Yuba Raj Khatiwada (; born 14 August 1956) is a former

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

i politician and economist who has served as the Ambassador of Nepal to the United States since 17 February 2021. As the residential ambassador of Nepal to the US, he was also the non-residential ambassador to

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Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, and

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and was entitled to look after the affairs related to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

, and the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

(

IBRD The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an international financial institution, established in 1944 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, that is the lending arm of World Bank Group. The IBRD offers l ...

IDA Ida or IDA may refer to: Astronomy * Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter *243 Ida, an asteroid *International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station Computing *Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a techn ...

, IFC,

MIGA The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments against ...

and ICSID). He was a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 2018 to 2020 and was a minister in the cabinet of

KP Sharma Oli Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli ( ne, खड्गप्रसाद शर्मा ओली, ; born 22 February 1952) is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served three terms as prime minister from 11 October 2015 to 3 Augu ...

from February 2018 to September 2020. He previously served as the governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank, as well as the vice-chair of the National Planning Commission.

Political career

Khatiwada served as a nominated member of

from 2018 to 2020. He was appointed

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

on 26 February 2018. After the resignation of

Gokul Prasad Baskota Gokul Prasad Baskota ( ne, गोकुलप्रसाद बास्कोटा) is a Nepali politician. He served as Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Nepal. and is currently serving as the Member of House Of Represen ...

, he was given the portfolio of Information and Communications as well on 20 February 2020, becoming the spokesperson of the

Government of Nepal The Government of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल सरकार) is the federal executive authority of Nepal. Prior to the abolition of the Nepali monarchy in 2006 (became republic in 2008), it was officially known as His Majesty's Government. T ...

. Khatiwada resigned from both ministerial posts on 3 March 2020 when his two-year term in the National Assembly ended, however he was reappointed the next day. As any member of the cabinet must become a member of either houses of the parliament within six months of appointment, Khatiwada resigned from the cabinet on 4 September 2020 when he was not renominated and

Bamdev Gautam Bam Dev Gautam ( ne, बाम देव गौतम) is a Nepalese politician and the former Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal. A member of CPN (Unified Socialist), Gautam is a former Senior vice Chairman of Communist Party of Ne ...

was nominated to succeed him in the National Assembly. Subsequently, he was appointed as a special economic advisor to the prime minister with benefits on par with a minister. On 1 October 2020, the cabinet recommended Khatiwada as Nepal's Ambassador to the United States of America. He was appointed ambassador by

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Bidya Devi Bhandari Bidya Devi Bhandari (, ; born 19 June 1961) is a Nepali politician who is serving as the second and current president of Nepal. She formerly served as the minister of defence and minister of environment and population. She is the first woman t ...

on 22 December 2020, and presented his credentials to the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

, Joe Biden, on 17 February 2021.

Economist career

Khatiwada served two tenures as the vice chairman of the National Planning Commission, first from June 2009 to March 2010 and again from November 2015 to August 2016. Between those two tenures at the planning commission, he served as the 15th Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank, the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

of Nepal. He also served as the senior economist in the regional centre of

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

for

Asia and the Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

from 2006 to 2009. He had also been appointed member of the National Planning Commission from 2002 to 2005. Khatiwada was the Head of the Economic Research Department of the Nepal Rastra Bank from 1999 to 2002, a postgraduate teacher at Tribhuvan University in 1982, and intermittently, a visiting faculty member at Tribhuvan University and

Kathmandu University Kathmandu University (KU) ( ne, काठमाण्डौ विश्वविद्यालय) is a public autonomous university in Nepal. It is the third oldest university in Nepal, located in Dhulikhel of Kavrepalanchok District, about ...

from 1992 to 2001. He received his master's degrees in Economics and Public Administration from Tribhuvan University in 1981 and 1984 respectively, and a PhD in Monetary Economics from Delhi School of Economics,

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

in 1991.

Awards and recognitions

Khatiwada has been awarded with national awards such as the Suprabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu (2001), Sukirtimaya Rastra Deep (2013) and Prasiddha Prabal Jana Sewa Shree (2016) conferred by the President of Nepal for his outstanding contribution to the development of Nepal in his different capacities.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatiwada, Yuba Raj Living people 1956 births Ambassadors of Nepal to the United States Governors of Nepal Rastra Bank Finance ministers of Nepal Members of the National Assembly (Nepal) Nepal Communist Party (NCP) politicians Khas people People from Syangja District Tribhuvan University alumni Delhi University alumni