US President Donald Trump has revealed the reasons for withholding funds for biodiversity conservation and fiscal federalism to Nepal. He has stated that the funds given under these headings were ‘fraudulent’ and that the aid was being withheld.
Donald Trump, signed an executive order suspending foreign aid. In this process, $39 million (about Rs. 5.43 billion), including $20 million for fiscal federalism and $19 million for biodiversity conservation, has been withheld. Trump said in a press briefing, “This is fraud.”
Trump made the remarks at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, USA, where he signed several additional executive orders.
Earlier, the Department of Government Efficiency (DoD), led by Elon Musk, had canceled six projects in Nepal funded by the US aid agency USAID. Now, payments for US-funded MCC projects in Nepal have also been stopped.
Trump has also announced that he has stopped providing aid to countries like Nepal, India, Maldives, Liberia, Mali, and South Africa.
He has been giving India $21 million for electoral literacy, so why give it now? He has asked. ‘We have good relations with India. Recently, Prime Minister Modi returned from a visit. But why should we give money to India?’ Trump has said, ‘He has a lot of money.’