Summary of Economic Situation 2076_77

आर्थिक वर्ष २०७६/७७ मा :

-औसत मुद्रास्फीति ६.१५ प्रतिशत ।

-कुल वस्तु निर्यात ०.६ प्रतिशतले वृद्धि भई रु.९७ अर्ब ७१ करोड पुगेको ।

-कुल वस्तु आयात १५.६ प्रतिशतले घटेर रु.११ खर्ब ९६ अर्ब ८० करोड कायम भएको ।

-कुल वस्तु व्यापार घाटा १६.८ प्रतिशतले संकुचन भई रु.१० खर्ब ९९ अर्ब ९करोड कायम भएको ।

-विप्रेषण आप्रवाहमा ०.५ प्रतिशतले कमी आई रु.८७५ अर्ब ३ करोड कायम भएको । जिडिपि को २३.२ प्रतिशत ।

-चालु खाता घाटा ८७.९ प्रतिशतले घटी रु.३२ अर्ब ६ करोड कायम भएको ।

-शोधनान्तर स्थिति रु.२८२ अर्ब ४१ करोडले बचतमा रहेको । अघिल्लो वर्ष -शोधनान्तर स्थिति रु.६७ अर्ब ४० करोडले घाटामा रहेको ।

-कुल विदेशी विनिमय सञ्चिति ३४.९ प्रतिशतले वृद्धि भई २०७७ असार मसान्तमा रु.१४०१ अर्ब ८४ करोड पुगेको ।

-बैकिङ्ग क्षेत्रसँग रहेको विदेशी विनिमय सञ्चिति १४.४ महिनाको वस्तु आयात र १२.७ महिनाको वस्तु तथा सेवा आयात धान्न पर्याप्त रहने ।

-संघीय सरकारको कुल खर्च रु. १०९४ अर्ब ३४ करोड रहेको ।

-संघीय सरकारले रु. ८४१ अर्ब ३६ करोड स्रोत परिचालन गरेको ।

-नेपाल सरकारको कुल तिर्न बाँकी वाह्य ऋण रु. ८०५ अर्ब ८३करोड र आन्तरिक ऋण रु ६१३ अर्ब २१ करोड गरीकुल तिर्न बाँकी सरकारी ऋण रु. १४खर्ब १९अर्ब पुगेको ।

-कुल सरकारी ऋणको कुल गार्हस्थ्य उत्पादनसँगको अनुपात ३७.७प्रतिशत पुगेको । अघिल्लो वर्ष यस्तो अनुपात३०.३ प्रतिशत रहेको ।

-विस्तृत मुद्राप्रदाय १८.१ प्रतिशतले बढेको ।

-कुल आन्तरिक कर्जा १३.६ प्रतिशतले बढेको ।

-बैंक तथा वित्तीय संस्थाहरूको निक्षेप १८.७ प्रतिशतले बढेको ।

-बैंक तथा वित्तीय संस्थाहरुबाट निजी क्षेत्रमा प्रवाहित कर्जा १२ प्रतिशतले बढेको ।

Impact of COVID-19 on Nepalese Business Sector

Nepal Rastra Bank has published a survey report regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the business sector. The survey covered 52 districts interviewing 674 industries/businesses. 

The main results of the study are:

• The debt equity ratio of the industries/businesses is 48.7 percent.
• The share of fixed cost and variable cost of the industries/businesses are 37.6 percent and 62.4 percent respectively.
• About 74.3 percent of the businesses have taken loan from the BFIs licensed from Nepal Rastra Bank, 8.7 percent have taken loan from cooperatives , 5.15 percent have taken loan from other sources and 12 percent have not taken any loans.
• During the lockdown 4 percent the businesses remained completely open, 35 percent were partially open while 61 percent of the businesses were completely closed.
• Transaction of 96.7 percent of the businesses declined by 73.8 percent compared to normal time while 0.9 percent of the businesses experienced an increase of 15.4 percent while transaction of 2.4 percent of the businesses remained constant.
• The industries/businesses reduced the number of employees by 22.5 percent.  About two third of the employee who faced layoff are contract based employees.
• The industries/businesses reduced salary of the employees by 18.2 percent on average.
• The industries/business will require 9 months on average to return to normal situation after the lockdown is over. Hotel and restaurant will need 13 months to recover after the lockdown is lifted completely.
• About 70 percent of the businesses opined that they will be able to retain employees and continue on full scale if they obtain loan at 5 percent as announced in the budget of the Government of Nepal.

