At a glance

Development partner    Pledge    Type

World Bank          Rs 30bn       Loan

ADB          Rs 20bn        Loan

OPEC Fund          Rs 2bn        Loan

DFID          Rs 1.6bn       Grant

China          Rs 1bn         Grant

South Korea           Rs 797.1m       Grant

Kathmandu, November 5

The country has received foreign aid commitment of Rs 55.4 billion from six development partners in first quarter — mid-July to mid-October — of the current fiscal year.

Larger component of the aid is loan assistance — amounting to Rs 52 billion — and rest of the amount is grant aid, according to the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division (IECCD) of Ministry of Finance.

The country has received aid commitment from the World Bank Group (WBG), Asian Development Bank (ADB), China, South Korea, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and Department for International Development of UK government (DFID).

The government has received a total of Rs 50 billion aid commitment from two multilateral donor agencies — WBG and ADB — as loan assistance. WBG has pledged Rs 30 billion for financial sector reform and reconstruction of housings devastated during the earthquakes of April and May.

Likewise, ADB has made a commitment of Rs 20 billion for Earthquake Emergency Assistance Project. OFID has pledged support of Rs two billion as loan assistance for Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project.

Similarly, bilateral donors, namely, China, UK and South Korea have pledged to provide a total of Rs 3.40 billion as grant assistance. DFID is the top donor in terms of grant assistance commitment that the country has received. DFID has made commitment of providing Rs 1.6 billion for pool fund to implement Nepal Health Sector Reform Programme (NHSP III). Government has prepared a basket fund for NHSP III as it had done earlier during implementation of the first and second phase programmes.

Similarly, China has promised cash assistance of Rs one billion to the government of Nepal and South Korea has made a commitment of Rs 797.10 million for the implementation of Inclusive Rural Development in Nawalparasi Project.

The grant assistance commitment in the review period is 34.31 per cent less than the pledges received in the corresponding period of last fiscal, when such commitment stood at Rs 84.34 billion. Last year’s commitments, in descending order of pledged amount, were made by European Union (Rs 44.80 billion), US Agency for International Development or USAID (Rs 38.60 billion), India (Rs 325.70 million), ADB (Rs 339 million) and JICA (Rs 272.70 million).