Nepal says economy suffered $586 million hit from ‘Gen Z’ protests

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By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, Dec 12 (Reuters) – The anti-graft protests in September that forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign caused more than $586 million in losses to Nepal’s $42 billion economy, a government statement said on Friday.

The youth-led protests and the unrest that followed killed 77 people and injured more than 2,000 others three months ago.

Public and private infrastructure – including the sprawling Singha Durbar office complex, the Prime Minister’s office, the Supreme Court, Parliament House, the private residences of politicians, and business complexes owned by individuals close to some politicians – was set ablaze and destroyed.

A statement from the office of interim Prime Minister 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 government has set up an official fund to mobilise resources for the reconstruction and has so far collected less than $1 million from the public and different institutions, authorities said.

The government has not said how it plans to bridge the resource gap for the reconstruction.

Chakrabarti Kantha, a senior engineer at the Ministry of Urban Development in charge of rebuilding public infrastructure, said the reconstruction of the Singha Durbar, the president’s house, the Supreme Court and key ministries had already started.

Repairs of some partially damaged buildings have already been completed and they are now back in use.

“The work for other buildings that were completely destroyed would begin once the required detailed reports and designs are ready,” Kantha told Reuters, without specifying timelines.

The interim government has scheduled new parliamentary elections for March 5, 2026.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Pooja Desai and Saad Sayeed)