Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Society of Economic Journalists Nepal (SEJON) & Samriddhi, The

e 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, Canadas 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 years 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.

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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 daischaired 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 SEJONs 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 Nepals 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

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the government unlike the case of Nepal where government is found of have unlimited size a negligible effectiveness. He further added that the governments 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 countrys 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

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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

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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.

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