September 14: The government has approved concessional loan of Rs 35 billion (USD 275 million) to be received from the World Bank. According to Government Spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, the loan would be spent on programmes to promote transportation and trade connectivity.    
Karki, who is also the Minister for Communication and Information Technology, confirmed this during a press conference organized on Tuesday to share the decisions taken by the Council of Ministers a day ago.    
Minister Karki said the cabinet meeting also decided to form a talks team for receiving a grant of USD 12 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for strengthening the system to protect and uplift women.    
The meeting has also decided to approve a team of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to participate in the joint meeting of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC of the United States of America. -- RSS