More World Bank aid to Nepal

Nepal stands to gain from $782 million in aid from the International Development Association (IDA), the concessionary lending arm of the World Bank (WB), over the next two years
The funds can come in handy for at least five WB projects. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the global body’s private sector arm — may pledge between $15 and $20 million annually, depending on the availability of viable investment opportunities and if it finds the business environs conducive for pumping in the money
“The $20-million project will be financed on the basis of the following pattern — the credit component will be $10.7 million and $9.3 million will be given as grant,” according to the WB. The sum has been allocated for a project on agriculture commercialisation and trade. It aims to improve the competitiveness of farmers with small holdings and also agro-business in selected commodity value chains in 25 districts across the nation
Nepal’s move to restore lasting peace through sustainable development and poverty eradication measures found strong support when the WB’s Board of Directors held talks today on the new country interim assistance strategy for the next two years. The WB’s strategy document endorses the politics of national consensus and unity to address key elements of the peace process. Given the current transition in Nepal, with a new constitution being drafted and elections expected in 2011, the WB has prepared an Interim Strategy Note that spans fiscal years 2010 and 2011.
The bank said it had prepared an interim strategy because Nepal is in a transitional period with a new constitution being drafted and elections expected in 2011.
Nepal swore in moderate Communist Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, last month after his Maoist predecessor quit, plunging the nascent republic into a crisis.Various ethnic groups are now demanding a greater role in running the government, and some are pressing for separate autonomous states as the Himalayan nation prepares a new constitution after its 239-year-old monarchy was abolished.
Prime Minister Nepal was sworn in on May 25, but is yet to name his full cabinet due to wrangling among coalition partners over positions, leaving the country in limbo.