KATHMANDU, July 8: Despite continued poor governance, prolonged political instability and shrinking utilization of public resources, Nepal recorded an impressive progress on the social front in 2010/11, though key economic indicators remained jittery.
Says Economic Survey 2011 that the Finance Minister presented in parliament on Thursday, the country´s economy expanded by a meager 3.5 percent to Rs 1,346.81 billion. The growth is the lowest in three years. [break]
Despite all efforts to check consumption, it grew substantially, shrinking gross national savings that dragged down gross capital formation by more than a percentage point to 18 percent.
Ratio of trade deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) doubled over this fiscal year to 23.6 percent, raising a serious question over the capacity to deal with worsening external front. Good monsoon and winter rains helped agriculture sector grow by 4.1 percent, better than a year ago.
However, perennial labor stirs, power cuts, contraction of bank credits and low industrial confidence checked the growth of non-agricultural sector -- the mainstay of semi and unskilled urban employment -- at 3.1 percent. Last year, it had grown by 5.4 percent. Among all non-agriculture sectors, manufacturing industry faltered the most.
Despite slowed growth, Nepal´s per capita income jumped to US$ 645 from US$ 561. Per capita outstanding debt, on the other hand, jumped to Rs 14,905 in 2010/11.
The flagship annual report of the Ministry of Finance, however, portrays a rosy picture of the education sector.
For instance, the number of schools grew by 4,106 in 2010/11. Of them, 1,760 schools were added at the primary level, while 1,303 new schools and 412 new schools came into being at the lower secondary and secondary level.
Establishment of the new schools and programs launched to encourage more children to enroll enabled 170,000 more children to access basic education services. This raised net enrollment rate at the primary level to 95.5 percent from 94 percent, basic education to 86 percent from 75 percent and secondary education to 27.1 percent from 22 percent.
Despite winning global accolades for lowering child and maternal mortality rate, extension of health facilities remained stagnant during the year.
The number of health institutions, according to the survey, remained at 4,393 -- same as the last year. However, 500 sub-health posts were converted into health posts, which means, the quality of health services provided to rural populace improved during the year.
The number of hospital beds throughout the country touched 7,049, which is higher than last year´s 100.
Despite low development spending, the survey says that the government added 1,317 kilometers of new roads to the national road network during the year. The fresh constructions increased the total stretch of the road network to 21,455 kilometers.
Nepal imported 800 million kilowatt hour of electricity from India over the seven months of 2010/11, compared to 612.58 million kilowatt hour of the previous year.
The government had prepared to present the survey in parliament on July 13, but it hurriedly rescheduled the presentation for Thursday, as Speaker of the Parliament is leaving for India to participate in a conference on Friday and is returning only on July 13.