I examine the effect of India’s demonetization experiment — an effort at “forced formalization” of the economy. I urge a more organic approach to formalization, pairing efforts to bring the unbanked population into the banking system with greater funding and accessibility for India’s signature employment guarantee program.

In our study, we identify key sectors of the Nepali economy and dig into the details of their performance over the period, prior to and during the crisis. We come up with a few recommendations that if GoN and other key policy stakeholders work on can help Nepal to secure a healthier post-pandemic economic recovery.

The Executive Summary captures the key takeaways from the third edition of the Nepal Competitiveness Index (NCI) in a summarized version, allowing policymakers, researchers, stakeholders from the private sector, development partners, and civil society members to review the major insights from NCI 2025.

The Nepal Competitiveness Index - Notes for the Policy Makers is for the policy makers at Nepal's provincial and federal governments. This brief version of the Nepal Competitiveness Index 2025 presents the major areas for improvement for each of the seven provinces to boost their competitiveness further.

The NCI is an ongoing collaboration between the Nepal Institute for Policy Research (NIPoRe) and the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Since 2021, we have been analyzing the competitiveness ranking of Nepal’s second province to better support the Government of Nepal’s efforts to decentralize economic activities.

The second edition of Nepal Competitiveness Index evaluates Nepal's seven provinces across 64 indicators in areas like macroeconomic stability, government framework, and quality of life. Bagmati province leads in competitiveness, while Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces face challenges. In addition, the NCI 2024 also assesses seven provinces' digital competitiveness. The report aims to guide policymakers in fostering inclusive growth and prosperity in Nepal's all seven provinces.

The inaugural Nepal Competitiveness Index (NCI) 2022 document ranks Nepal’s seven provinces based on four environments, 11 sub-environments, and 64 indicators. The NCI is an ongoing collaborative effort of the Nepal Institute for Policy Research (NIPoRe) and the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. The index will be updated regularly by incorporating new data points for the existing indicators while also adding a few more indicators to make the document more comprehensive in the future.

The Assessment of Provincial Government’s Response to COVID-19 was undertaken by Foundation and Development Management (FDM) and Nepal Institute for Policy Research (NIPoRe) primarily to understand and critically look into how the seven provinces of Nepal have handled the COVID-19 pandemic. The study analyzed provincial governments’ emergency response policies, resources, mechanism and the effectiveness of the response. Moreover, the team also looked into the coordination between federal government, provincial government and local governments in handling the crisis and identified the challenges and the gaps experienced during the management.

The HCS 2018, held on 23 and 24 March, began with a reporting of deliverables from commitments made in 2017. The HCS has become a regional convening platform bringing together some of the leading thought leaders and pioneers of social change in our region. The Summit was led by the Himalayan Consensus Institute with Nepal Economic Forum as the implementation partner.

Strengthening Sub-Regional Cooperation via Vehicular Movement

The BBIN MVA initiative will not only ensure trade, transport and transit facilitation across the region, but is also likely to foster regional harmony and integration by cementing strong ties between people across the BBIN countries.

This article was originally published on The Third Pole under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence.

Co-author: Aabhusan Khadka

Co-author: Sisir Bhandari

Co-author: Sisir Bhandari

Co-author: Sajal Mani Dhital

Co-author: Umesh Rijal

Co-author: Umesh Rijal

This article was originally published on East Asia Forum under the Creative Commons licence.

In a world where intelligence is so often tied to success, David Robson's "The Intelligence Trap" brings a refreshing and much-needed perspective. It explores the shocking ways our intelligence can sometimes stand in the way of good decision-making.

Author: David Robson
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks