The Asian Development Bank (ADB) — one of the major multilateral donors for Nepal– has said in view of the recent political and security developments in the Himalayan kingdom, it is reviewing the implications for its on-going operations.

In a clarification issued Tuesday, ADB’s country director in Kathmandu S. Hafeez Rahman said, “Because of the security situation, we have not been able to fully assess the impact of these recent developments on the implementation of the ongoing ADB supported projects in different parts of the country. In this context, ADB has not been able to field operational missions in the past few weeks. ADB’s ongoing operations will critically depend on how the security situation evolves.”

The ADB’s clarification came in response to a news report published in the state-owned The Rising Nepal daily on Monday. The state-run daily said, “The ADB has pledged to provide $121 million to Nepal to gear up its development initiatives. The ADB has unveiled this in its country strategy programme, 2005 to 2009.”

Earlier, the World Bank had said it was reviewing its $70 million assistance to the Nepal government in view of what it said lack of visible progress in the areas of economic reforms committed by the government itself.

Nepali authorities are yet to comment on these developments.