Kathmandu, March 29:

The World Bank (WB) Nepal office today unveiled an Interim Strategy Note (ISN), reaffirming its continuous support to Nepal’s overall development needs and help the government prepare a post-conflict management plan.

ISN will serve as a substitute to WB’s country assistance strategy (CAS) for about 18 to 24 months since a new political order will not emerge for at least 12-18 months. “The bank’s strategy will be flexible in the near term and it will continue to focus on protecting past gains,” said Kenichi Ohashi, WB country director for Nepal.

According to ISN, the WB’s assistance strategy would be based on three broader scenarios —steady transition, stalled transition and deterioration.

Under steady transition, the bank would enter into new commitments for a number of projects, many built on robust community engagement and others strengthening the foundations for faster growth.

The bank would also provide budgetary support as well as help organise donors meetings, which would be possible after successful Constituent Assembly polls.

A strong dialogue, backed by analytical work carried out with not just the government but also a broad range of stakeholders, will continue, especially on the issues of inclusion, state building and growth, states the ISN. In addition to inclusion, the bank’s strategy will also focus on assisting Nepal to accelerate growth and create employment.

Under the stalled transition, the bank will provide support for the formulation of a new national vision-which is essential to give a unified direction to the social energies mobilised by the political change and development of a major post-conflict economic programme.

The bank has also stated that it would continue its lending

to Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), Education for All (EFA), higher education programmes and key infrastructure development projects.

The WB’s support would become more selective if the situation worsens. However, it has reaffirmed to continue to assist community-based initiatives that have proven fairly resilient even during the conflict.

The bank plans to provide Nepal with assistance worth $145 million for 2007 and $210 million for 2008. In addition to this assistance, the WB would also provide technical assistance for economic reform and development policy credit (DPC) based upon an improving transition scenario.

Ohashi said that Nepal currently faces two basic challenges, peace process in the shorter term and social, political and economic transformation of the country in the long term. “Improvements in education and broad progress in economic development are key drivers to this process,” he added.

Keeping this fact in mind, the bank will continue to provide steady support to long-term development, especially in education, basic infrastructure and state institution building, he informed. “This transition is an opportunity for Nepal to redefine its future. It is also an opportunity for Nepal to redefine its relations with donors,” he stated.