Right reforms

Reform-oriented policy changes must make Nepal’s agriculture the gravity of potential investment.

There was a great serendipity in Nepal’s market-oriented reforms of the economy last week. After a three-decade-long interval of stalled economic reforms, the coalition government of the two largest parties in Parliament—the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML—took a bold step in further liberalising the Nepali economy. An unusually long cabinet meeting held till midnight last Friday came up with a decision to issue four key ordinances designed to improve the business environment within the country. The government plans to organise an investment conference, perhaps realising that presenting tangible incentives would only attract investors. A fortnight ago, I had emphasised ‘ the power of economic reform ’. Now, the state seems to have unleashed a portion of that power.