|
Book Review:
Problem Of Debt
The book highlights the issue of
Nepal's debt trap and its management
 |
Debt Trap
and Its Management in Nepal
Published by : Nepal Foundation
for Advanced Studies and Friedrich-Esbert-Stiftung
Edited by : Guna Nidhi Sharma,
Hari Uprety and Dev Raj Dahal
Price: Undisclosed
Pages: 93s
|
In the present stage of globalization,
no country can survive without the support from other
countries of the world. As Nepal is in the process of
transition in all spheres of development, it requires
more resources.
At a time when there is no possibility
to generate adequate resources on its own, multi-lateral
and bilateral aid are the only means to fulfill the country's
resource gap.
The articles in the book seem to have
been written by making assumptions that the foreign assistance,
in all its forms, is bad for the country.
Actually, foreign aid, in itself, is
not the problem. The problem is with its management. Had
Nepal managed the foreign assistance properly, the situation
of the country would have been different.
As Nepal borrowed a large amount of
money over the years to initiate development activities
in the country, the debt burden is getting higher at a
faster pace than ever before.
Foreign aid has been major instrument
for many third world countries like Nepal but the question
is: How useful is it for the overall development of a
country?
In international fora, developing countries
are demanding more aid to carry out development activities
in their own respective countries without realizing the
burden of foreign debts in their future.
Following the restoration of democracy,
Nepal's foreign debt increased by many folds and country
is now spending nearly 15 percent of its annual budget
to pay the interest.
As the management of foreign debt is
of vital concern to the country, the book can be very
useful to those in power. It can provide the effective
ways of managing the debt and coming out of debt traps
unscathed.
SPOTLIGHT,
The National Newsmagizine, Vol. 19, No. 46, June 02 -
June 08, 2000.
|
