Nepal’s Borrowed Resilience: Fuel Dependence and Fragility

Long queues at fuel stations, anxiety over cooking gas, and repeated price hikes have brought a familiar reminder: Nepal remains far more vulnerable to imported fuel shocks than it should be. This is not simply a story of temporary disruption. It is a sign of a deeper structural weakness. Nepal is one of the world’s low energy economies. It has vast hydropower potential, abundant water resources, and unusually large foreign exchange reserves. Yet it is still highly exposed to imported petroleum. Nepal looks safer than many fragile economies, but much of that safety rests on forces beyond its control. Its resilience is real, but much of it is borrowed.