Unleashing Nepal

Sujeev Shakya

Description

Unleashing Nepal tells the story of Nepal s changing economy, from the time of unification to a remittance economy driven by the labour of Nepal s diaspora. Acclaimed columnist and business leader Sujeev Shakya examines not only the squandered opportunities of the past but also what Nepali citizens need to do to escape from a feudal history of dependence and powerlessness. Here is a Nepal that could be an Asian Tiger. Here are resourceful village communities who manage their own electricity, aspirational Nepali youth, energetic migrant workers, and driven foreign-aid workers, who can make this dream a reality. Compelling and eminently readable, this updated and enriched version brings the country alive with its acute business understanding, humour and local colour.

Sujets

• Nepal
• Political economy

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 04 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789351187479
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sujeev Shakya

UNLEASHING NEPAL


Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Introduction
Foreword
Preface to the Updated Edition
Author s Prologue: Past Debacles, Present Opportunities, Future Dreams
Part I: The Past till the 1990s

1: Isolation, Isolation and Isolation
2: Mixed Economy of the 1950s-Confused Results
Part II: Present Continuous- 1990 till 2012

3: The People s Movement of 1990: Emergence and Squander
4: Disappointing Private Sector
5: The Business of Development
6: Governance Woes
7: Conflictonomics
8: Emergence of the Remittance Economy
Part III: Unleashing Nepal

