Finance Minister presents annual status review of public enterprises to HoR

KATHMANDU: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel has presented the annual status review of public enterprises for 2025 to the House of Representatives.

Finance Minister Paudel stated that the annual status review report on public enterprises has been released, covering the overall condition, achievements, operational challenges and areas for improvement of public enterprises for the fiscal year 2023/24.

There are currently 45 public enterprises operating in Nepal across various industrial, commercial, service, social, public utility and financial sectors. Among these, 20 are fully government-owned while the government holds a majority stake in 25.

The report indicates that in the fiscal year 2023/24 the total assets of public enterprises increased by 2.20% compared with the previous fiscal year, reaching Rs 2,910.17 billion.

The government's total investment in public enterprises increased by 5.86% to Rs 703.93 billion by the end of the review period. Of this, equity investment accounted for Rs 364.86 billion and loan investment for Rs 339.07 billion.

In the fiscal year 2023/24 the total operating income of the enterprises reached Rs 630.15 billion, which was 0.22% less than that of fiscal year 2022/23, while the ratio of operating income to gross domestic product was 11.57%.

Among the operating enterprises, 28 were in profit, 15 were in loss and two have been closed. In the fiscal year 2023/24 the net profit of public enterprises reached Rs 42.62 billion, 12.88% less than in the previous review period, while the net loss of loss-making enterprises was Rs 3.63 billion. The net profit of profitable enterprises decreased by 11.50% compared with the previous fiscal year, whereas the net loss of loss-making enterprises increased by 8.65% compared with the previous year.

The government received dividends of Rs 93.75 billion from public enterprises in fiscal year 2022/23, compared with Rs 8.83 billion in fiscal year 2023/24. The dividend ratio compared with total equity investment for fiscal year 2023/24 is 2.4%.

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