Kathmandu: Nepal received foreign assistance worth Rs 126 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which is just around one-third of the government targeted amount for the entire fiscal year 2021/22.

According to the Ministry of Finance, 92.49 percent of the received amount was loan while the remaining 7.51 percent was in the form of grant. Nepal received the aforementioned amount of foreign assistance to finance projects related to environment protection, education, health, agriculture and energy.

At a time when the country is reeling under an increasing foreign debt, the excessive loan is set to add up the country with more burden of debt financing provided the received credit amount is not invested in the productive sector, say the experts.

Of the total expenditure of Rs 1.632 trillion earmarked through the budget 2021/22, the government has targeted to make up Rs 343.01 billion through foreign assistance. This includes the foreign grants worth Rs 59.92 billion while Rs 283.09 billion is targeted to be financed from foreign loans.

During the review period, Nepal received grants from Green Climate Fund, Asian Development Bank (ADB), South Korea, Japan and Switzerland. Similarly, the country got credit from the ADB, the World Bank, International Finance and Development, International Monetary Fund and Japan.