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Newly appointed ministers took the oath of office and secrecy on Friday. President Ram Chandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to 10 newly appointed ministers amidst a function this afternoon. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal today appointed 10 ministers from the 10-party alliance. Purna Bahadur Khadka has been appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Prakash Sharan Mahat as the Finance Minister, Ramesh Rijal as the Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister and Sita Gurung as the Urban Development Minister from the Nepali Congress. Similarly, Shakti Bahadur Basnet has been appointed as the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation from the CPN (Maoist Center). Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha was given the responsibility of Home Ministry while the posts of other Maoist ministers have been kept intact. Likewise, Beduram Bhusal has been appointed as the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development and Prakash Jwala as the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport from the CPN (Unified Socialist). Similarly, Ashok Rai has been appointed as the Minister for Education, Science and Technology from the Janata Samajbadi Party, Sharad Singh Bhandari as the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security from the Democratic Socialist Party, Mahendra Raya as the Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens from the Nepal Samajbadi and Ranjita Shrestha as the Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation from the Nagarik Unmukti Party. Meanwhile, Drinking Water Minister Abdul Khan submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Dahal. Khan, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Janamat Party, tendered his resignation after he did not get the Ministry of Industry. Dahal was appointed as the Prime Minister on December 25. The CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Dahal, who had forged an alliance with the CPN-UML, took the oath of office and secrecy on December 26. The UML quit the government by withdrawing the support extended to Dahal on March 27 after the Maoist decided to support Nepal Congress in the presidential and vice-presidential elections. Prime Minister Dahal, who had led the 10-party alliance, secured a vote of confidence for the second time on March 20.  

Rastriya Swatantra Party has made public the preliminary name list of the candidates vying in the April 23 by-election. The party published the name list of the candidates as per Article 71 of the party's statute. As per the name list, Rabi Lamichhane will contest from Chitwan constituency 2, Dr Swarnim Wagle, Ishwor Lamichhane and Dr Rupak BK Ghimire from Tanahun 1, and Ramesh Kharel and Yubaraj Neupane from Bara 2. The timeframe for filing complaints against the preliminary candidacy is 11am today, said the party's general secretary and spokesperson Dr Mukul Dhakal.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and President Ram Chandra Paudel held a meeting on Friday. In the meeting held at the President’s office in Sheetal Niwas this morning, they discussed Cabinet expansion, a Baluwatar source said. The source said that PM Dahal and President Paudel discussed Cabinet expansion and swearing-in among other issues. The Prime Minister is preparing to expand the Cabinet by inducting some ministers today. Prime Minister Dahal has asked for the name of ministers with all the political parties of the ruling coalition by 1 pm today.  

China has emerged as a lender of last resort for developing countries that are having difficulty repaying their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) debts. According to a new study by researchers at AidData, the World Bank, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Beijing has dramatically expanded emergency rescue lending to sovereign borrowers in financial distress—or outright default.

Analysis of a new dataset demonstrates that, by the end of 2021, China had undertaken 128 rescue loan operations across 22 debtor countries worth $240bn. These operations include many so-called “rollovers,” in which the same short-term loans are extended again and again to refinance maturing debts.

According to the authors, Beijing does not offer bailouts to all BRI borrowers in distress: low-income countries are typically offered a debt restructuring that involves a grace period or final repayment date extension but no new money, while middle-income countries tend to receive new money—via balance of payments (BOP) support—to avoid or delay default.

Chinese banks have an interest in ensuring that their biggest overseas borrowers are sufficiently liquid to continue servicing outstanding BRI project debts. Middle-income countries, which represent 80 percent or more than $500bn of China’s total overseas lending, pose major balance sheet risks, so Chinese banks have incentives to keep them afloat via bailouts. Low-income countries, which represent only 20 percent of China’s total overseas lending, are less important to the health of the Chinese banking sector and rarely get bailed out.

“Beijing is ultimately trying to rescue its own banks. That’s why it has gotten into the risky business of international bailout lending,” said Carmen Reinhart, one of the study’s authors. “But if you are going to bail out a borrower that is in default or teetering on the edge of default, it’s important to have a clear understanding of whether you are trying to solve a short-term liquidity problem or a long-term solvency problem.”

The authors of the new study find that China has channeled bailout funds to countries with low foreign exchange reserve levels and weak sovereign credit ratings. To date, it has undertaken rescue lending operations in 22 countries, including Argentina, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, Suriname, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.