Kathmandu: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank signed a $150 million ‘Finance for Growth’ Development Policy Credit (DPC) today to strengthen financial sector stability, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services in Nepal.
The agreement was signed by the Finance Secretary, Madhu Kumar Marasini, on behalf of the Government of Nepal, and the World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos.
The second Finance for Growth operation was approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on March 24, 2022.
The operation will support enhanced supervision of the banking sector to address financial stability risks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts.
It will help open up capital, insurance, and disaster risk financing markets, and foster financial product innovations.
It will also support initiatives to increase liquidity and inclusion through access to external commercial borrowing, financial digitalization, and financial literacy for women.
This will help improve the functioning of the financial sector to support private sector-led growth.
The operation supports Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development, and also initiates a new climate agenda, supporting climate finance resilience policy measures across different sectors.