Nepalmountainnews Report | 18 Jul 2008
A latest United Nations report has pointed out that Nepal has fared badly even among the 50 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
"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," said a press release issued by the United Nations Information Center.
"On current trends, the report suggests Nepal could be more than 50 years away from graduating from the LDC group," said the release referring to the latest report on LDCs by UN Conference on Trade and Development.
Launching the report subtitled "Growth, poverty and the terms of the development partnership," here on Thursday, Rober Piper, UN Resident Coordinator for Nepal, underlined the importance of the Nepali 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 continues to live in some of the worst conditions to be found on the planet," Piper said.
Presenting the findings of the report, Shankar Sharma, former vice chairman of Nepali National Planning Commission, said that in the last three years, the average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of Nepal stood at 2.8 percent -- below the average of LDCs at 7.6 percent.
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