Kathmandu, November 4

The government has appointed veteran economist and former governor of the central bank Yubaraj Khatiwada as vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.

This is Khatiwada’s second stint as vice-chairman of the country’s apex planning body.

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Earlier, Khatiwada had served as vice-chairman of NPC from June 24, 2009 to March 21, 2010 during the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government. He had resigned from NPC after he was appointed governor of Nepal Rastra Bank the central bank and completed his tenure in March this year.

He is credited for doing a commendable job as governor of the central bank, especially for improving financial stability in the country. He had not only strengthened the regulatory and supervisory competence of NRB, but also introduced the provision of merger and acquisition of banks and financial institutions and successfully implemented it.

Khatiwada has strong academic background and wide range of experience in the economic and development sectors.

He attained a doctorate in monetary economics from Delhi University.

Between November 2002 to June 2005, as a member of NPC, he was one of the architects of the 10th five-year plan.

Starting his career as an assistant research officer at the central bank, Khatiwada served for two decades in NRB and climbed the rungs to become executive director of NRB before joining NPC in 2002 as a member.

Talking to The Himalayan Times after being appointed NPC, Vice-chair, Khatiwada said he will give top priority to narrowing down economic vulnerability and normalising the life of people by adopting internal measures to the best of NPC’s ability.

Along with this, NPC will also focus on internalising Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring the rights of citizens provisioned by the new constitution in terms of government policies, plans and programmes, he added.

The government has yet to appoint other office bearers at NPC.