India the 'dada': The rewards of big neighbours

Despite everything else, Nepal reaps one significant benefit of being next to India-China. Since both the countries are poor and yet have a massive population, most major brands have affordable products targeted at those markets that eventually seep into the Nepali market. Compare that to a country like Ghana, which imports its 'cheap' coconut biscuits from Sri Lanka (despite being a tropical country itself), its chocolates from Turkey, Middle East, and South Africa (the irony was observed), its fruit-juice boxes from Spain, the marmalade from Italy. The list is long, and the point stands: without the 'buffering' effect of India's/China's poor, prices in Nepal for imported goods would be much higher than they are now.