The report can be accessed at https://www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2020/08/Survey-Report-onCOVID-Impact-Final.pdf

And Executive Summary in Nepali is below :

•  विश्वभर महामारीको रुपमा फैलिएको कोभिड–१९ का कारण नेपालमा पनि आर्थिक क्रियाकलापहरु प्रभावित हुनपुगे । २०७६ चैत ११ देखि शुरु भएको बन्दाबन्दी २०७७ असार १ देखि खुकुलो गरिएतापनि आर्थिक क्रियाकलापहरु पूर्ण रुपमा सञ्चालनमा आउन सकेका छैनन् । 
• आर्थिक वर्ष २०७६/७७ मा करिब २.२८ प्रतिशतमात्र आर्थिक वृद्धि हासिल हुने केन्द्रीय तथ्याङ्क विभागको अनुमान छ । कोभिड—१९ प्रभावका कारण रोजगारीका अवसरहरु पनि प्रभावित भएका छन् ।
• यस बैंकले कोभिड–१९ ले नेपालको अर्थतन्त्रमा पारेको असर र त्यसलाई सम्बोधन गर्न अवलम्बन गर्नुपर्ने नीतिगत व्यवस्थाबारे नियमित अध्ययन गरिरहेको छ । यसै सिलसिलामा बन्दाबन्दीको प्रभावबारे  प्राथमिक तथ्याङ्कमा आधारित रही सूक्ष्म अध्ययन गर्न सान्दर्भिक देखिएकोले यो सर्वेक्षण गरिएको छ ।
• महामारीका कारण अर्थतन्त्रका विभिन्न क्षेत्रहरुको उत्पादन तथा रोजगारीमा पर्ने प्रभाव पहिचान गर्ने उद्देश्यले यो सर्वेक्षण गरिएको छ । यसका साथै सर्वेक्षणले उद्योग/व्यवसायको पूँजीको संरचना तथा बन्दाबन्दीपश्चात् सञ्चालन रणनीतिहरु पहिचान गर्ने र बन्दाबन्दीको असर न्यूनीकरण गर्न उपयुक्त आर्थिक, मौद्रिक तथा क्षेत्रगत सुझाव संकलन गर्ने उद्देश्य राखेको छ ।
• अध्ययनमा पूर्णतया प्राथमिक तथ्याङ्क तथा सूचनाको प्रयोग गरिएको छ । तथ्याङ्क तथा सूचना संकलन गर्न प्रश्नावलीमा आधारित गुगल फर्ममार्फत अनलाइन सर्वेक्षण विधि अपनाइएको छ ।
• सर्वेक्षणमा ५२ जिल्लाका ६७४ उद्योगी/व्यवसायीहरुको सहभागिता रहेको छ । औद्योगिक वर्गीकरणअनुसार थोक तथा खुद्रा व्यापारबाट सर्वाधिक २८.२ प्रतिशत, उत्पादनमूलक उद्योगबाट १८.२ प्रतिशत र होटल तथा रेष्टुरेन्टबाट १६.५ प्रतिशत नमुना प्राप्त भएका छन् । तीन वर्ष वा सोभन्दा कम अवधि सञ्चालनमा रहेका नवप्रवर्तन उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुको सहभागिता २३.७ प्रतिशत रहेको छ ।
• उद्योग/व्यवसायको आकारको आधारमा सर्वाधिक ४२.७ प्रतिशत उत्तरदाता लघु उद्यम/साना खुद्रा व्यापार समूहका रहेका छन् भने सबैभन्दा थोरै ४.३ प्रतिशत उत्तरदाता ठूला उद्योग समूहका रहेका छन् ।
• सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुको कर्जा सम्पत्ति अनुपात औसतमा ४८.७ प्रतिशत रहेको देखिएको छ ।
• सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुको कुल खर्चमा स्थिर खर्च र चालु खर्चको हिस्सा क्रमशः ३७.६ प्रतिशत र ६२.४ प्रतिशत रहेको छ ।
• सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागीमध्ये ७४.३ प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले बैंक तथा वित्तीय संस्थाबाट र ८.७ प्रतिशतले बचत तथा ऋण सहकारी संस्थाबाट कर्जा लिएको देखिन्छ । कर्जा नलिएका उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुको संख्या १२ प्रतिशत रहेको छ ।
• बन्दाबन्दी अवधिमा सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी ४ प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसाय पूर्ण रुपमा सञ्चालनमा रहेका, ३५ प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसाय आंशिक रुपमा सञ्चालनमा रहेका र ६१ प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसायहरु पूर्णरुपमा
