Risks to Poverty, Vulnerability, and Inequality from COVID-19 : Nepal Light Poverty Assessment
Nepal made significant progress on poverty and shared prosperity over the period 1996-2010, despite low domestic growth. With consistently high rates of vulnerability and exposure to a range of shocks, the risk of falling back into poverty has rema...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/712891624283780459/Risks-to-Poverty-Vulnerability-and-Inequality-from-COVID-19-Nepal-Light-Poverty-Assessment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36358 |
| Summary: | Nepal made significant progress on
poverty and shared prosperity over the period 1996-2010,
despite low domestic growth. With consistently high rates of
vulnerability and exposure to a range of shocks, the risk of
falling back into poverty has remained an enduring feature
of the welfare narrative in Nepal. The past decade, from
2010 to 2020, has been characterized by a series of economic
shocks that took place against a background of a prolonged
political transition towards federalism in Nepal. These
shocks were also correlated with declines in economic
growth. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, which started in
March 2020, is the latest in the series of economic shocks
over the last decade which has adversely affected Nepal’s
economy and labor market; and it is likely to have had
adverse welfare effects. However, the lack of data on
welfare dynamics during this period has made it difficult to
track the impacts of these shocks on households, workers and
firms. This light poverty assessment is organized as
follows: Section 1 describes the data challenges, and
highlights the evolution of measures of non-monetary
welfare, pre-COVID; section 2 provides an overview of the
impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nepal; and section 3
highlights the role of pre-existing vulnerabilities and
structural issues in making the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
crisis more costly to welfare in the short run, and in
potentially deepening inequalities in the longer run. |
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