KATHMANDU: Nepal has no financial crisis, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) acting governor Krishna Bahadur Manandhar said today. “Financial crisis seen in market in recent months has been resolved, he said addressing the 43th anniversary function of Agriculture Development Bank Ltd (ADBL) here.

The financial market had encountered liquidity crunch due to excessive inflation in the last four months. “Now there is no more financial crisis,” he said. “Some problems exist in deposit and lending and these will be solved soon.” NRB has applied all tools to make the financial market efficient, he added.

Manandhar urged ADBL to focus on rural area where competition is low. “You can expand modern banking services easily in villages,” he said adding that the risk in investment was also low in villages.

He also suggested exploring new markets beyond traditional practices. ADBL has 241 branches including 94 banking offices throughout the country.

ADBL should not go far from agriculture sector, said Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal.

Agriculture is Nepal’s potential area of growth. “There are lots of opportunities in this sector, ADBL should explore joining hand with farmers and agri-entrepreneurs,” he added. Commercial banks have low investment in the agriculture sector — below average 5 per cent of total investment.

ADBL has negative worth of Rs 5.45 billion and it has asked the government to give it a bail-out of Rs 3.5 billion. Also, it will issue shares to the public through initial public offering (IPO) soon to enhance capital base.

ADBL is opening an IPO of Rs 960 million — the largest in the country’s history — 30 per cent of its Rs 3.2 billion capital this year.

ADBL significantly increased its financial performance in the recent past. Its bad loan decreased to 9.71 per cent in the fiscal year 2008-09 while net profit increased to Rs 1.72 billion.

The bank has Rs 35.16 billion deposit while lending and investment is Rs 38.30 billion.