Nepal’s graduation

The Himalayan Times

2 December 2021

Nepal’s graduation

It was wonderful news to read the editorial “LDC graduation“(THT, 30 November, Page 4) about Nepal, which is waiting for its graduation from the Least Developed County (LDC) category to a middle-income developing country by December 2026. Last Wednesday, the 40th plenary of the 76th Session of the UNGA had unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the graduation of Nepal from the LDC category after an extended preparatory period of five years – instead of the usual three years – for the smooth transition. The two extra years have been given so as to plan for post-COVID recovery and implement policies to reverse the damage done by it.

The United Nations defines LDCs as per the following three criteria: first one: countries must have an average per capita income of below USD$1,018 for inclusion in the LDC and above USD$1,222 for graduation. Likewise, countries must have a low score on the Human Assets Index (HAI), a tool that measures health and education outcomes, including under-five mortality rate, maternal mortality, adult literacy rate and gender parity for secondary school enrollment as per the second criterion. Under the third criterion, such countries must score high on the Economic and Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), which measures factors like remoteness, dependence on agriculture and vulnerability to natural disasters.

To be eligible for graduation, a country must reach thresholds in two of the three criteria in two consecutive triennial reviews. During the last two triennial reviews held in 2015 and 2018, Nepal had met the HAI and EVI criteria. Keeping this in view, there is no turning back for Nepal now; hence, every effort must be made to see that it turns into a developing country as scheduled and meet all the SDGs by 2030. Now, the questions for Nepal for its graduation arise here. Will it be able to fulfill the first criterion of attaining a per capital income criterion of $1,222? Will the political parties in power be able to develop common programmes with the vision of meeting this criterion?

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj

Link:https://epaper.thehimalayantimes.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=cd7278e2-4150-475f-8abe-305e5ed57783

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