Singha durbar, Government office in Kathmandu, Nepal

Kathmandu, Aug 14 Nepal's central bank has announced a set of relief measures for enterprises and individuals badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as the country's economic recovery is being reversed by the second wave.The Nepali government was forced to re-impose a lockdown in late April in the Kathmandu Valley and other parts of the country to cope with the second wave of the epidemic that befell earlier in the month, a move that is cutting short the recovery process, reports Xinhua news agency.While unveiling the monetary policy for the 2021-22 fiscal year that began in mid-July, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari on Friday announced a number of relief measures, including the extension of loan repayment deadline, reduction of instalment amount, restructuring and rescheduling of loans and credits at cheaper interest rates, for enterprises and individuals suffering from the epidemic.For restaurants, party venues, public transportation services, educational institutes and the entertainment sector which have been hit hard by the pandemic, the repayment deadline is extended by one year."If the borrowers in these sectors were supposed to pay the loans by mid-January next year, they can pay the loans within an additional one year," said Adhikari.The central bank has also allowed these borrowers to pay loans in at least four instalments so as to ease the pressure on them.Under the new policy, the entire tourism and movie industry can have its loans rescheduled and restructured as well.The business continuity credit plan, introduced in the previous fiscal year to help firms to pay their employees and continue their businesses, will continue and allow more sectors including the manufacturing industry to get credits at a subsidised interest rate of 5 per cent.The relief measures were announced as the economy, which was expected to grow by 4 per cent in the last fiscal year, is facing the risk of a downturn as the pandemic was still raging.Adhikari said it is now difficult to see the expected growth due to the second wave of the pandemic.Before the second wave, Nepal's economy was on the road to recovery with most of the closed industries having been reopened.In June last year, 61 per cent of enterprises were fully shut down while 81 per cent of them were fully reopened by April.The latest monetary policy also offers concessional loans to any company ready to set up a factory to produce recognized Covid-19 vaccines in the country.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Singha DurbarFOLLOW

Singha durbar, Latest News

New Delhi, Sep 6 Indian football team head coach Igor Stimac has said that he is happy with ... ...

Indian Embassy in Nepal and Nepal's Central Level Project Implementation Unit (Building) of National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) signed MoUs for the reconstruction of 14 cultural heritage projects and 103 health sector projects spread across vario ...

Health ministers of member countries of WHO South-East Asia Region will deliberate next week on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and measures to 'build back better' essential health services to achieve universal health coverage (UHC). ...

Indian and Nepalese football teams are set to face each other for a friendly match scheduled for Thursday and Sunday in Kathmandu, the head coaches of both nations announced. ...

The Indian men's senior national team, scheduled to play back-to-back international friendlies against Nepal on September 2 and 5, were greeted by cloudy skies as they landed safely at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu on Monday. ...

Army Chief General MM Naravane on Friday visited Southern Command Headquarters at Pune and reviewed the operational preparedness. ...

Kathmandu, Aug 16 The Nepal government has started evacuating and repatriating its citizens from the crisis-ridden Afghanistan after ... ...

Kathmandu, Aug 14 Nepal's central bank has announced a set of relief measures for enterprises and individuals badly ... ...