events

Upcoming events

Past events

Ongoing Turnaround in Bihar- The Lessons for Nepal

Blair Glencorse, who is associated with Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE), presented impetus for Nepalis to change their outlook and overcome the distrust in the government and the market drawing from the ongoing turnaround and transformation in Bihar.

The Rise of Asia's Middle Class

The presentation of Douglas Brooks discusses the implications of Asia’s growing middle class for global rebalancing, and economic development and poverty reduction in the region.  The size and purchasing power of Asia’s middle class is growing rapidly, and this group will likely assume in future the role of primary global consumer, traditionally held by the West. The implication is that Asia’s middle class will be important to efforts in rebalancing the global economy. The emergence of the middle class in Asia came not only from strong economic growth over the past few decades, but also from the creation of good jobs. This and the concomitant multiplier effects will play an important role in sustaining growth and development as well as poverty reduction in the region. However, Asia’s rapidly expanding middle class remains vulnerable. More than half is considered “lower-middle” class, and a major shock could easily send them back into poverty. It is therefore important for governments to create policies that nurture the middle class, which are also touched upon in the presentation.

For more details, (http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Key_Indicators/2010/pdf/Special-Chapter-03.pdf) or (http://www.adb.org/Economics)

 

Douglas H. Brooks is Assistant Chief Economist in the Economics and Research Department at the Asian Development Bank. His research focuses mostly on the areas of international trade and investment.

Tourism in Nepal: Past Stories, Future Potential

When would be a better time than now to discuss tourism, as we are nearly three months into Nepal Tourism Year 2011?  Much has been said about the problems with tourism in this country, but is there a way we can look at the silver lining in the dark clouds to fully unleash Nepal's potential?  

Speakers: Mr. Prabhakar Rana, Chairman Emeritus of Soaltee Hotel Limited and Mr. Paul Stevens,Senior Tourism Adviser, SNV Netherlands Development OrganisationMr. Douglas Brooks, Assistant Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank

Linking Market Building and Political Economy

Nepal continues to find itself in a difficult post-conflict transition and nation-building process, and faces the simultaneous challenges of developing state institutions, supporting economic development and balancing individual and groups rights in a way that fosters a sense of common Nepali citizenship. Rhetoric must now be transformed into implementation as the country drafts a constitution and develops a political and economic framework for a New Nepal. Regardless of the composition of the government itself, the country must move to address difficult economic problems through a market-building approach and a nuanced understanding of the political-economy issues that both underpin current constraints and provide the solutions to these difficult problem.

Speaker: Blair Glencorse, Associate, The Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE)

Nepal Statistics - Why We Don't Get It

One of the reasons attributable to the financial and liquidity crisis is definitely lack of timely statistics. We only come to know about import statistics after the imports have done enough damage. When we say that remittances have reduced, we base our analysis on some old figures but we realize that remittances have actually increased in the month when the reduction was being written about. Nepal Economic Forum organized an interaction program with an attempt to address this issue, share the learning of practitioners, and initiate discussions and mechanisms to look into the issue of timely and accurate Nepali statistics.



Speakers: Alexander Pitt, Resident Representative IMF

Sashin Joshi, President, Nepal Banker's Association