  बन्द रहेका पाइएका छन् ।
• बन्दाबन्दीे अवधिमा सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुमध्ये ९६.७ प्रतिशतले सामान्य अवस्थाको तुलनामा औसतमा ७३.८ प्रतिशत उत्पादन/कारोबार घटेको जनाएका छन् । सहभागीमध्ये ०.९  प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुको उत्पादन/कारोबार १५.४ प्रतिशतले बढेको र २.४ प्रतिशतको उत्पादन/कारोबार पूर्ववत रहेको देखिएको छ ।
• बन्दाबन्दी अवधिमा सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले २२.५ प्रतिशत कर्मचारी/कामदार कटौती गरेको पाइएको छ । कटौती भएकामध्ये अस्थायी/करारका कामदार दुई तिहाइभन्दा धेरै रहेका छन् । होटल तथा रेष्टुरेन्ट क्षेत्रले सबैभन्दा धेरै कर्मचारी/कामदार कटौती गरेको देखिएको छ । सो अवधिमा घरेलु उद्योग र लघु उद्यम/साना खुद्रा व्यापारहरुले अन्यको तुलनामा धेरै कर्मचारी/कामदार कटौती गरेको पाइएको छ ।
• बन्दाबन्दी अवधिमा सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले औसतमा १८.२ प्रतिशत तलब कटौती गरेको पाइएको छ । तलब कटौती गर्नेमा होटल तथा रेष्टुरेन्ट, यातायात तथा भण्डारण र शिक्षा क्षेत्र अगाडी रहेका छन् । यस्तै, ठूला उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले अन्यको तुलनामा धेरै तलब कटौती गरेको देखिएको छ ।
• सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले बन्दाबन्दीपश्चात् सामान्य अवस्थामा फर्कन औसतमा करिब ९ महिना लाग्ने बताएका छन् । होटल तथा रेष्टुरेण्ट क्षेत्रलाई सामान्य अवस्थामा फर्कन १३ महिना लाग्ने देखिएको छ । ८२.३ प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले बन्दाबन्दीपश्चात् अहिलेकै व्यवसायलाई निरन्तरता दिने देखिएको भएतापनि केहीले व्यवसाय बिक्री वा बन्द गर्न चाहेको समेत देखिएको छ ।
• सर्वेक्षण अवधिको समाप्ति सम्ममा छुट प्राप्त गर्न योग्य सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुमध्ये करिब २० प्रतिशतले नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंकको निर्देशन अनुसारको ब्याज छुट प्राप्त गरेको बताएका छन् । ६९.९ प्रतिशत उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले नेपाल सरकारले आर्थिक वर्ष २०७७/७८ को बजेटमा व्यवस्था गरे अनुसार ५ प्रतिशत ब्याजदरमा कर्जा प्राप्त भएमा कर्मचारी/कामदारको रोजगारीलाई पूर्ण रुपमा निरन्तरता दिन सक्ने बताएका छन् ।
• बन्दाबन्दी अवधिमा सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुलाई सञ्चालन खर्च व्यहोर्न चालु पूँजीको अभाव, उत्पादनको बिक्री वितरणमा कठिनाइ र बजारमा मागको कमीजस्ता समस्या रहेको देखिएको
  छ ।
• बन्दाबन्दीपश्चात् वित्तीय साधन परिचालनका लागि बैंक तथा वित्तीय संस्थाबाट ऋण लिने, कर्मचारी/ तलब कटौती गरी खर्च घटाउने, सहकारी संस्थाबाट ऋण लिने र नयाँ लगानी साझेदार खोज्ने जस्ता सोचमा सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरु रहेको पाइएको छ ।
• सर्वेक्षणमा सहभागी उद्योग/व्यवसायहरुले सरोकारवाला निकायबाट ब्याजदरमा सहुलियत, लचिलो  किस्ता(ब्याज र साँवा) भुक्तानी सुविधा, आयकरमा सहुलियत, चालु पूँजीका निम्ति थप ऋण सुविधा र ऋणअवधि लम्ब्याउने सुविधाको अपेक्षा गरेको देखिएको छ ।

