February 14:  NMB Bank has claimed to be the “first bank in Nepal” to secure foreign debt investment of USD 15 million from CDC Group, the UK government’s development financing institution.

Holger Rothenbush, chief of the debt and infrastructure department of CDC Group, and the bank’s CEO Sunil KC signed the agreement amid a function on Wednesday, February 13.

According to the bank, CDC Group will provide the loan for three years and will be returned in five installments.

Amidst the tight liquidity situation, the said fund shall help ease out the lending in sectors of sustainable growth including infrastructure, agriculture, micro-lending and foreign currency earning sectors such as tourism and hydro projects.

Speaking at the function, KC said, “Nepal is poised to have robust growth in overall sector and CDC has decided to invest in the country in such a perfect time. This effort of ours will help ease the liquidity crunch and other long-term problems seen in the banking sector. This is our small effort to support the government’s target of increasing per capita income and GDP in the coming decade.”

Likewise, Rothenbush said, “We are supporting the banking and other productive sectors and infrastructure development of the country. We are also looking forward to invest more than USD 120 million in the next couple of years.”

The bank at present has around 12 percent investment in agriculture and seven percent investment in energy sectors. Prior to this, it had brought investment of USD 15 million from IFC and 10 million from UN-based Symbiotic.