Shreyasi RanaNew Delhi, Feb. 4 -- For more than six decades, Nepal has operated under an unusual contradiction: it actively courts foreign capital at home while prohibiting its own private sector from investing abroad. That asymmetry, rooted in the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) of 1962, made sense in a post-monarchy, inward-looking developmental state. In today's hyper-connected economy, however, it increasingly looks like a structural constraint on Nepal's growth, competitiveness, and geopolitical relevance.
The debate over outbound investment is no longer academic. Nepal's private sector today contributes more than four-fifths of national GDP, according to a joint study by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Indu...