From Evidence to Policy Supporting Nepal’s Trade Integration Strategy : Assessment of the Impact of the Cash Incentive to Promote Export Diversification in Nepal

Pazzini, Aldo ; Reyes, Daniel ; Varela, Gonzalo

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: conditional cash transfer;    export diversification;    trade facilitation;    trade promotion;    export competitiveness;   

RP-ID  :  106831

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In 2010 or 2011, Nepal set up a cashincentive scheme for exporters aimed at reducing its tradedeficit and vulnerability to external shocks, by promotingexport growth and diversification for its firms. The Tradeand Competitiveness Global Practice has been partnering withthe Government of Nepal to assess the impact of the cashincentive program on export growth and diversification. Thisnote presents the main results of the analysis.Making thesupport to firms’ internationalization a policy priority iscommendable Countries around the world, and many countriesin the South Asia region have incentives in place to helpfirms become exporters and succeed in diversifying theirexport markets.But not all interventions designed to supportfirms’ internationalization work, so, evaluating impact iscrucial.Some of the planned changes in the scheme introducedin 2013 revealed public-private dialogue. However, many ofthese changes have not been fully implemented.Thefast-track system introduced in 2013, and by which, firmsexporting priority products would not need to certifydomestic value addition reflect the systematic feedback ofthe private sector on the complexity of proving value addedcontent.At the firm level there is no evidence showing aclear link between the effective incentive rates receivedand export performance, or the changes in the exportincentive scheme and performance.The main policyconclusion that emerges from this analysis is that thecurrent incentive scheme needs to be revised. The rest ofthe note is structured as follows. Section two discussesaspects of the design of the allocation mechanism of theincentive. Section three shows the impact of the incentiveprogram from the aggregate level, at the product level andat the firm level.