Economic Freedom of the World Report 2011

The Economic Freedom of the World Report 2011 released on 19th September 2011 says Nepal's rank slid to 129 out of 141 countries this year. With a score of 5.50 (out of 10), Nepal continued to be one of the least free countries in the world in case of economic freedom.

Nepal continued to fare dismally in economic freedom, an indicator which highlights people's freedom to choose and undertake business activities, due to weak enforcement of industrial and consumer laws, low commitment of country's interim constitution and ongoing political discourse on security of property rights.

The report notes that not just Nepal, but all the countries across the globe performed badly during the year, particularly as enforcement of stringent financial and other sector regulations in the wake of global financial crisis ate up freedom. 

This year, the average global economic freedom score fell to 6.64, the lowest in nearly three decades, from 6.67 in 2008, reads a statement.

Among all 141 countries covered by the report, Hong Kong retained the highest rating for economic freedom, scoring 9.01 out of 10. Other top economically free countries include Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Chile, United Kingdom, Mauritius and the United States. Similarly, Hong Kong scores 9.01 out of 10, followed by Singapore (8.68), New Zealand (8.20), Switzerland (8.03), Australia (7.98), Canada (7.81), Chile (7.77), the United Kingdom (7.71), Mauritius (7.67), and the United States (7.60).

This year Zimbabwe maintains the lowest level of economic freedom among the 141 jurisdictions measured. Myanmar, Venezuela, Angola, and Democratic Republic of Congo round out the bottom five nations.

The Economic Freedom of the World Report uses 42 different measures and rank economic freedom under five broader indicators like size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation of credit, labor and business.

Sadly, Nepal's scores on all those indicators fell down this year, with score remaining the least on indicator related to legal structures and security of property rights. 

The report shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher level of prosperity, greater individual freedoms and longer life spans. 

Measuring the Information Society 2011

Nepal has moved three places up from the ranking of 137 in 2008 to 134 in 2010 among 152 countries in the Information and Communication Development Index (IDI) that is published on 19th September 2011 by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Publishing its report ‘Measuring the Information Society 2011’, the union has said that information and communication technology uptake continues to accelerate worldwide, spurred by a steady fall in the price of telephone and broadband Internet services.

A key feature of the report is the ICT Development Index (IDI), which ranks 152 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills, and compares 2008 and 2010 scores. ICT Development Index captures progress made in regard to ICT infrastructure, use and skills. 

Nepal received the actual IDI value of 1.56 in 2010, up to from 1.28 in 2008, according to the report. 

However, Nepal fell in the lower raking compared to the countries from Asia Pacific countries. Nepal is ranked at the 25th position among the 27 Asia Pacific countries. 

In South Asia, Maldives tops the rank with 67th position followed by Sri Lanka (105th), India (116th), Bhutan (119th), Pakistan (123rd), Nepal (134th) and Bangladesh (137th), according to the report.

Nepal is in the low economics level according to ICT Development Index levels and Income, the union in report said, adding that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has divided four major levels – high (IDI values above 6.16), upper (IDI values between 4.09 and 6.4), medium (IDI values between 2.59 and 4.05) and low (IDI values below 2.55).

All the South Asian countries have been categorized as a low economics level. Countries that are categorized under low IDI levels and income need to give attention on policy-makers and ICT investors to promote ICT sector, according to the report.

“Falling prices are fuelling growth in high-speed Internet services, especially in developing countries,” it said.

South Korea has the world’s most developed economy in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), though, South Korea is the fourth largest economy in Asia.

Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland were also among the top five in the ICT Development Index (IDI). Global mobile broadband subscriptions reached 872 million by the end of last year, the report said, adding that three hundred million of those are in developing countries.

Even so, the report warned that the people in many low-income countries were still paying too much for high-speed Internet connections. “Also, there are differences in broadband speed and quality from country to country,” it said.

Nepal ranks 17th on women representation in Parliament

Nepal ranks 17th on women representation in Parliament as per the list of World and Regional Averages of Women in Parliament, available at the Regional Seminar on Asian Parliaments (2011 Sep 15-17, New Delhi). The seminar is organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Indian Parliament.

While Rwanda, a small East African nation, tops the list of nations across the world for having the maximum representation of women in Parliament. Strife-torn Afghanistan and Iraq are ranked at 32nd and 38th rank, having 27.3 % and 25.5 % women representation in their lower houses.

India ranks a poor 100th, has only 10.8 % representation of women in the Lok Sabha with 59 out of 545 members as women. In the Rajya Sabha, India has only nine % women with only 21 women out of a total of 233 members.

