Nepal proposes AIIB issuing local currency bonds: official

KATHMANDU - Nepal has proposed that the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) could issue currency bonds in Nepal to raise funds domestically to finance infrastructure projects in the country, a senior official of Nepal's Finance Ministry said.

Nepal has already permitted International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector financing wing of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to issue Nepali Rupee bonds, but they are yet to issue such bonds.

Yug Raj Pandey, under secretary at Nepal's Finance Ministry, told Xinhua on Sunday that Nepal had asked AIIB to issue local currency bonds in Nepal to collect financial resources domestically during its second meeting of the board of governors in South Korea,

Pandey is one of the delegation members of Nepal led by Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki in the AIIB meeting which was held on June 17-18.

According to a press release issued by Nepali Finance Ministry on Sunday, Karki had sought increased investment in Nepal from AIIB, considering Nepal's need for investment of around 9-10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in infrastructure sector.

Currently, Nepal has been investing just around four percent of the GDP in the sector. Minister Karki had sought investment in the areas of transport, electricity, urban development, drinking water, aviation and information and communication technologies.