DPM and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has expressed his satisfaction with the improvement of the economic indicators, however, he said not be satisfied with the present economic position of the country. Meanwhile, the local media have reported a significant increase in Nepal’s exports. It is nice to know that Nepal can export cardamom, tea and other agricultural items. Also, this year, these Nepali products got good prices as demand increased in India. Nevertheless, the dominating items exported to India are vegetable ghee, soybean oil, and sunflower oil-like products. These items are not produced in Nepal. They are imported from Singapore and Malaysia in big vessels and exported to India after packing it here by giving a Nepali trademark. Such items are imported by spending the US dollars and exported to India by receiving Indian currency. When India introduces high tariffs for the products imported directly from the international market, enjoying the special facility provided for Nepali products, businessmen export them to India via Nepal. This is not a permanent business and also not a real export picture of the country.

To gain the real value of exports, Nepal should be able to export agricultural and other items produced in Nepal by using the maximum quantity of locally produced or manufactured items. Moreover, our trade imbalance is establishing new records every year. Reducing the trade deficit should be the country's strategy.

First of all, the country should focus on substituting imports by producing agricultural items needed for the country. Similarly, producing textiles, shoes, chemical fertilizer, machinery and other items consumed by the country. Also, encouraging electrical vehicle assembling plants, producing batteries, etc. would increase the consumption of green energy by substituting imports of petroleum products.

The country should introduce a policy of using and consuming made-in-Nepal items. All the government offices and agencies should compulsorily introduce the policy for using the made-in-Nepal products. In this way, Nepal can become an economically self-reliant country to a higher extent. Let’s take a lesson from US President Donald Trump from “Make America Great Again”. Trump has openly challenged the free market economy and encouraged protectionism for American products. Thinking about increasing exports is a good idea but in the era of protectionism, it can be challenging. Therefore, first of all, we should try to become self-reliant on items which can be produced within the country. Then after, we should explore markets abroad not only relying on the Indian market alone.