Nepal Development Update, September 2016 : Powering Recovery
After registering the weakest growth in 14 years during FY2016, economic activity is recovering in Nepal. Agriculture and construction are expected to improve on the account of a good monsoon as well as increased disbursements of housing reconstruc...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/10/26853939/nepal-development-update-powering-recovery http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25273 |
| Summary: | After registering the weakest growth in
14 years during FY2016, economic activity is recovering in
Nepal. Agriculture and construction are expected to improve
on the account of a good monsoon as well as increased
disbursements of housing reconstruction grants. Coupled with
in-creased government spending, this is expected to push
FY2017 growth to 5 percent and to remain in line with
potential thereafter. This edition of the Nepal Development
Update examines the key economic developments in Nepal over
the preceding months, placing them in a longer term and
global perspective. In the Special Focus section, the
authors take a closer look at what it would take for the
electricity sector to power Nepal’s recovery. Over the past
decade, power outages in Nepal have increased substantially.
Availability of reliable and affordable electricity has
become a major constraint for Nepal’s development as it
hampers the ability to improve living standards, raise
agricultural productivity and income, and help youth
transition from farming to non-farm employment through
creation of new industries at home. Given Nepal’s natural
endowments, it is not difficult to envision an electricity
sector that can support green growth, poverty reduction, and
shared prosperity. Such an electricity sector would not only
meet domestic demand reliably, affordably, and cleanly, but
would earn revenue from export of surplus hydropower through
enhanced regional electricity markets to neighboring
countries by integrating the wider South Asia power market.
Wholesale structural reforms of the electricity sector are
needed to achieve this. |
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