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Foreign aid commitment dips more than 50 percent
KATHMANDU, NOV 27 - As a result of ‘deeply disturbed’ development activities caused by prolonged violence, among others, the total volume of international aid commitment to Nepal till mid-November declined more than 50 per cent.
According to the statistics complied by Foreign Aid Co-ordination Division at the Ministry of Finance, the overall aid commitment from both bilateral and multilateral agencies during the period was Rs 5.57 billion whereas the figure during the same period last year was over Rs 12 billion.
Of the total commitment that Nepal received in the period, Rs 5.2 billion was received in the form of grant assistance for 19 projects while the loan assistance of 373.75 million was pledged for a single project.
While analysing project-wise cost, Extension and Reinforcement of Power Transmission and Distribution System Project Phase II, which is to be implemented in the Kathmandu valley remained the largest foreign-aided project in terms of grant volume. The project, assisted by government of Japan, absorb Rs 870.8 million.
Similarly, Implementation of Human Rights and Good Governance programme, a Danish- supported project with the assistance of Rs 727.6 million remained the second largest project.
Likewise, German grant assistance of Rs 640.32 million for Biogas Support Programme Phase II was the third largest project followed by another German assisted project of Rs 523.87 million
While analyzing sector-wise performance, science and technology sector attracted the largest amount of assistance during the period. This sector, altogether, received Rs 1.21 billion of assistance.
Similarly, power sector gathered assistance worth Rs 1 billion to remain in the second position while the education sector drew Rs 900 million aid commitment during the period.
Despite some recent improvement in government’s implementation capacity of development programmes and policies, the intensifying political turmoil has been the main concern of the donor community, and if not solved soon, it can erode government’s capacity to mobilize aid.
Leading donor countries, including Germany and Canada, among others, have recently expressed deep concern over lingering political uncertainty and rising violation of human rights.
Nepal heavily depends upon foreign assistance for its development activities as almost all the development expenditure comes from foreign donors. The budget for the current fiscal year also seeks over Rs 28 billion for development expenditure from foreign loans and assistance.Posted on: 2003-11-26 11:52
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