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VOL. 27, NO. 45, July25 , 2008 (Shrawan 10 2065 B.S.)
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UNCTAD REPORT
Low Among LDCs
A recent report by the UNCTAD points out that Nepal is faring worse even within the LDCs club
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
A latest UN report has pointed that Nepal has fared badly even among the 50 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
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Presenting UNCTAD report: Dismal Performance |
"Nepal itself continues to remain an outlier alongside other Asian LDCs that have enjoyed higher rates of growth over recent years and are making faster progress in transforming their economies away from a dependence on commodities towards manufacturing and services," says the press release issued by the United Nations Information Center referring to the latest report on LDCs by UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
"On current trends, the report suggests Nepal could be more than 50 years away from graduating from the LDC group," the release adds. Launching the report subtitled "Growth, poverty and the terms of the development partnership," Rober Piper, UN Resident Coordinator for Nepal, underlined the importance of the Nepal government making the right policy choices to place Nepal on track to faster and more equitable growth.
"We need a much greater sense of urgency amongst all those responsible to get Nepal out (of the LDCs club). Only effective economic policies that create employment, increase agricultural productivity and reduce dependence on commodities can ensure that growth – when it comes – will translate into poverty reduction. One third of Nepal's population continue to live in some of the worst conditions to be found on the planet," Piper said.
Presenting the findings of the report, Dr. Shankar Sharma, former vice chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC), said that in the last three years, the average GDP growth of Nepal stood at 2.8 percent – way below the average of LDCs at 7.6 percent.
The UNCTAD report states that exceptional economic performance in some of the world's poorest countries has failed to reach broad populations; even as the global food crisis will likely worsen situation.
The highest rate of economic progress in the world's 50 least developed countries (LDCs) in the last 30 years has not been enough to prevent their total number of poor from increasing, the report reveals.
Three fourths of those living in these nations continue to survive on less than US$2 a day. Recent rising food costs are threatening to undercut the modest progress achieved, the report adds.
The report finds that the main reasons strong economic growth fails to translate into hefty improvements in well-being are the types of growth and the models of development that LDCs have been following. "These approaches mean only limited segments of the population benefit from economic expansion. Job creation has been limited, which deprives most people of direct increases in their earnings. Another factor making social progress difficult is strong population growth."
The report says that while foreign aid can help mobilize domestic resources so that they spur economic progress, such aid is not an engine for long-term development.
"Domestic resources, talents, and ideas have to be the basis for that. Employing foreign aid to catalyze the process and matching it to local conditions requires that LDC governments -- which know these conditions best -- assume the leadership role."
At the local launch of the report in Kathmandu, Robert Piper, UN Resident Coordinator for Nepal underlined the importance of the Nepal Government making the right policy choices to place Nepal on track to faster and more equitable growth. He also underlined the vital role Nepal's donors must play in supporting Nepal in these efforts. "This is one club Nepal really doesn't want to be a member of" said Robert Piper on the occasion of the launch.
