lihood
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 and the 11 September
2001 terrorist attacks in the US 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. The international
community's role of funding more than 60% of Nepal's development
budget and more than 28% of total budgetary expenditures will likely
continue as a major ingredient of growth.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $38.29 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 40%
industry: 20%
services: 40% (2002 est.)

Population below poverty line:
42% (1995-96)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 29.8% (1995-96)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
36.7 (FY95/96)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.9% (2002 est.)

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.)

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

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

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

Industrial production growth rate:
8.7% (FY99/00)

Electricity - production:
1.755 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
1.764 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
95 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
227 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
16,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exp