Former Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat has received The Banker's Global and Asia Pacific Finance Minister of the year 2016 award.
The Banker, a UK-based magazine, recognises the officials who have best managed to stimulate growth and stabilise their economy with this award every year.
Mahat is the first Finance Minister from Asia Pacific region to win this award ever. He won this award for "his exemplary work in the aftermath of the two disastrous earthquakes that hit Nepal in 2015 and in pushing for reforms to improve governance in the country’s ministry of finance."
According to The Banker, Mahat was the first Nepali official to interact with the international community after the earthquakes and he took a last-minute trip to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting in Azerbaijan to raise awareness among his peers and the press.
The trip to the ADB helped organise the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction on June 25, where attendees – including finance ministers, the ADB, the World Bank and the EU – pledged $4.1bn, according to a note published by The Banker on Monday.
The Banker has quoted Mahat as saying: “I am proud to say that not a single death occurred for lack of medical support. Everyone got medical treatment. Nobody died of starvation; food was sent everywhere. We successfully managed and organised such an operation after this devastating calamity.”