Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) held a meeting with delegates from International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by the Mission Chief Dr. Sarwat Jahan. The meeting was attended by several IMF officials, including Mr. Pranav Kumar Gupta, IMF’s Resident Representative for Nepal.
The IMF team was in Nepal for 6th Review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program. The meeting focused on Nepal’s current economic and financial situation, trends in financial sector, growth perspective, review of loan portfolio, recent and prospective regulatory changes, challenges, among other key issues.
During the meeting, NBA Vice-President, Mr. Surendra Raj Regmi, accompanied by NBA Executive Committee Advisor, Mr. Ashoke SJB Rana and NBA CEO Mr. Anil Sharma, presented a detailed analysis of the country’s economic context.
The discussion included persistent sluggishness in credit expansion, despite significant reductions in the lending rates; low entrepreneurial confidence; importance of government intervention including capital spending to stimulate economic activity and support financial sector expansion; among others. There was also discussion about the emerging signs of improvement in the economy and optimism about the banking sector’s resilience and readiness to support economic recovery.
