Finance Minister Consults Central Bank Officials on Relief for Citizens and Businesses Facing Financial Distress

Dragon Media Correspondent

Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle has held consultations with departmental chiefs of Nepal Rastra Bank on practical measures to provide relief and facilitate citizens, industrialists and businesspeople facing financial difficulties.

Six executive directors of the central bank participated in the second round of discussions held at the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday evening. Dr. Wagle had also held an initial dialogue with Nepal Rastra Bank’s executive directors earlier that morning.

During the meeting, the finance minister described the central bank officials as experienced and capable economists serving the state and urged them to present concrete, objective and implementable recommendations for improving the country’s economic and financial situation.

He said officials who had worked in important departments of Nepal Rastra Bank possessed extensive knowledge of the financial system, credit flows, private-sector conditions and market challenges, and that their expertise should now be applied to economic recovery.

Dr. Wagle called for a clear roadmap outlining how the government could support citizens, industrialists and businesspeople affected by previous policies, the economic slowdown following the COVID-19 pandemic and declining business activity.

Noting that the new budget had entered the implementation phase, he stressed the need to use it as a foundation for expanding production, investment, employment and overall economic activity.

He also asked central bank officials to identify ways to give thousands of citizens and entrepreneurs who had been blacklisted after failing to repay loans another opportunity to return to productive economic activity.

The finance minister said monetary instruments should be applied by maintaining a balance between objective regulation and investment-friendly facilitation, without compromising financial discipline or the security of depositors.

During the discussion, Nepal Rastra Bank’s executive directors said the formation of the new government had sent a positive signal to the market and that confidence among the private sector and the public was gradually returning.

They said the economy had yet to recover fully from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and identified loan repayment difficulties and the resulting blacklist problem as major challenges.

The central bank officials recommended immediate policy and relief measures to revive citizens and businesses facing genuine financial hardship while fully safeguarding the savings of the public.

The Ministry of Finance is preparing to incorporate the recommendations into forthcoming policies concerning financial-sector reform, credit facilitation, blacklist management and the restoration of private-sector confidence.