Nepal Finance Minister is not in favour of foreign aid

Kathmandu, Oct 15 : Nepal Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has dubbed Nepal's development process as "donor-driven" and said that the foreign aid in the country did not help achieve economic growth.

Speaking at the two-day Nepal Portfolio Performance Review (NPPR) organised by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) here on Friday, the Minister said, "It is not good to let the donor-driven development process continue for the sake of both sides."

"Nepal should be in the driving seat to lead the development process, and went on to say that there should be a better understanding between the bureaucracies of the Nepal and the donors to harmonise their approach to donor-funded programmes," he added.

Responding to the donors' concern over good governance, Dr Bhattarai stressed the need for making those in power whether in politics, administration, finance or any other sector.

Addressing the gathering of major donors including World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Dr. Bhattarai said that the government's policy is to achieve high economic growth with social justice, and it has taken a two-lane strategy to achieve that goal.

He further claimed that taking up capitalism fully would not solve Nepal's economic problems.

"We want to combine the efficiency and productivity of capitalism while paying proper attention to the welfare of the poor," he added, Kantipur reported.

ANI