--By TC correspondent

 

Nepal is among the weakest countries in terms of securing property rights, a latest global report shows. According to the International Property Rights Index (IPRI) 2013, published by Washington, DC-based Property Rights Alliance (PRA), Nepal ranked101 among 130 countries in the overall index. Nepal stood at the bottom in Asia region,where the country ranked 15 among 18 Asian countries.  

 

The index comprises of three key sub-indexes: Legal and Political Environment, Physical Property Rights and Intellectual Property Rights. The overall grading scale of the IPRI ranges from 0 to 10, where 10 indicates the highest value for a property rights system and 0 the lowest value within a country. Similarly, Nepal also fell among the weakest in securing intellectual property rights. With a score of 4.2 points, Nepal ranks 95 in intellectual property rights sub-index. It also fared poorly in terms of protecting intellectual property rights, patent protection and copyright protection. 

 

Likewise, Nepal ranked 113 in legal and political environment sub-indexwith a meagre score of 3.3 points.  The country’s performance in judicial independence, rule of law, political stability, and control of corruption were also seen below par in the index, according to the report. 

 

However, Nepal performed better in physical property rights sub-index where it scored 6.0 points and ranked 68. In terms of protecting physical property rights the country scored a mediocre 5.0 points. Meanwhile the country performed strongly in registration of physical properties with a score of 9.5 points and achieving 6thspot among 130 countries in the index. 

 

The IPRI 2013 has placed Nepal’s southern and northern neighbours - India and China- on 57th position in the index. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh ranked 76, 118 and 126 respectively. According to the report, Singapore is the highest-ranking Asian country (rank-7, score-8.1 points).  Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland dominated the top-five spots whereas, Bangladesh, Libya, Venezuela, Burundi and Haiti were the bottom-five countries in IPRI 2013.