PM Shah urges NRB governor to ease monetary policy to stabilise stock market, promote entrepreneurship

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Balendra Shah has urged Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Dr Biswo Nath Poudel to adopt facilitation and flexibility in the upcoming monetary policy to boost the economy, stabilise the stock market and promote entrepreneurship.

Speaking at a meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Thursday, Shah said economic confidence can be restored only through cooperation between the government and the central bank and emphasised the need for the NRB to play a parental role in maintaining investor morale in the capital market.

Shah suggested loosening some limitations in the monetary policy to make investing in the stock market more convenient and called for positive reforms in the enterprise sector. He urged measures to ensure that small and large entrepreneurs can invest domestically without fear and asked for interest rates and credit flow conditions to be made more enterprise-friendly.

He also said monetary instruments should be used to bring female entrepreneurs and those from economically and socially disadvantaged regions into the mainstream by giving priority to loan concessions.

On the occasion, Governor Poudel said the NRB was committed to making the upcoming monetary policy professional, flexible and timely. He said the common goal of both the government and the central bank was to give momentum to the economy and that the NRB would not adopt policies that cause difficulties or instil fear.

Poudel said the central bank would facilitate everyone, from stock market investors to domestic entrepreneurs, through policy measures to make the country’s economy more dynamic.

(With inputs from RSS)