2008 Assessment

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

Country Facts: Statistical context for each country.

Despite ongoing democratization and the country becoming a republic in 2008, Nepal continues to earn very weak ratings in elections integrity, government accountability, and administration and civil service. Business regulatory requirements ensuring basic health, environmental, and safety standards are extremely weak and poorly enforced. Political financing regulations are non-existent or ineffective. While a Right to Information Act does exist, its implementation is ineffective. Nevertheless, there are some positive developments. Civil society organizations (CSOs) continue to be actively engaged in the peace process and many "have been continuously pressuring the government for reform […] particularly the human rights situation." The national audit institution is an independent body with a full-time staff generally appointed according to professional criteria.