Siddartha Mainali on Nepal’s Macroeconomic Woes: Post Pandemic Recovery, Challenges and Recommendations for the Future

As economies worldwide look to bounce back from the unforeseen setback created by COVID-19 pandemic, most of them are faced with rising inflationary pressures caused by the Ukraine-Russia war. Nepal also seems to have hit a stumbling block in the recovery phase after 2 years of decent growth after facing a negative growth rate in NFY 19/20 for the first time in over 40 years. High inflation, liquidity crunch, plummeting foreign exchange reserves, and low internal revenue all seem to be troubling the economy simultaneously. Hence, the recently elected government has its hands full. In this episode, PEI’s Aslesh and Siddhartha discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Nepal’s economy and its post-pandemic recovery. They explore the macro issues faced by the Nepali economy during the unprecedented days of the pandemic and the external shocks that followed. They also review possible fiscal and monetary policies to manage the current economic woes and structural limitations. Siddartha is an economist with research interests in the areas of Macroeconomics, agriculture economics, financial inclusion, sustainable finance, and ESG. He has experience working in the financial services industry and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Peking University. A seasoned research professional, he has led several projects pertaining to the academic and development sector. Click here https://patreon.com/podsbypei to support us on Patreon!!