Exclusive-Nepal's flood damage may cost up to a tenth of economy to rebuild

By Saurabh Sharma

Aug 29 (Reuters) - ‌Nepal may ​need $4 ​billion to $5 billion to rebuild after this week's devastating floods, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle ‌told Reuters on Saturday, a bill equal ⁠to nearly a tenth of the economy.

"The initial estimate is ‌between $4-$5 billion. Just an ‌estimate," Wagle said. "We will require much less than what we needed for the 2015 earthquake. Loss ​and damage is being assessed."

A glacier collapse on Wednesday unleashed a huge torrent of rock, ice, ⁠mud and debris through Himalayan mountain river systems, killing more than ​600 people in Nepal and China's Tibet, with more than 2,000 still unaccounted for.

The ​flood levelled towns in the ‌border area, sweeping away bridges and roads and damaging major hydropower stations.

Wagle did ⁠not elaborate on why the reconstruction bill was expected to be less than the $9 billion spent after the ⁠2015 magnitude-7.8 quake, Nepal's worst recorded disaster. It killed nearly ​9,000 people, destroyed more than half a million homes and caused losses estimated at around a third of Nepal's economy.

Wednesday's ‌floods will nevertheless be a major blow to an economy reliant on remittances, ‌tourism and hydropower, damaging power projects that account ⁠for more than 12% ‌of national generating ​capacity.

(Reporting by Saurabh Sharma; Writing by Sakshi Dayal and Aftab Ahmed; Editing by YP ‌Rajesh)

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Indonesia rescuers searching for 129 people still missing after passenger ship capsizes
• Woman dies of complications from measles in western Pennsylvania
• Trump says he will consider request to release more 9/11 records