Development Initiatives exists to end absolute poverty by Financial flows to Nepal Accessing, using and questioning the data Kathmandu, December 2013

Introduction Aim: to give an overview of data on financial flows to Nepal Focus on aid flows 13 questions to show how to access, use and question different datasets –Definitions –Sources –Things to look out for –Questions to ask

1. How much does the government spend? Government expenditure refers to spending by the government. Government expenditure per capita refers to spending by the government for each Nepali person. Question: How does the Nepali budget cycle work?

2. How much does the government spend on each sector?

3. How much international resources flow to Nepal? International flows to Nepal: Official Private Commercial Nepal is one of few countries where total international flows > government expenditure

4. What type of international resources are flowing to Nepal? What is the value of each flow for development? What effect does each flow have on poverty? How reliable are the data?

5. What share of national income is aid? ODA as a share of GNI, , IMF and OECD data

6. What is aid composed of? Aid can be a number of different things: cash, food supplies, or the supply of experts to provide advice and capacity development (‘technical cooperation’). What mix of aid instruments is appropriate for different countries and contexts? eradication?

7. What sectors in Nepal are attracting aid?

8. What type of aid are different sectors in Nepal attracting?

9. Is aid targeting poverty? How would this chart look using Nepal’s national poverty line instead of $1.25 a day?

10. What remittances targeting poverty? What role do remittances play in poverty reduction in Nepal?

11. How are donors spending their aid in Nepal?

12. How much aid do different sources capture? Different volumes: -Different donors report to each platform - Different financial years are used

13. How are health sector disbursements being reported on? What kind of health spending do donors prioritise compared to government? What overlaps exist across the three sources of data?

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