Yearbook 2010
Nepal. According to softwareleverage, a week-long strike in May, led by the Maoist Party, marked the beginning of a long political crisis. The Maoists, who themselves led a short-lived government in 2008-09, claimed that the government did not have the people’s support and had failed to commit to give the country a new constitution. According to the Temporary Constitution, the Provisional Parliament would have presented a permanent constitution and then dissolved at the end of May. Now, it was forced to extend its mandate by one year since Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal gave in to the pressure and filed his resignation.
Economy
| Inflation rate | 4.50% |
| Unemployment rate | 3% |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | $ 79,190,000,000 |
| GDP growth rate | 7.90% |
| GDP per capita | 2,700 USD |
| GDP by sector | |
| Agriculture | 27.00% |
| Industry | 13.50% |
| Service | 59.50% |
| State budget | |
| Revenue | 1.153 billion |
| Expenditure | 1.927 billion |
| Proportion of the population below the national poverty line | 25.2% |
| Distribution of household income | |
| Top 10% | 29.5 |
| Lower 10% | 3.2 |
| Industrial production growth rate | -6.30% |
| Investment volume | |
| National debt | 26.40% of GDP |
| Foreign exchange reserves | $ 8,668,000,000 |
| Tourism | 2014 |
| Number of visitors | 790,000 |
| Revenue | $ 502,000,000 |
In July, Parliament’s deadline for a new government expired. According to COUNTRYAAH, Nepal has a population of 28.09 million (2018). The president ordered the politicians to agree on a majority government, but no agreement could be reached. During the second half of the year, a large number of unprofitable polls were held on a new government leader. After seven votes, Maoist leader and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, “Prachanda”, withdrew his candidacy to increase the chances of creating a new party constellation that could gather a majority. But not even when only one candidate, representing the Nepalese Congress Party, remained, could the issue be resolved. At each subsequent vote, a large majority of the members cast their votes.
The deadlock did not only risk damaging the fragile peace process after many years of civil war. The country’s economy was also threatened by the paralysis. Only in December could Parliament deal with the state budget after the president forced a budget session through decrees. The EU, the World Bank and other donors warned that important development projects would stall without a political solution, saying it could be difficult to explain to taxpayers in the West why their money should go to squabbling Nepalese, when needs are at least as great in other countries.
One political veteran who did not experience the deepening crisis was four-time Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who died in March 86 years old.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the two letter abbreviation of NP stands for the country of Nepal in geography.
Economic conditions
Nepal is a very poor country and for its survival it largely depends on the aid of international organizations; GDP grows to an extent lower than the increase in the population, so that the percentage of those living below the poverty line is always higher. Agriculture and livestock (which contribute 32% to GDP and employ 76% of the population) are the main activities. Agriculture, which for the most part has a subsistence character, is practiced in plots of family size and is always subject to the risks associated with the variable frequency of monsoon rains. The main agricultural products are rice, grown mainly in the intermontane valleys, maize, barley, wheat and, in the Terai, sugar cane, tobacco and jute. The zootechnical patrimony includes cattle, buffaloes, goats and smaller quantities of sheep and pigs. The industrial sector contributes 16.6% to the formation of GDP, but it employs just 6% of the workforce. The sector is mainly represented by companies for the production of building materials and by companies for the transformation of agricultural products (textile, oil, sugar, breweries). Most of the industrial plants are located in the Kathmandu area. Trade relations are particularly close with India, both for imports (58.9% of the total) and for exports (69.3%). The tertiary sector, dominated by the bureaucratic and military apparatus, contributes 50.9% to the GDP and employs 18% of the workforce. Promising activities related to tourism, in constant expansion and attracted both by the possibilities of hiking and mountaineering offered by the Himalayan mountains and by the ethnic and cultural characteristics of the country. The hopes for development of the Nepalese economy largely depend on the substantial hydroelectric resources, the exploitation of which may in the future make the Nepal not only independent from an energy point of view, but even an energy supplier to India. Communications make use of 6300 km of roads, approximately 30% asphalted; connections with India are also ensured by a short railway section of about sixty kilometers. The main airport is the Kathmandu International Airport. connections with India are also ensured by a short railway section of about sixty kilometers. The main airport is the Kathmandu International Airport. connections with India are also ensured by a short railway section of about sixty kilometers. The main airport is the Kathmandu International Airport.