Nepal, under its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has projected a per capita GNI of US$2,500 by 2030 from the current US$772, according to the national preliminary report on Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030, drafted by the National Planning Commission (NPC).GNI measures income received by a country both domestically and from overseas, including the remittance earnings that migrant workers -- living and working abroad -- send back home. For many countries like Nepal, money coming in from remittances is an important source of income, adding to their GNI. However, the government needs to invest in the country double of what it is investing currently and help grow the economy by 8 percent every year if it is to achieve the target of achieving four-fold income growth.
Raising the income level and eliminating absolute poverty is one of the key SDG targets, according to Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr Yub Raj Khatiwada. Though eliminating poverty is almost impossible, Nepal targets eliminating the under $1.5-per day absolute poverty, he said, adding that the population below the national poverty line could be brought down to 5 percent in the next 15 years.
Ending absolute poverty in Nepal by 2030 is an ambitious target, particularly given the reversals caused by the recent devastating earthquakes. "In the next six months, the planning commission will calculate the cost and financing needs to achieve the SDGs goals, including poverty elimination and income growth," he said.
Currently, a quater of the population in Nepal is under the absolute poverty line, according to NPC. The government will start formulating budgets from the next fiscal year, 2016-17, keeping in mind the need to meet the above targets. "Resource generation from domestic and international sources, the implementation capacity and distribution mechanism have to be made robust," he added.
Rise in income and distribution along with social security are key to the SDGs, Khatiwada added.
SDGs, the blueprint of long-term development strategy with the socio-economic and environmental focus on 17 targets, also focuses on increasing access, utility and quality of services, according to Director General of ;the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Suman Aryal.
What is GNI
According to the World Bank, GNI is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (minus subsidies) not included in the valuation of output, plus the net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad
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