Washington D.C., USA – The World Bank has agreed to provide a $150 million concessional loan to the Government of Nepal under the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat-DDO) facility to support disaster management efforts.

The loan agreement was signed today at the World Bank headquarters in the presence of Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, who is attending the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Dr. Ram Prasad Ghimire, Secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Finance, and David Sislen, the World Bank’s Country Director for Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, signed the agreement. The funds will be used for post-disaster recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation efforts.

During the visit, Finance Minister Paudel participated in a joint meeting of South Asian governors as part of the 55th Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.

The Deputy Prime Minister also held separate meetings with senior officials from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In his meeting with Martin Raiser, Vice President for South Asia at the World Bank, and Executive Director Wempi Saputra, Paudel discussed the mobilization of multilateral assistance. He thanked the World Bank for its contributions to Nepal’s infrastructure, energy, education, and social sectors and urged the Bank to further expand and strengthen its support in the future.

Later, Paudel met with ADB Vice President Yingmin Yang at the World Bank headquarters. Acknowledging the ADB’s key role as Nepal’s development partner, he called for increased support in infrastructure and social development projects.

In a separate meeting with IFC Vice President Riccardo Puliti, Paudel expressed appreciation for the corporation’s growing investment in Nepal’s private sector. He reaffirmed Nepal’s commitment to fostering a favorable environment for private sector development and urged the IFC to expand its activities in the country.

These discussions reflect Nepal’s strategic engagement with international financial institutions to bolster disaster preparedness, infrastructure development, and private sector growth.