Kathmandu, Jan. 10:Nepal’s economic growth rate, hovering around three per cent during the last five years, is likely to increase to 6 per cent, thanks to political stability, favourable weather conditions and increase in the exports.

The agricultural sector is said to have played a major role in the increase of the estimated economic growth, according to economic indicators. The growth in the agricultural sector during the current fiscal year is estimated between 4 and 5 per cent, said Dr Yuva Raj Khatiwada, Nepal Rastra Bank’s chief economic advisor.

Such a growth in this sector will have a direct, positive impact on the country’s overall economy, which is based on agriculture, Dr Khatiwada said.

In addition, the country’s exports have increased by 40 per cent, NRB said in its recent report.

National Planning Commission member Dr Shankar Sharma said the remittance, increase in industrial production and better loan management had increased the economic growth rate this fiscal year which ends mid-July.

“The industrial output this year is likely to increase from that of previous years,” Sharma said of the projection, which is due to be published.

Dr Khatiwada said political stability during the last seven months had created a congenial atmosphere for the growth in industrial output and investments in the industrial sector.

Khatiwada said the investors were attracted by political stability and reforms in internal fiscal policy.

Another economist Dr Bishwambhar Pyakuryal agrees to Khatiwada. There have been positive indications because the Nepali Congress government has already started implementation of the measures pledged during the election and because of the free market economy the country has embraced, Pyakuryal said.