Govt to rejig guidelines for bilateral aid

NEW DELHI: Days after the decision to prepay 1.6 billion dollars worth of bilateral loan to 14 nations, the Finance Ministry will frame a new set of guidelines for bilateral loans taken from other countries, which among others would minimise Centre''s commitment in repaying loans.
This was announced by Finance Secretary S Narayan in a meeting with representatives of diplomatic missions of 14 countries on Friday.
The new guidelines seek to take into consideration the changing relations in the field of development cooperation, Narayan said.
While assuring the foreign diplomats that the ongoing projects would continue, he said unlike the past, development needs are larger but have localised and geographical singularities. Institutional needs have also changed, he added.
Thus, government has decided that bilateral assistance that is no longer routed through the government machinery could be accessible to the insitutions, projects and NGOs directly, he said, adding this was expected to improve efficiency of the developmental efforts.
The Finance Ministry will be primarily interested in addressing India''s security concerns and overall development priorities, Narayan added.
From now on, the bilateral partners would be free to interact with the beneficiaries. However, it was emphasized that such aid flows normally be in the form of grants rather than loans, and government''s commitment to repay loans would be kept to a minimum, Narayan said.
The ministry will meet the concerned partners to address their specific and unique concerns.