Dr. Swarnim Wagle ( ne, डा.स्वर्णिम वाग्ले) is an economist and a member of Federal Parliament's

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in Nepal since April 2023, having been elected from a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the seat of

Tanahun 1 Tanahun 1 is one of two parliamentary constituencies of Tanahun District in Nepal. This constituency came into existence on the Constituency Delimitation Commission (CDC) report submitted on 31 August 2017. Incorporated areas Tanahun 1 incorporat ...

. Wagle previously served as vice-chair of the National Planning Commission from August 2017 to February 2018, and was a member of the Commission for two terms, from May 2014 to November 2015, and September 2016 to August 2017. Between 2020 and 2022, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he also was the Chief Economic Advisor at the

United Nations Development Program The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific in New York covering 36 countries.

Political career

In March 2023, Wagle, who had for decades been a member of the

Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress ( ne, नेपाली कांग्रेस ; abbr. NC) is the largest social democratic political party in Nepal. As per the results of recent local election, ''Nepali Congress'' stands as the single largest party o ...

, joined the

Rastriya Swatantra Party The Rastriya Swatantra Party ( ne, राष्ट्रिय स्वतन्त्र पार्टी; RSP) (; NIP) is a political party in Nepal. It currently remains as a junior ally in Prachanda-led government as of 26 December 2022. ...

to contest the by-election in Tanahun 1. Wagle secured a landslide victory, defeating Nepali Congress candidate Govinda Bhattarai by nearly 15,000 votes, and receiving over 54 percent of the votes cast.

Electoral history

2023 Tanahun–1 by-election

Personal life

In October 2019, Wagle was appointed chair of the Institute for Integrated Development Studies, a South Asian policy think tank established in Kathmandu in 1979. He has also worked as a senior policy advisor and economist in international organizations like

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. He holds academic degrees from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagle, Swarnim Nepalese economists Living people Harvard Kennedy School alumni People from Gorkha District Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the London School of Economics Australian National University alumni Rastriya Swatantra Party politicians Nepal MPs 2022–present