Nepal’s economy is strong in South Asia -Finance Minister

Kathmandu, June 12.  Finance Minister Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada has claimed that Nepal’s banking system is robust in the South Asia.

Inaugurating the building of Deposit and Credit Securities Fund here today, he said various measures have been put in place to strengthen the entire banking systems and increase public trust and transparency in the banks.

“Passive loan has stood at around one per cent. Nepal’s banking system is assessed to be with good performance on all indicators”, said the minster, adding that foreign banks have trusted Nepali banks for lending due to the competence of the latter. With the setup of the fund, there would be no chance for the bank deposit to go high and dry, he asserted.

“No depositor is seen queued up at the counters of any banks in the past 10 years since deposit insurance of Rs 300,000 of small investors is done now. They are now confident when it is systematically assured that their deposit would not go in vain”, the minster added.

Saying that the responsibility of the fund has increased with the rise in the amount of deposit insurance and insurance liability, he said the fund would be developed as an institution with Rs 10 billion paid-up capital to carry out its performance well. The fund should develop its action plan based on routine monitoring and analysis of risks, he stressed.

He clarified that the government has set up deposit and loan securities fund to reduce risk in the credit flow in priority areas.