34 points to reach a 50-month high on Thursday. Transactions could not take place in the share market due to the excitement in investors after the results started to come in favor of NC and CPN-UML one after another. Though transactions are being done for three hours a day in Nepse on an average, transactions were done for just 45 minutes on Thursday as it had to employ circuit breakers three times due to unnatural rise in the market. The market also closed around 90 minutes before normal time. The share price of the majority of companies, including commercial banks, Nepal Telecom (NT) and others that were traded on Thursday, rose. Nepse rose by 33.88 points on Thursday to close at 634.88 after starting at 600.42. It was 630.11 on September 7, 2009.
Experts claim that this improvement in the market can sustain.