Anti-graft protests caused loss of $586m, says Nepal

KATHMANDU : The antigraft protests in Sept that forced the KP Sharma Oli to resign as PM caused more than $586 million in losses to Nepal’s $42 billion economy, a govt statement said on Friday.A statement from the office of interim PM Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, who succeeded Oli, said an official committee set up to assess the losses estimated that the cost of rebuilding would top $252 million.The interim govt has established an official fund to mobilise financial resources for the reconstruction and has so far collected less than $1 million from the public and different institutions, authorities said.Chakrabarti Kantha, a senior engineer at the ministry of urban development in charge of rebuilding public infrastructure, said reconstruction of Singha Durbar, the president’s house, Supreme Court and key ministries had started.Reuters