Thursday, July 16, 2020

Nepali Congress suggests to focus on five sectors

Nepali Congress (NC) has suggested the central bank to focus monetary policy to check inflationary pressure.
Suggesting to focus monetary policy on five areas, a special committee of NC asked the central bank to focus on economic revival, long-term economic growth, financial reform, exchange rate and external sector stability, and regulation and supervision capacity.
The monetary policy holds paramount importance as Covid19 has devastated the national economy, adversely impacted the jobs and income of millions of people apart from hitting the confidence of the private sector, former finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said, in a press meet organised at the NC headquarters Sanepa today. The coordinator of the Nepali Congress special committee Dr Mahat also said that the target of both fiscal policy and monetary policy should be toward supporting Nepali society in getting rid of health, economic and human crises caused by the global pandemic.
“The monetary policy should offer flexibility on loan management through loan restructuring, reschedule loan repayment period and capitalisation of interest,” he said, asking the central bank to provide economic relief to tourism, transportation, construction and SMEs sectors that are hit hardest by Covid-19. “Thus, the refinance fund size should be increased to Rs 200 billion.”
He also said that only limited areas and groups have benefited from the current refinance fund.
Recommending the central bank to focus its monetary policy on five areas to address the current challenges, he said that the monetary policy for the current fiscal year 2020-21 should also check inflationary pressure.
The policy recommendations of the main opposition party comes at a time when the central bank is in the final stage of announcing the monetary policy for the current fiscal year 2020-21 that began today. The central bank is preparing to announce monetary policy for the current fiscal year tomorrow.
Advising the central bank to become cautious to minimize the effects of crowding out of private sector investments due to the government’s plan to raise nearly Rs 225 billion in domestic debts, the opposition party has asked the central bank to increase the limit of margin lending of banks and financial institutions (BFIs), huge discounts on profit tax for at least two years for BFIs to encourage merger and acquisition, and revision of the maximum limit for the digital payment.
Mahat, on the occasion, also showed serious concern over the weakening central bank’s autonomy in these past years. “The central bank has become a mere shadow of Finance Ministry,” Mahat said.

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