Main Provisions of Monetary Policy for 2020/21 in Nepal

Main Provisions of Monetary Policy for 2020/21

Monetary Policy Stance

1. Focus of the monetary policy will be on supporting the growth target of the GoN while maintaining macroeconomic stability, promoting resources towards the expansion of economic activities, employment creation and promotion of sustainable economic development, maintaining price and external sector stability, consolidation and strengthening of financial institutions, increasing the access and quality of financial services and promoting digital transactions.

Economic and Monetary Target

1. Consumer price inflation to be contained within 7 percent in 2020/21.
2. Maintain foreign exchange reserves sufficient to cover the prospective imports of goods and services for at least 7 months in 2020/21.
3. Help economic revival of the economy and achieve targeted economic growth.
4. Growth of broad money (M2) and private sector credit have been projected at 18 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Operating Target and Instrument

1. Weighted average interbank rate of the BFIs taken as the operating target of monetary policy.
2. Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) rate as the upper bound of the Interest Rate Corridor (IRC) kept unchanged at 5 percent.
3. Repo rate as the policy rate reduced from 3.5 percent to 3 percent and deposit collection rate as the lower bound of IRC will be reduced from 2 percent to 1 percent.
4. Additional liquidity to be made available through long-term repo facility on need basis.
5. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) kept unchanged at 3 percent.
6. Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) has been kept unchanged at 10 percent for commercial banks, 8 percent for development banks and 7 percent for finance companies.
7. Bank rate kept unchanged at 5 percent.

Financial Sector Provisions for 2020/21

Credit Provision

Agriculture Credit

1. Provision requiring commercial banks to extend at least 15 percent of their total credit investment to agriculture sector by mid-July 2023.
2. Loan loss provisioning reduced for the loans disbursed to cultivation of silk, jute, cotton and other crops that establish forward and backward linkages with industries.
3. Policy provision regarding collateral of lease assets to be made to facilitate credit disbursement to commercial agriculture, industry and other businesses.
4. Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADBL) to be developed as the 'Lead Bank' of agriculture sector. It will be allowed to issue Agricultural Bond.
5. Agriculture credit swap done by the BFIs to be further simplified.
6. Provision for 'Kisan Credit Card' by ADBL to make financial resources as well as information regarding agriculture easily available to farmers. 

Energy Sector Credit

1. Provision requiring commercial banks to invest at least 10 percent of their total credit in energy sector by mid-July 2024.
2. Provision allowing commercial banks specialized in energy sector to issue 'Energy Bond'. .
3. Provision whereby the BFIs  required to provide credit at base rate plus one percentage point for a period of 5 years to the hydropower projects that have started exporting hydropower.
4. Reservoir-based hydropower projects to obtain loan at base rate plus one percentage point.
5. For hydropower projects that have started generating electricity but couldn't operate at full capacity because of the inability to complete the construction of transmission line on time due to COVID-19, a provision for partial interest capitalization made.

Tourism Sector and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Credit    

1. Priority on the recovery of tourism related businesses while providing working capital loans, concessional loans and refinance facilities. 
2. Easy availability of loans to the projects under construction in tourism sector if they face shortage of capital for completing construction works.
3. Commercial banks to disburse at least 15 percent of their total loan investment in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by mid-July 2024. Loan up to Rs. 10 millions availed to MSMEs will be considered for this purpose.         

Concessional Loan

1. Concessional credit program further simplified- such loans from the BFIs will be available at 5 percent.
2. Provision requiring commercial banks to provide at least 500 such loans per bank or minimum 10 per branch whichever is higher. National level development banks should provide at least 300 such loans per bank or minimum 5 per branch, whichever is higher.

