| Overview
Nepal
is among the poor and the least developed countries in the world.
It has nearly half of its population living below the poverty line.
Agriculture
is the most important in the economy, providing a livelihood for
over 80% of the population and accounting for 41% of GDP. Industrial
activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural product
such as jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. In the past three years,
Production of textiles and carpets has expanded and accounted for
about 80% of foreign exchange earnings .
Nepal
formally adopted a multi-party parliamentary system of Government
in 1990. Legal administration is in the hands of an independent
judicial system. The government has been moving forward with economic
reforms, particularly those that encourage trade and foreign investment
by reducing business licenses and registration requirements . The
government has also been reducing subsidies, privatizing state industries,
and laying off civil servants to cut expenditures. However, recently
political instability has hampered governments' ability to forge
consensus to implement important economic reforms. Nepal can increase
economic growth by exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism,
areas of recent foreign investment interest. Nevertheless, prospects
for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor
because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness,
its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, and its susceptibility
to natural disaster. The international community's role of funding
more than 60% of Nepal's development budget and more than 28% of
total budgetary expenditures will likely continue as a major source
of growth.
| GDP |
|
| Purchasing
power parity |
$27.4 billion (1999 est.) |
| Real
growth rate: |
3.4% (1999 est.) |
| Per
capita: purchasing power parity |
$1,100 (1999 est.) |
|
|
| GDP
composition by sector: |
| Agriculture: |
41% |
|
| Industry: |
22% |
|
| Services: |
37% |
|
Population below poverty line: 42% (1995-96 est.)
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: (1995-96) |
| Lowest
10% |
3.2% |
|
| Middle
80% |
67.0
% |
|
| Highest
10%: |
29.8% |
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11.8% (FY98/99 est.)
Labor force: 10 million (1996 est.)
note: severe lack of skilled labor
| Labor
force (by occupation) |
| Agriculture: |
81% |
|
| Industry: |
3% |
|
| Services: |
16% |
|
Budget:
revenues: $536 million
expenditures: $818 million, including capital expenditures
of $NA (FY96/97 est.)
Industries: tourism, carpet, textile; small rice, jute, sugar, and
oilseed mills; cigarette; cement and brick production
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
| Electricity
- production by source: |
| Fossil
fuel |
5.13% |
|
| hydro: |
94.87% |
|
| nuclear
/other |
0% |
|
| Electricity |
| Production |
1.17 billion kWh (1998) |
|
| Consumption |
1.212 billion kWh (1998) |
|
| Exports |
72
million kWh (1998) |
|
| Imports |
196 million kWh (1998) |
|
| Bars are not in the
scale. |
Agriculture
products (Major):
rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops; milk, water buffalo meat
Exports: $485 million (f.o.b., 1998), but does not include
unrecorded border trade with India
Exports - commodities:
carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods, grain
| Exports
partners(FY97/98) |
| India |
33% |
|
|
US |
26% |
|
|
Germany |
25% |
|
Imports: $1.2 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports - commodities:
gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer
|
Imports - partners: (FY97/98) |
|
India |
31% |
|
|
China/Hong Kong |
16% |
|
| Singapore
|
14% |
|
Debt - external: $2.4 billion (1997)
Economic aid - recipient: $411 million (FY97/98)
Currency: 1 Nepalese rupee (NR) = 100 paisa
Exchange rates:
Nepalese rupees (NRs) per US$1 - 68.784 (January 2000), 68.253 (1999),
65.976 (1998), 58.010 (1997), 56.692 (1996), 51.890 (1995)
Fiscal year: 16 July - 15 July
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