icultural produce including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain.
Security concerns relating to 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.

Netherlands
The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which
depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable
industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable
current account surplus, and an important role as a European
transportation hub. Industrial activity is predominantly in food
processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery.
A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs no more than 3% of
the labor force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing
industry and for exports. The Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU
partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002. The
country continues to be one of the leading European nations for
attracting foreign direct investment and is one of the five largest
investors in the US. The economy experienced a slowdown in 2005 but
in 2006 recovered to the fastest pace in six years on the back of
increased exports and strong investment. The pace of job growth
reached 10-year highs in 2007.

Netherlands Antilles
Tourism, petroleum refining, and offshore
finance are the mainstays of this small economy, which is closely
tied to the outside world. Although GDP has declined or grown
slightly in each of the past eight years, the islands enjoy a high
per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure compared with
other countries in the region. Most of the oil Netherlands Antilles
imports for its refineries come from Venezuela. Almost all consumer
and capital goods are imported, the US, Italy, and Mexico being the
major suppliers. Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hamper the
development of agriculture. Budgetary problems hamper reform of the
health and pension systems of an aging population. The Netherlands
provides financial aid to suppor