Nepal flood rebuild could cost 10% of economy

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.

-Reuters