World Bank committed to support Nepal’s development goals

World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer reiterated the World Bank’s commitment to support Nepal in its ambitious transition to federalism, as he concluded a five-day visit to the country.

During his meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Schafer congratulated the government’s visionary goal of reaching middle-income country status by 2030, reaffirmed the World Bank’s commitment to support government priorities and to seek additional resources through various available windows. In his meeting with Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Mr. Schafer also discussed further support to the federalism transition, as well as a potential International Investors’ Conference in 2019 in support of Nepal’s agenda to crowd in private finance for development.

“With a stable government that has prioritized broad-based reforms and private sector-driven growth, I am positive that Nepal can achieve higher growth rates for the next several years. To sustain such growth, we want to help Nepal mobilize investments from sources that go beyond traditional development finance. We call this approach Maximizing Finance for Development. Private sector investment will only come if there is a transparent, conducive policy environment,” he said, “Nepal is one of the first countries where we are approaching this in a systematic way with the World Bank, IFC and MIGA coming in and helping to provide a platform for private investments in the energy, technology, and other sectors. This will also create jobs for more and more Nepalis, which is the need of the hour.”

The Vice President also had a joint field visit with Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada and Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun to discuss the potential of tourism, hydropower and private sector investment in the country. The team visited Solukhumbu District and Sankhuwasabha District before observing the houses being rebuilt after the earthquake in the Majhi settlement of Gaikhura in Manthali Municipality, Ramechhap.

“It is heartening to see the collective effort of so many actors to ensure that people’s homes and lives are rebuilt,” Schafer said. “We must pick up the pace of reconstruction, and also ensure that disaster risk reduction measures are put in place to deal with future contingencies.” The World Bank has provided a credit of $500 million to the Government of Nepal through the Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Project.

In Kathmandu, Schafer participated in the launch of a joint report of the World Bank Group entitled “Country Private Sector Diagnostic: Creating Markets in Nepal”. He was also part of the signing of two agreements between the Government of Nepal and the World Bank. The agreements, totaling US$ 155.7 million, will be invested in the construction and maintenance of safe, resilient and cost-effective bridges in Nepal, and in improving the food security of vulnerable households and communities.

Original source: World Bank
Published on 15 November 2018