No reporting from BFIs about credit to quake-hit: NRB

Kathmandu January 24- Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has said it has not received any reporting from banks and financial institutions (BFIs) about loans extended to those whose houses were damaged by earthquakes of April 25 and May 12.

According to a working procedure on refinance introduced by the NRB in May 2015, BFIs will receive refinance from the central bank at zero percent interest while they have to extend loans to the quake-hit at 2 percent rate to rebuild their houses.

As per the working procedure, only owners of houses that were rendered uninhabitable can 
receive the loans. Home owners in the Kathmandu valley are eligible to get a maximum of Rs2.5 million, while those from outside can get up to Rs1.5 million.

NRB had reported that Rs1.74 million had been extended under this scheme as of mid-Sept.
Let alone private banks, even state-run banks like Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) and Agriculture Development Bank Limited (NIBL) have not started extending the loans.

After finding no lending from BFIs under the refinance scheme, central bank officials had verbally asked government-run banks, including ADBL, NBL and Rastriya Banijya Bank, to extend the loans at the earliest. Source:TKP