Political deadlock deepens Nepal economic woes
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KATHMANDU — Three months after Nepal’s government collapsed, the country is facing a deepening economic crisis, with vital development projects on hold and even schools and hospitals facing closure.
Government departments say they have been forced to cut spending to a minimum, suspending road building and sanitation projects in desperately poor rural areas, because the long-overdue annual budget has not been passed.
Nepal’s lawmakers are due to vote for the ninth time on Thursday to try to elect a new leader for the troubled young republic, which has been without a functioning government since the prime minister resigned on June 30.
But eight earlier votes have failed to produce a clear winner, and in the absence of agreement between the political parties, there is little immediate prospect of an end to the damaging leadership vacuum.
Meanwhile, important government decisions are being put off by caretaker ministers reluctant to overstep their constitutional powers, while work on the peace process that began when the civil war ended in 2006 is being neglected..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101001com7.html
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