KATHMANDU, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's per capita income is estimated to have crossed 1,000 U.S. dollar mark for the first time, a major boost for the country which has targeted to upgrade from the least developed country to a developing country by 2022, Nepal's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Wednesday.
According to CBS, the country's central agency for the collection, consolidation, processing, analysis, publication and dissemination of statistics, Nepal's per capita income has estimated to reach 1,012 U.S. dollars in the current fiscal year 2017-18 that concludes in mid-July this year.
"It is for the first time that our income per person has reached four digits," said Suman Raj Aryal, director general of CBS while presenting the National Account Estimate of the current fiscal year at a press meeting on Wednesday.
"This is a good indication for the country's target to graduate to the developing country from the Least Developed Country (LDC)."
The country achieved this milestone with significant rise in per capita income in the current fiscal year. The per capital income is estimated to rise by 135 U.S. dollar, a 15.39 percent growth from 877 U.S. dollars in last fiscal year.
Aryal said that extensive rise in economic activities including construction, mining and various activities in the service sector helped to expand the country's economy well this year which ultimately reflected in per capita income.
In order to ascend to the developing country category, an LDC should meet at least two of the three criteria set by the United Nations (UN) which are related to per capita income, human asset index and economic vulnerability index.
As per the standard set by the UN in 2015, a country needs to have a per capita income of 1,242 U.S. dollars or more to be called as a developing country, provided other two criteria are also met.
Economists warned that there might not be a similar rise in per capita income in the upcoming years as the country's economy will grow on a higher base in the upcoming years.
"Nepal's agriculture is based on the weather condition and industrial and service activities. It will also grow on a higher base which may limit the growth of the economy as well as the per capita income," Shankar Sharma, an economist and former vice-chairman of National Planning Commission of Nepal, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
