2012-10-11-Economic Freedom Report Nepal Launching

www.fncci.org www.sejon.com.np www.samriddhi.org

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI),

Society of Economic Journalists – Nepal (SEJON) &

Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation

Report on

Global Release of Economic Freedom of the World Report 2012 in Nepal FNCCI Hall Teku, Kathmandu | 19th September, 2012

Background

Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation, in collaboration with FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chambers of

Commerce) and SEJON (Society of Economic Journalists - Nepal) organized the release of “Economic

Freedom of the World Report, 2012”, in the premises of FNCCI on the 19th of September, 2012.

The annual peer-reviewed Economic Freedom of the World report is produced by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank, in cooperation with independent institutes in 80 nations and territories, including Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation from Nepal. The Economic Freedom of the World Report uses 42 different measures to create an index ranking countries

around the world based on policies that encourage economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic

freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and security of private property.

This year’s publication ranks 144 nations, using data from 2010. The report also features updated data in

instances where data have been revised.

Economic freedom is measured in five different areas: (1) size of government, (2) legal structure and security of property rights, (3) access to sound money, (4) freedom to trade internationally, and (5) regulation of credit, labor, and business.

Report release in Nepal

Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation has been releasing the Economic Freedom of the World Report for

three years in a row and bringing to attention the standing of Nepal in reference to the economic freedom

of the world index.

The two hour long programme was scheduled to include not only the official release of the report but also insights into the five major areas of economic freedom namely size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labor, and business by experts.


Programme Proceedings:

1. Introduction – Mr. Sandeep Regmi Program Officer, Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation

Mr. Sandeep Regmi, Program Officer at Samriddhi welcomed the participants along with providing an

introduction to Samriddhi, as a public policy think tank. He shed light on the working areas of Samriddhi

and the activities conducted till date.

2. Moderator – Mr. Prateek Pradhan Editor-in-chief, Karobar Daily

Mr. Prateek Pradhan, who was the moderator for the programme introduced the programme as a launch

of Economic Freedom of the World Report, 2012. He invited the panelists of the programme to the dais-

chaired by Mr. Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and including Mr. Pradeep Chapagain, Dr. Hemant Dabadi, Mr.

Purushottam Ojha, Dr. Bhola Nath Chalise, and Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal. He then opened the floor for the

release of the Report and the presentations to follow.

3. Mr. Pradeep Chapagain President, SEJON

He started with the idea of SEJON’s deep-rooted interests in economic issues and how the release of the

report was an element of it in association with Samriddhi. He shared that though the report shows slight

progress in Nepal’s status in comparison to the previous report we still have a long way to go. As

exemplified with the recent incidents of the closure of KFC and Shikhar Shoes, economic freedom is a

concept Nepalese cannot yet boast of, according to Mr. Pradeep. He also added on to the basic

understanding of the report, of it being based on 42 parameters and covering 144 countries across the

globe.

4. Mr. Surath Giri Research Associate, Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation

Mr. Giri presented a synopsis of the report and where Nepal stands in relation to the five major areas of

economic freedom namely size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to

sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labor, and business by experts.

He presented on what the entailments of the idea of economic freedom are- Private Property Rights,

free trade, market competition, and choice over purchase, right to earn a living in a job they choose to

do or run a business, right to enter into contracts and have them enforced. Based on the report, he

presented that though the overall ranking of Nepal had improved, much still remained to be done.

He ended his presentation with a short video titled “Economic Freedom and Quality of Life” which

compared how economic freedom affects the quality of life across the globe and why it was important.

The URL for the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1U1Jzdghjk

5. Formal release – Mr. Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar Senior Vice President, FNCCI

The formal release of the report was done by the chair of the programme Mr. Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar.

6. Dr. Bhola Nath Chalise Senior Economist

Dr. Chalise provided his insights on the “size of government”, one of the key areas for the economic

freedom to be understood. He focused on the need to have a limited but effective and efficient role of


the government unlike the case of Nepal where government is found of have unlimited size a negligible

effectiveness. He further added that the government’s role should be limited to curtailing monopoly,

safeguarding rights and providing security, and implementation and enforceability of contracts. He drew

comparisons from around the world to show how the limited size of government had helped countries

like Hong Kong, Singapore achieve a heightened level of economic freedom. He criticized the context of

Nepal where much was left to the domains of government and how the dependency had brought about

more evils than good in terms of economic freedom.

7. Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal Senior Economist

Dr. Nepal provided his insights on “legal structure and security of property rights”. He shed light that

Nepal ranked 128th in this regard in the report, which was not at all a sign of free economy. He shared

how he found property rights to be the dividing element between whether people prosper or fall under

poverty. He constantly focused on the need to respect individual property rights and how the legal

system in any country should be responsible in catering to that right of its citizens. He criticized the way

property rights in Nepal were being encroached upon in reference to the road expansion programme in

the Kathmandu valley. If hinted that if the country’s legal system continues to overlook the importance

of individual property rights the consequences will be dire.

8. Dr. Hemant Dabadi Director General, FNCCI

Dr. Dabadi dealt with “freedom to trade internationally” as a primary area of economic freedom. He

brought forth the idea that countries around the world have the “Turkish Trade Syndrome”, in that they

sought to depend on the state for everything and so nothing ever happened. He shared that trade was

the way to bring about positive economic changes and that poor became poor not because of the market

but because of lack of access to market. He asked that the misconceptions about free market be

challenged and that a free market that fosters trade be introduced if changes are sought. He envisioned

for the government to play just a regulatory role and to let the markets take care of the economy.

9. Mr. Purushottam Ojha Former Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies

Mr. Ojha shared his insights on “regulation of credit, labor, and business”. Credit, labor and business,

he shared were important elements of economy and there was a need to regulate these elements or else

cartels, black-markets, politicized trade unions and corrupt market practices would take town the


possibilities of economic freedom. He shared that the business environment in Nepal was characterized

by lack accountability and transparency and practices ranging from corruption to monopolization were

way too evident from economic growth to sustain and hence there was a need to foster good

governance.

10. Ms. Shreya Neupane Campaign Intern- Campaign for a Livable Nepal www.livablenepal.org

Shreeya Neupane presented on “The Economic Harzards of Bandas”. With the data collected from

around the country within the span of one year, the report sought to show how bandas were the primary

constraint to business growth in the country. The 80 recorded bandas called over in different parts of

the country, primarily with political reasons majorly affected the business and economy of the country

amounting to a 1.5 billion loss per day of banda.

11. Interaction

The audience then interacted with the experts in the panel with inquiries on the matter. The journalists

present in the hall also asked questions on some pressing local economic issues.

12. Mr. Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar Senior Vice President, FNCCI


Mr. Rajkarnikar closed the programme by drawing attention to the need for partnership from both the

government and the private sector if economic prosperity of the country were to be sought. He also

focused on the need for a mixed economy but with limited government intervention. In reference to the

launch of the report he shared how reports as such provided an insight into the performance of the

country along with identifying the areas that need to be worked on hence providing guidelines on what

can be built on to make the needed economic progress.

Media Coverage

The release of Economics Freedom of the World – Annual Report 2012 was covered in several news media

which included national dailies, televisions and radio stations.

A link to the coverage of the event by a news channel is available at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzR1r3q0UhU&feature=youtu.be

Some other coverage at national dailies was as follows.



Documents

2012-10-11-Economic Freedom Report Nepal Launching