KATHMANDU, MARCH 29
Aiming at promoting entrepreneurship in the country, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had introduced concessional loan programme.
And in recent days, the number of concessional loan borrowers is increasing after the central bank expanded the areas for which such concessional loans can be taken.
According to NRB, in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, a total of 35,758 people have taken the concessional loans. The total number of concessional loan borrowers has now reached 68,206. As per the central bank, the number of concessional loan borrowers had stood at just 32,448 in the entire fiscal year of 2019-20.
So far, several banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have invested a total of Rs 112 billion in concessional loans. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, concessional loans amounting to Rs 52.46 billion was released, while the BFIs had released Rs 59.56 billion in concessional loans during the entire year last fiscal.
As per the NRB, the concessional loan flow increased after the central bank made it mandatory for the BFIs to invest in concessional loans. Moreover the loan process has also been made more flexible, said NRB Spokesperson Dev Kumar Dhakal, explaining the increase in the uptake. Due to the easier access to concessional loans, micro businesses are flourishing which is contributing in reviving the pandemic-hit economy, he added.
Through the Monetary Policy of the current fiscal, NRB had made it mandatory for commercial banks to flow concessional loans to at least 500 projects in one fiscal, while the minimum threshold for development banks is 300 projects.
Of the total loan borrowers - 68,206 - a total of 66,280 have taken concessional loans under the titles 'agriculture' and 'women entrepreneurship'. As per NRB, in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, 35,813 people have received concessional loans worth Rs 82.18 million for agriculture and livestock farming. Similarly, 30,465 took such loans worth Rs 270 million under women entrepreneurship title.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 30, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
