escription:
red with a blue border around the unique shape of two overlapping
right triangles; the smaller, upper triangle bears a white stylized
moon and the larger, lower triangle bears a white 12-pointed sun

Economy Nepal

Economy - overview:
Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the
world with almost one-third of its population living below the
poverty line. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing
a livelihood for three-fourths of the population and accounting for
38% of GDP. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of
agricultural 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.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$41.92 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$7.154 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,500 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 38%
industry: 21%
services: 41% (2005 est.)

Labor force:
10.4 million
note: severe lack of skilled labor (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 76%
industry: 6%
services: 18%

Unemployment rate:
42% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
31% (2003-2004)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 39.1% (2003-2004)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
37.7 (FY04/05)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
7.8% (October 2005 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.153 billion
expenditures: $1.789 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA
(FY05/06)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate:
3.8% (FY04/05)

Electricity - production:
2.565 billion kWh