Kathmandu, October 17

Nepal has sought budgetary support from the World Bank to bridge the resource gap for implementation of the federal structure.

Addressing the board of governors’ meeting of the World Bank in Washington DC, Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi, said that as the country has embarked on the journey towards federalism from the centralised system, it would require huge resources for the development of necessary infrastructure and capacity enhancement of the provincial and local levels.

He urged for budgetary support from World Bank, as the trusted development partner of the country, in a bid to manage the resource gap for implementation of federalism.

Subedi informed in the meeting that the country has formulated and presented the federal budget from current fiscal, which has transferred 18 per cent of the total resource allocation to the local levels in the context of set up of local bodies as envisioned by the new constitution.

The finance secretary further said that the election of the local bodies has already been carried out and other two tiers of polls — provincial and parliamentary — are scheduled in November.

Addressing the meeting, Subedi said that the economic indicators of the country point towards the right direction. “Economic growth in the last year was at a 24-year high of 6.9 per cent, inflation is below five per cent and the investment climate in the country is improving along with reforms in legal and administrative fronts along with regularity in power supply,” the statement issued by Ministry of Finance has quoted Subedi as saying in the World Bank’s annual meeting.

He further said that the country will be able to keep the momentum of high economic growth along with proper implementation of budget and accelerated post-earthquake reconstruction.

Subedi, who had led the Nepali delegation, also sought support from the World Bank in the areas of policy formulation and reforms in existing policies and laws for equitable distribution of resources.

Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Chiranjibi Nepal, Chief of International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division (IECCD) under Ministry of Finance Baikuntha Aryal, Acting Ambassador of Nepal Embassy in the United States Jivan Prakash Shrestha, Executive Director of Nepal Rastra Bank Nara Bahadur Thapa, Undersecretary of IECCD Ram Prasad Mainali and Economic Consular of Nepal Embassy in United States Kailash Raj Pokharel were other members of delegation.