Kathmandu, March 15 -- ECONOMIC POWER: An electric bus and bicycle lane in Lalitpur on Thursday morning. Reducing Nepal's petroleum import bill should be a priority for sustained growth. Photo: GOPEN RAI Nepal is not poor, it is just poorly governed. At no time has this been more true than today.

A spurt in remittances and a slowdown in imports has meant that Nepal's foreign exchange reserves have hit an all-time high of $14 billion. Just in the past seven months, diaspora dollars totalled $6.35 billion - a 21.6% increase over the same period last year. The trade deficit has declined, and the balance of payments situation is improving.

So why are we not celebrating? The problem is that while the macroeconomy is on a firm footing, the sa...