‘Monetary policy should prioritise investment in productive sector’

KATHMANDU: Lawmakers have suggested that Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) should bring the monetary policy for the fiscal year 2023/24 to increase investment in the productive sector and create more jobs. At a meeting of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday, the MPs said that the monetary policy should focus on creating domestic production to make a robust national economy. Most of the members of the committee said that new monetary policy should prioritise the agriculture sector. On the occasion, former Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel asked the NRB to ponder on applying the best policies that create more jobs and ensure increased productivity. Poudel opined that a moderate monetary policy was needed instead of tough and flexible. "The current situation is the result of the past. So it is required to review the policies released in the past," he added. Likewise, lawmaker Swarnim Waglé said that there was no balance between the economic growth rate and loan investment adding that the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) made their loan investment more in the unproductive sector. Wagle stated that loans in the productive sector should be increased by tightening loans in the real estate sector. Lawmaker Gyan Bahadur Shahi claimed that the BFIs were making unfair benefits by investing in loans at high interest rates. Also speaking at the meeting, lawmaker Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said that private sector has not put its faith in the government policies and added that sector was in need of psychological backup. Agriculture, innovation and micro-enterprises should be promoted in credit release, according to Shrestha. Similarly, lawmaker Bhagwati Chaudhary said that the small and medium-sized enterprises should get loans in an accessible manner and the micro-finance institutions should be regulated. Likewise, Governor of NRB Maha Prasad Adhikari said that the new monetary policy would focus on achieving the economic growth rate set by the government, inflation control and management of the external sector in the economy. By RSS READ ALSO:

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