By TON Nepal

The recently completed local elections displayed that the country is moving onward despite the trials and glitches. At the same time, the economic performance of Nepal is slow and weak. However, there are hopes that Nepal has been making advancements politically.

Most prominently, the completion of the local polls on time is praiseworthy. This has been particularly valued primarily because the dramatic political situation at the federal level in the last couple of years showed the poor performance of these political parties. The general supposition was that the country would not be successful to hold timely elections.

The narrative of “affluent Nepal, cheerful Nepali”, revealed by a left-oriented government with a two-thirds majority in 2018, was inherently pompous. That euphoria vanished quickly with the ousting of that government. The country lost governmentally and frugally due to political indecision induced by leftist leaders complicated by the outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most of the objectives set by the government were changed as a result of the global pandemic. And the government’s mishandling of the pandemic led to unprecedented problems for ordinary citizens. The loss was unimaginable both at the personal and economic levels. Even afterward all these months, framing a roadmap and agenda for recovery hasn’t been achieved.

Nepal is not able to maintain its basic economic performance in the presence of poor public finance management and a weak regulatory framework for procurement and capital expenditure.

The new alliance government led by the Prime Minister Chair of the Nepali Congress was shaped in line with the Supreme Court’s verdict in July 2021. The incumbent government also appeared indifferent to economic and growth agendas with no obvious financial and growth strategy. As the default was the continuity of corrupt practices and half-hearted measures toward achieving the development goals.

The government just overhauled the existing bureaucracy by making new appointments, which is disgracefully accustomed after the founding of a new government. Most notably, the government removed the Federal Civil Service Act from Parliament for ratification.

The government has failed to recommence more inclusive discussions on the new Federal Civil Service Act, nor has it been able to identify the core issues hampering the progress of sub-national governments at the local and provincial levels. Progress has been held up in the absence of the most important law to manage human resources from the federal to the local level.

The current government is attentive merely to the next election and enduring in power; little is being done on the growth front and retrieval from damages caused by the plague. It is obvious that the alliance of parties neither stands an ethical nor philosophical foundation.

The CPN (Maoist) and CPN (Unified Socialist) both are operating to endure power politics by merely backing numbers of the Nepali Congress in Parliament. In reappearance for their support, the Nepali Congress gave some main portfolios such as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation to the CPN (Maoist); and other ministries to other parties in line with their representation and sway.

The cost of this political trade glowing revealed in the current macroeconomic stance and the budget for the fiscal year 2022. The government’s budget that came amid the essential and earnestness of improving from the massive harm of the pandemic and bad economic scenario has more to do with populism rather than tackling the actual problems of the economy and giving headway to the country.

Since 2020, the world has been trying to change its functioning system due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But these efforts have been successful only in a handful of countries or sectors. With the facilitation of removing restrictions on movement and other economic and daily activities, almost everyone is trying to get back to normality.

On the global front, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a severe increase in fuel prices; and subsequently, prices of food and other essential goods have risen sharply. The impact of the war has devastated lives and dragged down growth. At the same time, businesses have suffered unprecedented losses, making economic recovery an uphill task.

Miserably, the government’s policies and approach are just trying to underplay the severity of the situation on the eve of the elections by making a bad situation. Without a clear roadmap for economic development that is based on salvage and upgrading, the country will stagnate as a poor and low-income country.

The reality is that the leadership of Nepal has not been able to prioritize its political, social, and economic objectives for the last three decades since the opening up of the economy. The challenges will be continuous regarding advancements along with facing climate change. The potential convergence of catastrophes in the upcoming, as the International Monetary Fund puts it, both at the worldwide and nationwide levels will only make lives more difficult.

Keeping in view the above-mentioned facts, if the leadership of Nepal doesn’t take responsibility for all this chaos then merely empty promises of a better life have no value at all.