China’s economic influence is not just limited to Pakistan but is also growing considerably in Nepal as Beijing has again topped the list of nations who have pledged maximum Foreign Direct investment (FDI) into the Himalayan nation.
According to a Times of India report, the Nepal government figures show that China accounted for as much as 68 per cent of all FDI pledged for Nepal in the first half of the current fiscal year.
This is a massive increase from Beijing’s 40 per cent of the total FDI pledged for Nepal by various countries in 2015-16.
According to Nepal’s Department of Industry, China accounted for USD 51.77 million (approx Rs 350 crore) out of a total of USD 76.39 million (approx Rs 510 crore) FDI pledged for Nepal in the first half of the current fiscal year, cementing its position as the top contributor of FDI for Nepal.
Meanwhile, Chinese news agency Xinhua, in its report on Sunday, said that total FDI pledged into Nepal for the same period during the fiscal 2015-16 was only USD 59.93 million (approx Rs 400 crore), “when the country had gone through troubling blockade from India”.
In 2015-16, China topped the list with USD 57 million as FDI into Nepal whereas India was at the third spot with $18 million.
Commenting on the report, Indian officials said that “New Delhi's support to Nepal couldn't be measured only in terms of pledged FDI and that India also contributed USD 50-70 million every year as aid to Nepal”.
Against the USD 600 million commitment Nepal received in 2014-15, only USD 140 million was pledged to it in 2015-16, mainly because of the political uncertainty.
Also, it may be worth mentioning her that last year, Nepal counted the UK, US , Japan, China and Switzerland as its top 5 bilateral development partners on the basis of official development assistance (ODA) disbursement, leaving out India from the list for the first time in past five years.
