World Business | Asia | Asia Business | Nepal

Economy - overview:
Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with 40% of its population living below the poverty line. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing a livelihood for over 80% of the population and accounting for 40% of GDP. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. Security concerns in the wake of the Maoist conflict have led to a decrease in tourism, a key source of foreign exchange. Nepal has considerable scope for exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism, areas of recent foreign investment interest. Prospects for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor, however, because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness, its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, its civil strife, and its susceptibility to natural disaster.
 

Agriculture - Products
rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops; milk, water buffalo meat

Airlines
Airlines in Asia
Airlines Worldwide

Airports
Airports in Asia
Airports Worldwide

Country Budget
revenues: $665 million
expenditures: $1.1 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (FY99/00 est.)

Currency (code): Nepalese rupee (NPR)

Currency Exchange Rates
Nepalese rupees per US dollar - 73.674 (2004), 76.141 (2003), 77.877 (2002), 74.949 (2001), 71.094 (2000)

Fiscal Year: 16 July - 15 July

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $39.53 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,500 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 40%
industry: 20%
services: 40% (2002 est.)

Imports / Exports
Exports:  $568 million f.o.b., but does not include unrecorded border trade with India (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:  carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods, grain
Exports - partners:  India 47.4%, US 22.7%, Germany 8.4% (2004)

Imports:  $1.419 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:  gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer
Imports - partners:  India 46.3%, China 10.8%, UAE 9.3%, Saudi Arabia 4.1% (2004)

Industries
tourism, carpet, textile; small rice, jute, sugar, and oilseed mills; cigarette; cement and brick production

Investing
Forex, Foreign Exchange Market: Currency Trading

Labor Force & Unemployment Rate
Labor force:  10 million
note: severe lack of skilled labor (1996 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 81%, industry 3%, services 16%
Unemployment rate: 47% (2001 est.)