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By P.R. Pradhan

The ruling parties, Nepali Congress and UML, after a long discussion, decided to ink on the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) Framework during Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s official visit to China. Moreover, the two ruling parties also developed a consensus for not taking any debts from China under the BRI Framework, however, the support under the Framework should be on grants. Finally, the BRI Framework agreement was not signed during the main event of the signing of the documents by Nepal and China on December 3. Nevertheless, on December, at the Foreign Secretary level, the BRI Cooperation Framework was signed. China gave the message that the BRI is not a “grant” project. 

Nepal is an underdeveloped country but is being graduated to the club of the developing countries shortly by the UN. The country’s present economy is facing an odd type of recession. If the economic recession is prolonged, the country may face a serious economic crisis. The country is unable to cut down the unproductive sector expenditure and unable to manage domestic revenue which could meet the general sector expenditure. Since Nepal adopted federalism with seven provinces and 753 local bodies, the government is facing a scarcity of funds to manage general sector expenditure. The government is unable to manage funds for the development sector or say capital expenditure.

For several years, Nepal has been unable to get grant support as mentioned in the yearly budget of the country. Globally, the practice of providing grants to poor countries is on the decline. Except for some friendly countries, Nepal has not received grant support as expected in the government budget. Undermining the global trend, the NC and UML leaders have decided to beg grant support from China for the development of Nepal. PM Oli has demanded grant support from China for different projects. China may provide some amount of grant support for some development projects as a token of friendship for a neighboring country, however, she cannot provide such grant support to all projects as demanded by the Nepal government. For Nepal, it is important to know how to catch fish rather than taste a fish received as gift. The Chinese people struggled hard to transform their country to its present position. Instead of learning from the hard struggle of the Chinese people and the leadership there, the Nepali leaders have presented themselves as beggars and demanded grant support for the projects they have chosen.

China, in the past, as a token of friendship, established different industries providing employment to thousands of Nepali people and giving profit to the government. All the China-established industries were sold by the governments formed after the 1990 People’s Movement. The Nepali leadership didn’t know the importance of these industries. They didn’t know the value of the China-established industries as they were gifted by China at free of cost. There is a saying, “Beggars have no choice” or say, whatever the donor gives, should be accepted by the beggar. Oddly, the Nepali beggars (NC and UML leaders) are choosing while begging with the Chinese leaders. About the Chinese debt, the NC leaders are saying that it may bring down Nepal under the debt trap and collapse the Nepali economy. They are saying that the Chinese debts under the BRI frameworks are of high interest rates and they are for a short period. They are giving the example that the four aircraft procured from China have been grounded without flying. Also, the Pokhara International Airport, constructed from Chinese grant support plus a soft loan is not in operation. Therefore, Nepal wants these loans should be converted into grants, which cannot be justified.