Foreign assistance up by 5.22 pc

Kathmandu, Apr. 16: Foreign assistance to Nepal increased by 5.22 per cent in fiscal year 2015/16 compared to the previous year.

"Total Official Development Assistance (ODA) disbursement in FY 2015/16 was US$ 1,074.6 million while it was $ 1020.75 million in FY 2014/15. Despite the devastating earthquake of 2015, the disbursement saw an increasing trend," said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara at the launching of 'Development Cooperation Report: Fiscal year 2015/16' at Singha Durbar Sunday.

The overall trend of disbursement has been hovering between 1 billion dollars and 1.1 billion dollars in the last six years, reads the report.

Of the total mobilised foreign aid, 50 per cent constitutes grant, 35 per cent loans and 15 per cent technical assistance.

Nepal receives ODA from more than 40 multilateral and bilateral partners.

According to the report, contribution from multilateral development partners has increased over the years with their share to the overall foreign aid standing at 58 per cent in FY 2015/16, which was 55 per cent in the previous fiscal year and 51.6 per cent in FY 2013-14.

"Of the multilateral development partners, the World Bank (WB) Group is at the top with overall assistance of $ 243.69 m dollars followed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – $ 217.68m dollars, United Nations Country Team – $ 113.57m, European Union – $ 29.48m and the International Fund for Agriculture Development – $ 9.22m," said Mahara.

The WB and ADB were the top partners in terms of assistance disbursement in the previous fiscal year, too.

Of the bilateral agencies, USAID disbursed the highest assistance. It provided assistance of 119 million dollars while DFID and Japan, including Japan International Cooperation Agency, Switzerland and India followed USAID with 89.47 million, 45.9 million, 37million and 35.7 million dollars respectively.

Likewise, the top 10 development partners contributed 87.6 per cent of the total disbursement while the share of the top five partners was 30.5 per cent.

DPM Mahara said that although the number of projects had decreased compared to the previous years, the ODA was still scattered and fragmented.

"Though the number of foreign aided projects came down to 369 in FY 2015/16 from 442 the previous fiscal, the assistance was distributed across 212 grant projects, 145 technical assistance projects and 49 loan projects," he said.

The UN Country Team has the largest number of projects - 73 - engaging 17 counterpart ministries or agencies, followed by the ADB with 48 projects with 15 ministries, USAID 41 projects with 20 ministries, Switzerland 36 projects with 12 ministries, EU 35 projects with 15 ministries and the WB 27 projects with 13 ministries.

The report said that about 63 per cent foreign assistance was mobilised through the budgetary system in the review year, which was 2 per cent less than the previous year.

In terms of sectoral disbursement, the energy sector improved significantly and surpassed the health sector that topped the list last year.

The energy sector received 14 per cent of the aid followed by local development (11 per cent), education (10.3 per cent), health (9.6 per cent) and environment, science and technology (5 per cent).

The health sector received 17.4 per cent of the total foreign assistance in the previous fiscal year overcoming the education sector then.

Foreign aid disbursement

Top five districts	1	2	3	4	5
Highest budget disbursement	Kathmandu (27.68m$)	Nuwakot (21.12m$)	Rupandehi (16.65m$)	Bhaktapur (15.32m$)	Kailali (13.1 m$)
Highest No. of budget projects	Okhaldhunga (26)	Ramechhap/ Dailekh (25)	Kalikot/ Achham (24)	Jajarkot (23)	Kathmandu (22)
Highest combined disbursement	Kathmandu (37.3m$)	Nuwakot (37.5m$)	Kavrepalanchok (21.1m$)	Bhaktapur (29.6m$)	Kailali (17.8m$)
Highest number of projects	Kathmandu (49)	Achham (47)	Ramechhap/ Kailali (46)	Dailekh (45)	Banke (44)

Source: Development Cooperation Report