Introduction

This chapter introduces Nepal a bit and the book titled Essays on Key Issues of Development in Nepal: Macroeconomic Perspectives from an LDC Graduating Landlocked Country. This book examines the interplay among the major macroeconomic issues, including the political-economic domain, such as the quality of governance and its challenges relating with the remittance management, banks credit to private sector, trade deficits, agriculture and manufacturing sectors’ value addition in economic growth, revenue efficiency and its major determinants, democracy and economic development, export performance, and fiscal policies. These are the major issues of Nepal at present, as the country is on the doorstep of the Least Developed Country (LDC) graduation. These issues are of particular importance because, despite Nepal’s unique geographic and natural advantages, poor governance and recurring political turmoil have stymied industrial and agricultural revolutions, resulting in persistent unemployment, especially among youths, and reliance on remittances to stabilize the economy. This book emphasizes, based on the findings from different methodologies applied in six chapters, the importance of improving governance and leveraging remittance flows to enhance productive sectors, particularly agriculture-based manufacturing, as discussed further in subsequent chapters. Overall, the discussion provides a macroeconomic, largely political-economic, perspective on Nepal’s transition and the critical role of effective policy and inclusive governance in shaping its future in the concurrent development issues.