Miscellaneous

1. Development banks and finance companies to disburse at least 20 percent and 15 percent of their loan investment to the specified sectors including agriculture, MSMEs, energy and tourism sectors by mid-July 2024.
2. Loan to Value (LTV) ratio will be fixed at 60 percent for housing projects operated by GoN licensed real estate developers and for personal residential home loan availed for the first home construction.
3. LTV ratio of 40 percent in Kathmandu valley and 50 percent outside the valley for home and real estate loans kept unchanged.
4. LTV on margin nature loans increased from the existing 65 percent to 70 percent.
5. Regarding the margin nature loans, 'average closing price of the last 120 days or the prevailing market price of the stock whichever is less' will be considered for the valuation purpose

Special Programs for Economic Revival

Refinance

1. Provision of refinance has been revised to provide refinance up to 5 times of the fund available for such purpose.
2. 20 percent of total refinance facility based on customer evaluation, up to 70 percent of the refinance facility through commercial bank, development bank and finance company and up to 10 percent through MFIs.
3. Special refinance at 1 percent, MSME refinance at 2 percent and general refinance at 3 percent. BFIs can take a maximum of 3 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent respectively from borrowers on such refinance facilities.
4. Regarding the refinance provided on lump sum basis, the maximum limit per borrower set at Rs 1.5 million for MSME refinance, Rs 50 million for special and general refinance and Rs. 200 million for general refinance provided on the basis of customer evaluation.

Business Operation Credit for COVID-19 Affected Business

1. Provision of 20 percent additional loan based on working capital limit as of mid-April 2020. to the industry and business that are hard hit by COVID-19.
2. Such loan through the BFIs at 5 percent. Resources for this facility managed from the fund of Rs. 50 billion to be established by the GoN. 

Moratorium, Loan Restructuring and Rescheduling

1. Provision to extend payment date, restructuring and rescheduling of loans.
2. Renewal of working capital loans including demand loan and cash credit falling due in mid-July 2020 till mid-January 2021.
3. Extend the repayment date from mid-July 2020 to mid-January 2021 for the loans provided to profession/business less affected by COVID-19.
4. Extend the repayment date from mid-July 2020 to Mid April 2021 for the loans provided to profession/business moderately affected by COVID-19.
5. Extend the repayment date from mid-July 2020 to mid July 2021 for the loans provided to profession/business hard-hit by Covid-19.
6. A provision to restructure and reschedule loans for once on the basis of written action plan submitted by the customers by mid-January 2021.
7. Provision  to restructure via private equity, venture capital, debt equity conversion, special purpose vehicle(SPV) and others.
8. Additional grace period will be made for the industry/projects that are unable to complete/operate due to COVID-19. Such period will be 2 years for tourist-level hotels, 1 year for the hard-hit sectors, 9 months for the moderately affected sectors and 6 months for less affected sectors.
9. Provision to defer the payment date of loans by the MFIs that are due by mid-July 2020 by 6 months.

Financial Sector Consolidation

1. Merger and acquisition of commercial banks further encouraged with the following incentives till mid-July 2022 if they commence joint operation by mid-July 2021:

• CRR and SLR to be reduced by 0.5 percentage point and 1 percentage point  respectively
• Limit on institutional fixed deposit to be relaxed by 10 percentage point.
• Limit on individual institution's deposit to be relaxed 5 percentage point.
• Existing provision of cooling period for at least six months for board members and senior managerial staff while joining other institutions licensed by NRB to be relaxed.

1. Provision to merge institutions promoted by single person/group, institutions with direct or indirect ownership/control of single family
2. Merger and acquisition of the MFIs to be encouraged.

Regulation and Supervision

1. Credit to Deposit cum Core Capital (CCD Ratio) increased from 80 percent to 85 percent till mid-July 2021.
2. BFIs to distribute cash dividend to the extent of 30 percent of net distributable profit of 2019/20 (not be higher than the deposit interest rate of mid-July 2020). BFIs having net distributable profit of less than 5 percent of total paid-up capital not allowed to distribute cash dividend.
3. BFIs allowed to include the interest recovered after 90 days from the end of fiscal year in the income of 2019/20.
4. Requirement of issuing debentures worth at least 25 percent of paid-up capital by commercial banks by mid-July 2020 extended to mid-July 2022.
5. Loan loss and risk weight provisions eased for credit disbursed in infrastructure related projects.

1. Regulatory forbearance provided :

• Countercyclical buffer suspended.
• Additional supervisory risk weight placed on operation risk, market risk and overall risk reduced to 3 percent, 1 percent and 3 percent from 5 percent, 3 percent and 5 percent respectively.
• Investment made on private equity, debt equity conversion and special purpose vehicle not be required to be deducted while calculating the capital fund.
• Risk weights assigned to off-balance sheet items will be reviewed. 

