Kathmandu. Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) vice-chairman Swarnim Wagle has been appointed as the Finance Minister of the new government.
Senior leader of the party Balen Shah has become the Prime Minister of the one-party government of the RSP. He was elected to the House of Representatives on March 4 from Tanahun Constituency-1 for the second consecutive term. In the recently held elections, the RSP had won the biggest parliamentary victory in the history of Nepal.
Wagle was previously the Chief Economic Adviser at the UNDP Regional Asia and Pacific Bureau (RBAB) in New York. It covers 36 countries.
Wagle has more than 25 years of experience as an international development professional. This includes a stint as a senior economist at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
Between 2014 and 2018, Wagle served in the National Planning Commission of the Government of Nepal for three years. He had earlier served as a member of the commission and then as the vice-chairperson.
After the devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015, Wagle co-led the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and helped mobilize a $4 billion pledge for reconstruction.
From 2019 to 2026, Wagle ran the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), a South Asian policy think-tank. He is chairman emeritus.
Wagle is the first senator of Kathmandu University, a distinguished member of the World Bank’s South Asia Regional Champions, and an advisor to organizations such as the Asian Development Bank (Manila) and the International Trade Center (Geneva). He was co-editor of the widely published The Great Uphill (Cambridge University Press, 2022), co-author of The Rise of the South: A Global Human Development Report (2013), and South Asia Editor of the Harvard Asia Quarterly (2000).
Wagle holds a PhD in Economics from the Australian National University, a Master’s Degree in International Development (MPA÷ID) from Harvard University, and a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics.
Wagle was born in Gorkha 51 years ago.
