Kathmandu. The government has released a new forecast that the economic growth rate of the country will be limited to 3.5 percent, which is much lower than the target. While reviewing the current financial year's budget half-yearly, the government initially estimated the growth rate to be 6 percent, but now it has revised it.

The decrease in rice production and productivity, the slowdown in the construction sector and the decline in real estate transactions are considered to be the main reasons for the decline in the growth rate. In the last financial year, the growth rate of gross domestic product was estimated at 4.6 percent. 

According to the half-yearly evaluation report of the budget, the initial estimate is that the GDP has increased by 3 percent in the first quarter of the current financial year. During this period, the expansion of the agricultural sector is seen to be only 1.36 percent, in which the decline in rice production is considered to be a factor.