KATHMANDU, July 8, 2013 – Fiscal Year 2012-2013 has been a record year for the World Bank in Nepal in terms of new commitments. The Bank is closing the fiscal year with US$ 180 million in disbursement, a 25 percent disbursement ratio exceeding target, and about US$ 416 million in new commitments, the highest recorded for a single financial year.
“The impressive pick-up in performance benefited in the last quarter with the announcement of the full budget in April 2013, said Tahseen Sayed, World Bank Country Manager in Nepal. “We look forward to early approval of the FY14 budget and timely delegation of spending authority,” she said.
The World Bank approved seven operations this past fiscal year. These include (i) Additional Financing for the School Sector Reform Program (US$ 100 million); (ii) Additional Financing for the Poverty Alleviation Fund (US$ 80 million); (iii) Additional Financing for the Agriculture Commercialization and Trade Project (US$ 40 million); (iv) Additional Financing for the Nepal India Electricity Trade Project (US$ 39 million); (v) the Nepal India Regional Trade and Transport Project (US$ 99 million); (vi) the Kali Gandaki “A” Hydro Electricity Rehabilitation Project (US$ 27.3 million) and (vii) the Financial Sector Stabilization Development Policy Credit (US$ 30 million).
“We will work with the Government of Nepal to focus on three core cross cutting issues during the coming year,” said Ms. Sayed. “These include reducing staffing issues due to frequency of transfers; enhancing transparency and governance through improved procurement and better financial management; strong monitoring including independent third party monitoring and enhanced use of social accountability tools,” she said.
The Government of Nepal and the World Bank signed three project agreements today for a combined value of US$ 207.3 million. Three more project agreements valued at US$ 168 million are expected to be signed over the next few days.
The World Bank has been a development partner to Nepal for over 50 years. 18 World Bank financed projects worth about US$ 1.5 billion are currently under various stages of implementation.
