In the year, total official development assistance (ODA) stood at $1.04 billion, of which approximately 57 percent came from multilateral donors, while 43 percent came from bilateral donors, according to the second Development Cooperation Report made public by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.[break]
Out of the total amount disbursed in the year, $630.9 million was in the form of grants, $254.7 million in the form of loans and $159.5 million was in the form of technical assistance. “Of this amount, 77 percent went through the government´s budgetary avenue and 23 percent through off-budget avenue,” says the report.
Almost 55 percent of the total assistance came from the World Bank (WB) Group, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations (UN) Country Team, the European Union (EU) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFFATM).
The WB Group made disbursements equivalent to $269.60 million in the year, while the ADB extended support of $193.40 million. Similarly, the UN Country Team made disbursements worth $108.17 million, the EU $43.97 million and the GFFATM $15.09 million.
Among bilateral donors, the UK extended support worth $84.24 million, India $50.62 million, Japan $44.09 million, Norway $41.68 million and Germany $38.83 million.
“China also provides significant aid to Nepal but it is currently not well-reported in the Aid Management Platform,” says the report.
Most of the foreign grants, loans and technical assistance provided by bilateral and multilateral donors were absorbed by the education sector, followed by local development, roads, electricity, and health, the report states. The education sector received $229.04 million worth of assistance, followed by local development, which received $153.51 million. Similarly, $116.73 million, $106.82 million and $85.07 million went to road transport, electricity and health sectors.
“Out of 77 percent of aid disbursed through budgetary avenue, 58 percent was channeled through the national treasury (using national public financial management systems). However, 19 percent of the disbursement did not pass through the government treasury, though it was still reflected in the Red Book (which includes estimates of government expenditure). The remaining 23 percent of total disbursements were off budget and were not reflected in the Red Book,” the report says.
The report further says the Ministry of Health and Population has the highest number of donor-funded projects (83), followed by the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management (60) and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (57).
In terms of development regions, the Central Development Region saw the highest disbursement of $115.02 million, followed by the Mid-western Development Region ($106.64 million), the Eastern Development Region ($90.23 million), the Western Development Region ($69 million) and the Far-western Development Region ($66.88 million).
Related story
Foreign assistance worth Rs 90.54 billion pledged in first four...
