Nepal reported the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in the entire South Asia region in Jan 2020. In the following months, as the virus began spreading to countries around the world and in South Asia, following China and other countries’ footsteps, Nepal too imposed a nationwide lockdown beginning the fourth week of March 2020 to mitigate the crisis. However, the nationwide lockdown, which ultimately lasted for almost four months, didn’t do much to control the spread of the virus but rather severely hit the country’s key economic sectors. Some of the initial impacts of the pandemic across sectors have been visible and based on our analysis Nepal is going to suffer in the long run due to some steps taken during the first two years of the pandemic. However, if the Government of Nepal (GoN) takes some cautious steps and formulates relevant plans and policies, we can think of Nepal minimizing some of the possible long-term damages from the pandemic.
In our study, we identify key sectors of the Nepali economy and dig into the details of their performance over the period, before and during the crisis. Based on available evidence so far, we also came up with a few recommendations that GoN and other key policy stakeholders can help Nepal secure a healthier post-pandemic economic recovery.
Read the policy compendium.
