Foreign aid commitment in first quarter tops Rs 84.34 billion
KATHMANDU:
Foreign aid commitment in the first quarter of the current fiscal surpassed the total commitment received in the previous fiscal year 2013-14. The country has received grant assistance commitment of Rs 84.34 billion from various development partners until the end of October of this fiscal 2014-15, which is Rs 10.96 billion more than that received in the whole of the previous fiscal.
The assistance that the development partners have agreed to provide in the first quarter is for spending in irrigation, education, governance, rural development and other social sector programmes.
Majority of the programmes are multi-year programmes scheduled to commence from next fiscal, according to the
International Economic Aid Coordination Division (IEACD), under the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
“The country has not signed any loan assistance in the review period,” said Madhu Kumar Marasini, joint secretary of the MoF, adding, “Foreign assistance commitment increased significantly with the European Union (EU) extending support for the next phase of the EU-Nepal Cooperation Programme.”
The country has received the largest grant assistance commitment of Rs 44.8 billion from the EU. EU agreed to provide the assistance under EU-Nepal Cooperation Programme 2014-20. The assistance would be utilised in various sectors like rural development and job creation, education and governance.
According to the Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, “EU has extended support to Nepal for the next six years following the successful completion of EU-Nepal Cooperation Programme 2007-13.”
Similarly, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has extended grant assistance worth Rs 38.6 billion for governance and health care. USAID assistance would also
be utilised on multi-annual programmes of maternal and child health and literacy, improving governance and strengthening democratic process.
Likewise, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is one of the largest development aid contributors to Nepal, agreed to provide grant assistance worth Rs 339 million for establishing women and children service centres. The multilateral development partner had suspended grant assistance to Nepal in 2013 citing low risk of debt distress.
However, officials at the Nepal Resident Mission of ADB explained that the fund of Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) administered by ADB had been approved before 2013, even though it recently signed the agreement with the government for spending the allocated fund in the respective sector.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to provide grant assistance of Rs 272.7 million for School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) extension plan.
Similarly, India has signed commitment of grant assistance worth Rs 325.7 million for town projects. Under the Nepal Bharat Maitri Irrigation Project, the southern neighbour would extend support of Rs 256.7 million to install shallow tube wells in the Tarai districts for better irrigation facility.
In addition to this, India has agreed to extend grant assistance worth Rs 69 million for Goitre and other Deficiency Disorders Control Programme.
Source: THT