1. Loans classified under good category in mid-January 2020 can be classified as good till mid-July 2020 with provisioning of 5 percent if not realized by mid-July 2020.
2. Guidelines for Stress Testing of the BFIs to be amended as per international standards.
3. Provision to submit an action plan on deposit mobilization and credit disbursement after getting approved from their Board of Directors to this Bank by mid-August of every fiscal year. Review of the implementation of such plan on quarterly basis made mandatory for development banks and finance companies.
4. Basel III to be implemented parallelly in national level development banks from 2020/21.
5. Provision to publish details of subsidized loans and refinancing facilities by the BFIs in their websites on quarterly basis.  

     Microfinance

1. Licensing of new MFIs suspended
2. Credit limit for business projects with acceptable collateral provided to the deprived and low-income individuals, firm or group on specified businesses of agriculture, micro enterprises and businesses extended to Rs. 1.5 million from Rs. 0.7 million.
3. The maximum interest rate charged by the MFIs to their customers will be fixed at 15 percent. Provision for base rate calculation by the MFIs to be made.
4. Licensed 'A', 'B', 'C' and wholesale lending 'D' class institutions will not be allowed to charge service fee of more than 0.5 percent on the deprived sector loans provided to the MFIs.
5. MFIs not allowed to keep and renew the term deposits in the BFIs for a period of more than 3 months.
6. MFIs allowed to open branches only in the wards without MFI branches.
7. NFRS implemented for the wholesale lending MFIs and MFIs accepting public deposits.

Payment System

1. All financial transactions to be encouraged to be carried out through digital payments.
2. National Payment Switch to be established.
3. License to Payment System Operators (PSO) and Payment Service Providers (PSP)  been suspended.
4. License of the PSP that fail to serve at least 300 thousand customers and minimum 600 thousand monthly average transactions by mid-July 2021 may be cancelled.
5. Quick Response (QR) Code payments to be managed.
6. Government securities to be dematerialized.

Foreign Exchange Management

1. Provision regarding interest rate on loans in convertible currency disbursed by commercial banks to be revised.
2. Sight LC can be discounted as deferred payment from foreign banks.
3. Encourage the use of Nepali insurance and freight services in imports.
4. USD 50,000 to be provided for imports through Documents against Payment (DAP) and Documents against Acceptance (DAA).
5. Foreign exchange facility for import from the third countries through draft/ TT increased to USD 35,000.
6. List of commodities that can be imported from India in convertible currency through LC to be enlarged.
7. Provisions to receive foreign currency earned from the exports of IT related services exported through online or electronic means in the bank account or card of the exporter or service provider.
8. Remittance charges taken by the BFIS and remittance companies to be managed.
9. Encourage remittance flows through formal channels mobile wallets.
10. The existing duration of 120 days for Usance LC increased to 180 days.
11. The time for issuing Advance Payment Certificate on behalf of Nepalese exporters, after receiving the foreign currency increased to four months.
12. Provision to deposit foreign currency earned by selling Nepalese products through trade fairs and exhibitions abroad in the foreign currency account of Nepali exporters.
13. FDI allowed to receive through an automatic route under specified terms and conditions.
14. Infrastructure development projects under construction and financed from foreign investment to borrow funds up-to certain times of their capital investment from their Parent Company/Group of Companies abroad at the specified interest rate.
15. Hedging services to be promoted through specialized institutions.

Corporate Governance, Financial Literacy and Consumer Protection

1. Zero tolerance for compliance of corporate governance.
2. Remuneration and other facilities of high level managerial employees including chief executive officer of the BFIs to be reviewed.
3. Guidelines for meeting allowance and facilities of the board of directors to be formulated.
4. Separate portal to obtain queries, grievances and suggestions from the general public related to banking services.
5. Maximum service charge to be taken by commercial banks fixed at 0.75 percent, development banks 1.00 percent, finance company 1.25 percent and MFIs 1.50 percent.
6. Avail Know Your Customer (KYC) in an integrated way.
7. Provision will be made requiring the BFIs not to charge any penal interest, charge and penalties in the loan payments that are deferred due to COVID-19.
8. Promote inter-connectivity of the transaction of ATM of the BFIs. No inter-bank ATM charge until COVId-19 is over .
9. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure policy of the BFIs to be reviewed.