Swarnim Wagle

Dr. Swarnim Wagle (Nepali: डा.स्वर्णिम वाग्ले) is a prominent South Asian economist and a member of Nepal's Federal Parliament since April 2023, having been elected in a by-election from the seat of Tanahun 1 vacated when the incumbent became the third President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.^[1] He is currently the vice-chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party.^[2]

Honorable Dr. Swarnim Wagle PhD
डा. स्वर्णिम वाग्ले
Member of Parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 April 2023
Preceded by	Ram Chandra Poudel
Constituency	Tanahun 1
Personal details
Born	Gorkha, Nepal
Political party	Rastriya Swatantra Party
Other political affiliations	Nepali Congress (left 2023)
Alma mater	Budhanilkantha School London School of Economics Harvard University Australian National University
Occupation	Politician, Economist

Political career

Nepali Congress

Wagle was associated with the Nepali Congress for several decades. Coming from a family background aligned with the party’s liberal democratic ideology, he contributed to the formulation of the party’s economic policies and was one of the members involved in drafting its election manifesto.^[3] Wagle’s intellectual and ideological orientation has long reflected liberal democratic values promoted by the Nepali Congress. He has also been a vocal supporter of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal Compact, emphasizing its importance in Nepal’s long-term infrastructure and energy connectivity.^[4]

During his tenure with the party, Wagle was recommended by the Nepali Congress for appointment to the National Planning Commission (NPC). He later served as vice-chair of the 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.^[5][6] He played a key policy role in reconstruction efforts following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes that claimed about 9000 lives.^[7] Between 2020 and 2022, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he was the Chief Economic Advisor at the United Nations Development Program Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific in New York, covering 36 countries.^[8]

During the 2022 general elections, senior leader Gagan Thapa had reportedly lobbied for Wagle’s candidacy from Chitwan, though the effort was unsuccessful.^[9] Later, after the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) offered him a ticket for the Tanahun–1 by-election, he left the Nepali Congress to contest under the RSP banner.

Rastriya Swatantra Party

In March 2023, Wagle formally joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and was nominated as its candidate for the Tanahun–1 by-election. Wagle secured a landslide victory, defeating the Nepali Congress candidate by a margin of nearly 15,000 votes, and receiving 55 percent of the total votes cast.^[10]

Following his victory, Wagle quickly rose within the party’s leadership ranks. In November 2023, he was elevated to the position of vice-chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party.^[11]

In early 2024, during the party’s central meeting in Jaleshwar, Wagle was entrusted with leading the formulation of the party’s long-term economic and development policy framework. His role centered on shaping evidence-based policy positions to strengthen the RSP’s ideological and governance agenda.^[12]

However, reports later surfaced of internal differences between Wagle and party general secretary Mukul Dhakal over organizational management and strategic priorities. The disagreement, though short-lived, attracted media attention as it reflected emerging debates within the RSP over leadership roles and policy direction.^[13]

Electoral history

2023 Tanahun–1 by-election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Swarnim Wagle	Rastriya Swatantra Party	34,919	54.57
	Govinda Bhattarai	Nepali Congress	20,122	31.45
	Sarbendra Khanal	CPN (UML)	8,488	13.27
Others			456	0.71
Total			63,985	100.00
Majority			14,797
	Rastriya Swatantra Party gain
Source: ECN[14]

Personal life

In October 2019, Wagle was appointed chair of the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), a South Asian policy think tank established in Kathmandu in 1979. Outside Nepal, he has worked as an economic policy specialist in international organizations like United Nations Development Program and the World Bank intermittently between 1997 and 2022. As Chief Economic Advisor of the UNDP Asia-Pacific (2020-2022), he co-edited "The Great Upheaval" published by Cambridge University Press,^[15] and led high-profile policy advisory missions to crisis-hit countries like Sri Lanka.^[16][17] He holds high academic degrees from the London School of Economics, Harvard University and the Australian National University.^[18][19] He is married and has one son.