India's ranking on this front falls even below its neighbours like Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and troubled Iraq and Afghanistan.

Global Competitive Report 2011-12

Nepal improved its score to 3.47 to climb up to 125th position — among 142 economies — from last year’s score of 3.36 and 130th position among 139 economies according to the Global Competitive Report 2011-12.

The report released on 7th September 2011 by World Economic Forum globally, the country has improved in macroeconomic environment and health, though its needs to have a lots of improvements in institutions and infrastructures — the two key pillars of the index among the 12 pillars based upon which the score is calculated.

However, Nepal still falls under factor driven country category that needs to focus on first four pillars — institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment and health and primary education.

Under the first pillar — institutions — government’s attitude towards market also plays key role and under second pillar — infrastructure — market integration to reduce cost to the market is key, which has pulled Nepal's overall score.

There are 37 economies like Nepal that fall under the factor driven category that has their per capita income below $2,000. The economies that have between $3,000 and $8,999 per capita income fall under efficiency driven category which has 28 countries and the economies that have over $17,000 per capita income fall under the innovative driven category that has 35 countries.

Nepal’s GDP stands at $15.8 billion with $562 per capita income, according to the report.

The report has identified government instability, inefficient government bureaucracy, policy instability, corruption and inadequate supply of infrastructure as five most problematic factors for doing business, which was similar to last years report.

The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and introduced in 2004.

The GCI comprises 12 pillars — institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation — of competitiveness that together provide a comprehensive picture of a country’s competitiveness landscape.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey — a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum with its network of Partner Institutes. In Nepal, (Centre for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA) is the partner that has been releasing the report since 2006.

This year, over 14,000 business leaders were polled in a record 142 economies. In Nepal some 103 small (with less than 20 employees), medium (between 20 and 50 employees) and large (with over 50 employees) industries were polled for the survey that is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate.

As usual Switzerland still leads the world in competitiveness because of innovation and labor market efficiency, whereas Singapore came second and Sweden third.

The United States ranked fifth, falling for the third year in a row. 

The United States has good universities, is strong in research and development and has a big economy and a flexible workforce, the report said, adding that the business community, however, continues to be critical toward public and private institutions.

The South Asian ranking

• Sri Lanka — 52

• India — 56

• Bangladesh — 108

• Pakistan — 118

• Nepal — 125

The Missing Persons in Nepal- 2011

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) on 29th August 2011 published the names of 1,383 people who went missing during the Maoist insurgency (1996-2006) on the eve of the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30.

A report titled ´The Missing Persons in Nepal: The right to know´ released on the occasion has updated the list of persons still missing, according to an ICRC press statement issued on Monday. This is the fourth such list published by the institution since the end of the Maoist insurgency in 2006.

Since 1999, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), supported by the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), has maintained contact with the families of missing persons across Nepal and has been encouraging the former parties to the conflict to clarify the fate of those who remain unaccounted for. Over the years, the ICRC has received 38191 reports from families regarding the disappearance of a relative in relation to the conflict. While the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of people has been established, 13832 people are still missing, nearly five years after the end of the conflict. Their families are anxious to know what happened; they need a formal answer so they can get on with their lives. Until then, they are torn between despair and hope: despair at the loss of a relative and hope that he or she may reappear, against all odds.

For three consecutive years (2007, 2008 and 2009) the ICRC and the NRCS published lists of missing persons in Nepal. These lists contained 812, 1227 and 1348 names respectively. In 2010, the ICRC published the updated list of 1369 names on its website, in English and Nepali (www.familylinks.icrc.org).

Since 2007, 42 families have received an answer and have been able to move on with their lives; meanwhile many more have come forward and asked the Red Cross to help them obtain information.

The present document contains an updated list of 1383 missing persons, taken from ICRC records. This is not a comprehensive list of everyone who went missing during the conflict; it only includes people whose families have approached the NRCS or the ICRC looking for information about a missing relative. Each name represents the missing person, his or her family, the suffering of that family, the statements the families provided to the ICRC, and the ICRC’s repeated representations to the authorities.

For original report click here.

Need Assessment for Nepal 2010

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 'Need Assessment for Nepal 2010' released 24th August 2011 revealed that the country suffers from a resource gap to the tune of Rs 451.43 billion (a 32.34 per cent) over the last 5 years of the MDGs period. This further slims the country´s chances of achieving the goals by 2015. However, it points out that during 2011 and 2015, a total of Rs 1,395.8 billion is required to achieve targets.

