KATHMANDU: The World Bank (WB) on Thursday approved a $200 million ‘Finance for Growth’ development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen Nepal’s financial sector stability, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services in support of Nepal’s COVID-19 resilience and recovery efforts.

“In this era of COVID-19, protecting people’s lives is the priority, but giving a boost to economic recovery is equally urgent,” according to Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Nepal.

This project and World Bank support will pave the way for the financial sector and capital and insurance markets to strengthen resilience and more effectively contribute to Nepal’s COVID-19 recovery, it is said.

The “Finance for Growth” operation will support enhanced supervision of risks confronting the banking and financial institutions, especially in the context of the pandemic’s impacts.

The operation will also help build capital, insurance, venture capital and private equity and disaster risk financing markets through regulatory reforms.

This will help open new investment opportunities for market actors and crowd-in private financing.