Kathmandu, Jan. 10 -- Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has claimed that the country's economy is moving towards broad-based growth amid concerns that growth might stumble this fiscal year due to sluggish spending by both the government and the private sector.

"Every province achieved a growth rate of 6-8 percent in the last fiscal year," Khatiwada told the Kantipur Economic Summit on Thursday. "The current growth rate of the economy is not just a bubble driven by post-earthquake reconstruction."

The government has targeted a growth rate of 8.5 percent in the current fiscal year, and aims to achieve 9 percent growth annually over the next five years. But the World Bank's recent projection shows that Nepal's economy will expand by only...