KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Balen Shah has assigned the crucial responsibility of handling the country’s deteriorating economy to Swarnim Wagle , who is set to take charge as Finance Minister.
A vice-chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Wagle has been elected to the House of Representatives for a second time from Tanahun-1, paving the way for his appointment to the key economic portfolio.
Born on May 29, 1974, in Shahid Lakhan Rural Municipality-8 of Gorkha, Wagle completed his early education at Budhanilkantha School, where he secured the second position nationwide in the 1990 SLC examinations.
He holds a PhD in Development Economics from the Australian National University. He also earned a master’s degree in International Development and Public Policy from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Wagle brings extensive international experience to the role. From 2020 to 2022, he served as the Chief Economic Advisor for Asia-Pacific at the United Nations Development Programme headquarters in New York, overseeing economic advisory work across 36 countries. Prior to that, he was a member and later Vice-Chair of Nepal’s National Planning Commission.
He has also worked as a Senior Economist at the World Bank and is currently a Senate member of Kathmandu University and Chair of the Institute for Integrated Development Studies.
Wagle began his political journey with the Nepali Congress following the 1990 people’s movement and previously served as a central committee member of the party. He later joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party and won the Tanahun-1 by-election in 2023 before securing victory again in the 2025 general elections.
In the latest election, Wagle garnered 38,040 votes, defeating Nepali Congress candidate Govinda Bhattarai, who received 16,231 votes. He had earlier defeated the same opponent by a margin of over 14,000 votes in the by-election.
Known as an international development economist, Wagle had also been considered a contender for the Finance Ministry in the past. With his appointment now likely, expectations are high that he will steer Nepal’s economic recovery with policy expertise and global experience.
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