December 1: Three organizations of the private sector in Province 1 – Morang Merchants’ Association, Chamber of Industry, Morang and Province  chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries – have warned the authorities concerned of street protest arguing that the problems of the industrial sector have not been addressed through the quarterly review of the monetary policy.

Prakash Mundada, the former president of the association said that the central bank showed little concern to address their problems despite the decline in production.

He accused the government of keeping silent even though the sales of consumer goods and the production of industries have declined to 18 to 30 percent.

Mundada raised the question, “How much do you want to see the production decline, Mr Governor? Private sector is in more trouble now than during the Covid-19 pandemic.” He said that the industry cannot operate just by lowering the spread rate from 4.4 percent to 4 percent.

Naveen Rijal, president of the association said that the private sector has become the most vulnerable, and said that they are going for street protest as there is no other option. He said, “We hope that something fortunate will happen after the new government comes. We will wait for 15 more days. If nothing happens, we will take to the streets.”

A joint statement issued by the three organizations has requested the government to address the demands of the private sector.

They have urged the central bank to lower the spread rate to 3.5 percent.

They also requested to postpone the working capital loan guidelines implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank from October 18 for 3 years.

They have also demanded to improve the problem of lack of liquidity in the long-term by maintaining the CCD ratio at 90 percent for the next 3 years instead of the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio).

Since a new government will be formed soon, the private sector is expecting that stability will be maintained in the country and the existing complex economic situation will be normalized as well as industry and business friendly policies will be adopted.