Nepal received around $2 billion in foreign aid in the 2019-20 fiscal year which ended in mid-July last year, data released from Nepal’s foreign ministry showed. The funds helped the government to boost its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Earlier in the 2018-19 fiscal year, the country received around $1.57 billion from foreign countries and development partners. Last year it recorded a 26 percent increase in aid, according to a report in the Kathmandu Post. 

Around $1.4 billion came in form of loans in the last fiscal year.

Data showed around $512 million, 25 percent of the total aid, came for the country’s Covid response. It further said that $1.67 billion (83.5 percent) of the total foreign aid went into on-budget projects and the remaining $329.9 million (16.5 percent) into off-budget projects.

“This is a significant improvement compared to 2018-19 when only 78.4 percent of the foreign aid was channeled as on-budget funding,” the finance ministry said in its annual publication as reported by the Kathmandu Post. 

“Both foreign aid disbursement and gross domestic product have increased, but the second at a faster rate,” said Suman Dahal, the spokesperson of the finance ministry. 

He further said, “This reflects the strengthened ties of the development partners with Nepal during times of difficulty. We hope that the support will continue.”