In the context of shifting global priorities towards fighting global recession and climate change implications, it is difficult to manage.

Nepal is on track to achieve goals like universal primary education, rise in household income, improvement in child health and maternal health.

Targets that Nepal is likely to miss, according to the report of National Planning Commission (NPC) and UNDP, include the ones like halving the population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption, proportion of underweight children (aged between 6-59 months) and proportion of stunted children (aged 6-69 months).

Nepal also faces difficulty in achieving targeted survival rate to Grade 5 in primary education, literacy rate for 15-24 years old, proportion of births attended by skilled attendants, universal access to reproductive health, and proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility.

If Nepal is to achieve the targets, it must reduce proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption to 21 percent by 2015 whereas such proportion stood at 25.4 percent in 2010.

Likewise, the report notes the proportion of underweight children in 2010 stood at 36.4 percent against the target of 29 percent, proportion of stunted children is 46.8 percent against the target of 30 percent, survival rate to Grade 5 in primary education is 77.9 percent against cent percent target and literacy rate for 15-24 years old is 86.5 percent against the target of cent percent.

Third Nepal Living Standards Survey

Nepal has made significant progress in the social sectors in the last seven years.

Also, the income gap between the poor and the rich is shrinking, according to findings of the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS)- III whose preliminary report was unveiled by the Central Bureau of Statistics on 8th August 2011.

The NLSS 2010-11 said common Nepalis' access to basic facilities has improved in the years.

Despite political upheavals and unrest, average household income of Nepalis has increased by more than four-fold to Rs 202,374 over the span of 15 years due to rise in the number of employed population, switch from agricultural to non-agricultural jobs and increased receipt of remittances.

Remittance is widely spent on daily consumption, followed by loan repayment and household property instead of capital formation. Some 78.9 per cent of the remittance is used on daily consumption, whereas 7.1 per cent of the remittance is used to repay loans followed by 4.5 per cent on household property, 3.5 per cent on education and only a minimal 2.4 per cent is used on capital formation.

However, percentage of household receiving remittances has also more than doubled from 23.4 per cent 15 years ago to 55.8 per cent in 2010.

Consumption of expenditure on food, housing and education has increased but on other non-food items it has decreased. Share of food in total household consumption has seen a increased to 61.5 per cent from 59 per cent in 2003-04, whereas share of non-food consumption has decreased to 22.2 per cent in 2010-11 from 2003-04’s 28.7 per cent, according to the survey that reflects the migration has not only increased the average income of a Nepali and consumption pattern but changed the social structure too.

The female headed households percentage has doubled — to 26.6 per cent from 13.6 pre per cent — in the last 15 years since the first Nepal Living Standard Survey 1995-96.

For instance, the third edition of the survey, which compared living standard of same households that were studied during the first NLSS in 1995/96, says almost 70 percent households have access to electricity at present, whereas only about 14 percent and 37 percent households had such access in 1995/96 and 2003/04 respectively.

The number of households with access to safe drinking water too has increased to 83 percent from 70.4 percent in 1995/96. Likewise, almost 18 percent households are presently using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - efficient and less polluting fuel - for cooking, up from 8.2 percent of 2003/04 and 0.1 percent of 1995/96.

Over the span of 15 years, access of Nepalis to primary school has jumped to almost 94.7 percent from 88 percent, access to health centers to 73.8 percent from 45 percent, market center to 45 percent from 24 percent and paved road to 51 percent from 24 percent

Over the same period per capita income of an individual has undergone a tremendous growth that average per capita income of Nepali has gone up to Rs 41,659 in 2010/11 from just Rs 7,690 in 1995/96.

The survey also shows a significant change in sources of income of Nepali households. According to the survey, more Nepalis have started to make non-agricultural income, whereas in the past, agriculture used to contribute the bulkiest share in households income.

The contribution of agriculture sector in the household income has come down to 27.7 percent from 61 percent in 1995/96. Subsequently, share of non-agricultural income in household income has increased to 37.2 percent from 22 percent of 15 years ago. The survey notes that in 2010/11, almost 56 percent of total Nepali households are receiving remittances, which is a remarkable rise over 23.4 percent recorded in 1995/96 and 31.9 percent in 2003/04.

The survey has also traced striking growth in the number of employed population. According to the survey, a total of 78.5 percent of the total population were employed in 2010/11, whereas in 1995/96 only 67.2 percent Nepalis were employed.

The percentage of not active population has dropped to 19.9 percent now from 29.4 percent of 1995/96.