KIRAN PANDAY ENTIRE SPECTRUM: A rainbow arcs through monsoon clouds on Monday as the delayed rains finally arrive with a bang.

When it rains it pours. As if the political crisis wasn't bad enough, Nepal is going through a multi-layered economic and development emergency.

But roaming the corridors of power in Singha Darbar, you wouldn't know it. There is a cholera epidemic in western Nepal, the winter drought that destroyed the wheat crops was followed by a delayed monsoon that decimated maize and rice.

This is bound to make inflation of essential food commodities even worse. It is already running between 20-50 per cent, defying all economic theories, and despite the open border with India where inflation is single digit.

Then, we're looking at a looming power crisis this winter. Despite last winter's 18 hour daily power cuts, no new generation capacity has been added. Foreign investment is zero, and so is new job creation.

Yet, the macro-economic situation is not so bad, buoyed by a 55 per cent growth in remittances last year. The global recession will affect income, and we will need the dollars to buy Indian rupees to pay for our imports.

But, however dire the situation, Nepal muddles along like it always has. This week's rains revived some hope, and it could be a sign that things will turn around. All we can do is hope.

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