Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) hosted a media interaction program at NBA Office, Central Business Park, Kathmandu with an objective of creating an open forum for discussion. The program aimed to share relevant data about the banking industry and address queries from media colleagues on various current banking and financial issues.
Mr. Sunil KC, NBA President extended a warm welcome and expressed gratitude towards all journalists for their efforts in highlighting factual and relevant news about the banking industry to the general public. He also expressed concern over the increasing number of attacks on the banking industry from various sectors, and emphasized that such attacks not only harm the industry but also adversely affect the country’s economy as a whole. He stressed that if the banking sector continues to receive such threats and protests against the banks, it is likely to have a significant impact in broader prospect, especially in External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) and the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Therefore, he urged all stakeholders to take the issue seriously and act in a responsible manner.
He also highlighted that the Nepalese banks are healthy, robust and resilient, and the Nepalese banks have no direct connection to banks that have faced failures abroad.
Mr. Sudesh Khaling, NBA Executive Committee Member said that banks are currently in comfortable liquidity condition. However, there is a lower demand for loans. He also stated that banks are performing well and are focusing on supporting its depositors and borrowers. He called for cooperation from all parties and emphasized the importance of using reliable data and facts when communicating with the public through the media.
Mr. Anil Sharma, NBA Executive Director delivered a presentation in which he provided an overview of the global and national economic and banking context. He stated that the macro-economic indicators of the economy are positive and the liquidity situation is gradually improving. He also discussed the current interest rate scenario and outlined the priorities areas of NBA.
The program was actively participated by more than 35 journalists from different media.
