August 31: Nepal Rastra Bank has tightened the noose on payment made through prepaid dollar cards. The cards issued for facilitating online purchase of goods and services from abroad are being extensively used for making payments to online games, dating sites and donations to political and religious organizations.

Nepal Rastra Bank on Tuesday instructed banks to disable payments through such cards for 17 types of Merchant Category Code (MCC).

The central bank’s directive has banned the users from making payments through prepaid dollar cards under various headings including money transfer, payment of wallet amount, payment of insurance premium, payment of real estate agents’ fee, payment for various online games, use of online dating web and donations to political and religious organizations.

Narayan Paudyal, deputy spokesperson of NRB, said that the central bank imposed restrictions in some areas to prevent investment in unproductive sector through such cards.

In March 2021, NRB had made arrangements for commercial banks and national-level development banks to issue such cards. A maximum of USD 500 or its equivalent amount in foreign currency can be transacted through the prepaid dollar card annually.

More than 18,000 cards were issued in less than one year after the central bank gave permission to issue such cards. According to NRB, USD 1.8 million have been paid through 18,111 cards issued till mid-December 2021. NRB does not have the data about the cards issued since then and the payments made through those cards. Poudel said that there is no reliable data about this because a new department has been added to the NRB and that department will regulate it.

However, as the foreign exchange reserves were declining, the NRB was monitoring the card payments.

After the purchase of online games packages and dating site services started using the cards, NRB decided to stop it.

Previously, there was a provision that goods and services that were not prohibited by law could be purchased online using the card. Such cards are also used to advertise on various social networking sites including Facebook, to purchase various goods online, and to pay fees for short-term courses and training.

According to the instructions of the central bank, it is not allowed to use the card for capital transactions and it is not possible to use the card to withdraw cash from ATMs, POS etc.