The outlined policy agenda is extensive and demanding, requiring consensus-building, persistence, and strong ownership for implementation.

Nepal currently faces trade challenges as a result of its lower comparative advantage.

Except for a few episodes of growth spurts, economic growth has largely been low yet volatile in Nepal, mostly stagnating below 5%.

Achieving a higher growth rate in FY2018 would require stronger factors than in FY2017. However, this is an unlikely scenario.

The time has come to stabilize the recurrent budget at this level and then start culling unproductive, repetitive and zombie projects.

Achieving and sustaining a high growth rate is critical to attain the vision of becoming a prosperous middle-income country by 2030.