9: Alleviating Poverty, Creating Wealth
10: Scaling Up
11: Nepali Youth: An Engine of Productivity and Change
12: Redefining Nepal s Economic Borders
13: In Search of Unleashing
Notes
Footnotes
Author s Prologue: Past Debacles, Present Opportunities, Future Dreams
1: Isolation, Isolation and Isolation
2: Mixed Economy of the 1950s-Confused Results
3: The People s Movement of 1990: Emergence and Squander
4: Disappointing Private Sector
6: Governance Woes
7: Conflictonomics
8: Emergence of the Remittance Economy
9: Alleviating Poverty, Creating Wealth
12: Redefining Nepal s Economic Borders
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
Copyright
PENGUIN BOOKS
UNLEASHING NEPAL
Sujeev Shakya is CEO of beed management, a management consulting and financial advisory services firm based in Kathmandu. He has worked for over twenty years in Nepal including heading one of Nepal s largest business groups. He is a chartered accountant and holds a graduate diploma in international marketing from Boston University and certification in coaching from Columbia University. He was awarded the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship by the US Department of State in 2002.
Sujeev chairs the Nepal Economic Forum, an interface for private sector development. From 2000 to 2011, he wrote a popular column under the nom de plume Arthabeed in Nepali Times and currently writes a column for the Kathmandu Post. For more information please visit www.sujeevshakya.com .
To all who believe in the possibility of a transformation of Nepal and the unleashing of its potential
Introduction
I n a meeting with progressive elements of the private sector in Kathmandu in 2008, I asked what it was that these Nepali businessmen wanted. The response of one of the participants was telling: We want to be part of a large middle-class in a middle- class country, not wealthy in a very poor country. The deep economic and political analysis in this book explains both why Nepal remains extremely poor and how economic opportunities can be capitalized to create widespread and equitable economic growth for the Nepali people and a true middle class. There is already a globalized segment of the private sector in Nepal, which has an unwavering commitment to the country, impressive capabilities which can allow it to compete in the world economy and a clear vision for economic development. Sujeev Shakya is one member of this capable, dedicated and internationalized segment of the Nepali private sector, which will be critical to forging a New Nepal from the midst of the ongoing economic, political and social problems that beset the country. He has been involved with economics in Nepal over several decades, and as such is uniquely positioned to explain how Nepal came to be where it is today and where it might go in the future.
Sadly, across the market in Nepal, a corrupt, illegitimate segment of the private sector continues to prevent the growth of the legitimate economy, and makes life increasingly difficult for those seeking to operate businesses within the law. Money laundering is pervasive and illicit economic activity is habitual among certain individuals and groups. Faced with unpredictable extortion demands, economic actors find it difficult to understand the cost of business, and therefore engage in long-term planning. Such illegal activities have led to disenchantment with the market economy and the view that market creates winners and losers in a zero sum game of economic competition. A history of centralized, nepotistic power structures and chronic aid dependency have further exacerbated these problems and the current financial crisis has hit ordinary Nepalis, many of whom continue to live in abject poverty.
As Sujeev explains, these problems have come about because the Nepali state has not provided predictable and fair rules of the game for the operation of the market, which has isolated or driven away many of the economic actors necessary to transform Nepal into a modern, vibrant state based on a legitimate and open market economy. The viability and credibility of capitalism have been called into question, not least by the Maoists, but communism is not the answer to Nepal s problems. A balance has to be struck between the state and the market, and Sujeev s call for a movement towards a capitalist welfare economy is welcome: the visible hand of the state is necessary to set the appropriate regulatory mechanisms to keep the market functioning according to a set of rules, and to provide social safety nets for those who are left out of economic growth, particularly during the current downturn. In this respect, this book could not have come at a more important time.
Both in political and in economic terms, a point that Sujeev makes very well is that history has a tendency to repeat itself in Nepal, and that history has not always been positive. As the title of this book indicates, Nepal s potential can only be unleashed when the conditions are put in place to allow the future of the economy to truly overcome the problems of the present and the shackles of the past. Nepal has incredible economic potential-from social capital at the community level, which has supported effective management of forestry, hydroelectricity and education, to a dynamic regional context and considerable natural resources, to bureaucratic ability and a huge set of diaspora skills and income-which, as Sujeev explains, must be harnessed coherently to produce a series of visible benefits for the population, create a sense of positive momentum and lay the basis for medium- to long-term transformation of Nepal.
This book acts as an essential tool for learning and discussion as it maps these assets and explains coherently how they can be mobilized through identification of key economic areas and value chains that provide the potential for significant growth in Nepal over the coming years. It provides the substance for a serious discussion between politicians, the private sector and donors in Nepal, which has not yet taken place, as to how to generate economic development; transform money into capital through creating stakeholders in property rights and the rule of law; create jobs; imagine what desirable and credible economic goals look like; understand the sectors and instruments for growth; and highlight how resources will best be mobilized, with the productive zones of business expanded, while corrupt, inefficient private sector elements are concurrently minimized.
Another point made clearly to me in past discussions with the private sector in Kathmandu is that revolution has one r too many: the Nepali economy needs change, but only slowly and constructively, to ensure predictability. Political instability in Nepal has too often undermined economic development and prevented positive rhetoric from being transformed into implementation. Sujeev rightly ends by focusing on young people, who must be given an economic stake in the future of Nepal, in support of economic security, not further reasons to use the skills they develop elsewhere in India, the Gulf or further afield. These are the future leaders and managers of Nepali business and politics, and without them the future will only further replicate the past.
Sujeev has for many years been a strong proponent of the idea that Nepal must join and compete in the globalized economy, and this book provides yet another clear call for stakeholders in Nepal, both inside and outside the country, to make this a reality. This is possible, as the success stories detailed here-from Bhatbhateni Supermarket to D2 Hawkeye (now Verisk Information Technologies) to Darbur Nepal-indicate clearly. Positive business ideas of this type must be understood, the relevant rules and incentives put in place and the space for innovation expanded so that the incredible desire for change and innovative nature of the Nepali people can be used productively for individual and collective benefit. This book leaves little doubt that the private sector will play a central role in Nepal s development, not only in terms of the direct effects it can have on poverty reduction, job creation and economic stability, but also because it will support the growth of a politically conscious middle-class, the growth of a responsible civil society that can hold the government to account, and finally allow the country to move away from its dependence on aid and towards a model of co-production with the international community that allows for inclusive economic growth. It is time for stakeholders from across the Nepali society to come together, work to generate the positive change that the Nepali people so desperately want and ensure the prosperity and stability that they so richly deserve.
ASHRAF GHANI
Chairman, Institute for State Effectiveness and
co-author of The Framework: Fixing Failed States
Foreword
T here could be no better time for Sujeev Shakya s inspiring