Kathmandu, June 1
Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has clarified that the government will release a fund it could receive under the controversial Millennium Challenge Corporation deal signed with the United States government for various projects only when the Federal Parliament endorses the deal.
Though the government has included a section of the grant in this year’s budget plan as a possible source of income, its implementation is conditional, according to the minister.
After some lawmakers of the ruling Nepal Communist Party objected to the grant’s mention in the budget plan, the party’s secretariat had decided last Saturday that its implementation would be conditional.
Accordingly, the minister gave his clarification in his response to the lawmakers queries during the House of Representatives meeting on Monday.
The 2017 deal still awaits its implementation as Parliament has not endorsed it, apparently owing to differences within the ruling party.
