Ronaldo, 47, agreed with BPW Sports company to sell the 90% stake he acquired in 2021 for $70 million
football3 hours ago
A Nepalese man carrying a water jar walks past damaged houses in Bhaktapur. -AP file
Washington - The World Bank on Tuesday promised a loan of up to half a billion dollars to help Nepal rebuild after earthquakes killed nearly 9,000 people there in April and May, levelling homes and pushing hundreds of thousands of people deeper into poverty.
The global development lender, based in Washington, said it would lend $300 million for housing reconstruction and budgetary support, and a further $100 million to $200 million could be redirected from existing loans and be replaced at a later date.
The loan would be paid back over 38 years, and carries an interest rate of 1.56 per cent, bank officials said.
Nepal said reconstruction from its worst disaster on record would cost some $6.6 billion over five years, and asked international donors to attend a conference this week to help.
Nepal’s Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said only some of that figure was expected to be paid for by donors, with the rest met through the government’s own resources, the private sector and individuals. He warned that Nepal should not become heavily indebted to foreign agencies during reconstruction.
“We will ask for grants and concessional loans payable over a long period of time,” Mahat said.
Nepal owes about $3.8 billion, mainly to development banks, or 18 per cent of GDP, and is due to pay back $200 million this year. It has almost no commercial foreign debt.
The Jubilee Debt Campaign, an activist group, has called for Nepal’s debt to be cancelled after the earthquake.
Aid, including loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, already supports two-thirds of Nepal’s economic development.
One in every four Nepalis lives on a daily income of less than $1.25, and the number of poor increased by 700,000 after the quake, according to government officials.
Last month, the United Nations complained that emergency funds for victims of the earthquake were slow in coming, as more than a dozen other long-running international crises, including in Syria and Iraq, had claimed donors’ attention.
The World Bank normally focuses on the longer-term reconstruction that follows humanitarian disasters, but has been quick to jump in with emergency loans in recent years, promising at least $400 million last year to help West African countries contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
Ronaldo, 47, agreed with BPW Sports company to sell the 90% stake he acquired in 2021 for $70 million
football3 hours ago
The decision aims to ensure the safety of teachers as well as students across the country
uae3 hours ago
The facility had been targeted by a drone on Friday in which four workers were killed
energy3 hours ago
The airline will initially fly once a week between the two destinations
uae3 hours ago
Australia has invested heavily in women's cricket over the past decade
cricket3 hours ago
Try some local food that'll enchant your taste buds with a mix of legacy and contemporary flair
food4 hours ago
DP World has been actively expanding its footprint across the region
business4 hours ago
The rule allows teams to bring in one substitute at any time for a player in the starting 11
cricket4 hours ago