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Government Struggling to Secure Resources for Election   

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Government Struggling to Secure Resources for Election   
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February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. 

The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 10 billion in the current fiscal year for the election. However, there is a problem in mobilizing resources as the Election Commission and other agencies have demanded more than Rs 50 billion. Despite the ministry's pleas with various donor agencies to meet the demand for the budget, the donors seem reluctant to help. 

Ministry officials are holding discussions with major partners such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and IMF to solicit support from them. Likewise, a senior official of the ministry said that the government is also lobbying with ambassadors from India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. 

During a meeting with Hartwig Schafer, World Bank’s vice president for South Asia, executive director Mohammad Hassan, and country director for the Maldives and Sri Lanka including Nepal Faris Hadad Zervos last week, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma requested them for assistance for the election. Sources said that the World Bank officials did not respond to his request. 

Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Nepal Musid Suleiman M Almarwani met Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka last week. Likewise, Khadka had a meeting with Hanan Goder, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nepal Thomas Prinz. 

According to a foreign ministry source, they exchanged views on various issues related to development, cooperation, trade, investment and bilateral relations, and Foreign Minister Khadka requested financial assistance with them for the upcoming elections.  

In a televised interview two days ago, Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal had revealed that an ambassador had told him that the country which does not need a grant of Rs 50 billion does not require assistance. Donors are said to be irritated, especially after the parties in the coalition government split over the MCC.  

 

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