December 29: The agitating industrialists have called off their protest programmes after getting assurance from Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel that the government will soon address the problems faced by the economy and the private sector.

During a discussion with the industrialists and entrepreneurs at the ministry on Wednesday, Finance Minister Paudel said that he was committed to resolving the problems faced by the private at the earliest. He also urged the industrialists to withdraw their protests as he was effortful to find a solution to the problems.

Upon the request of Finance Minister Paudel, the industrialists immediately called off their protests.

One of the industrialists told New Business Age that they decided to call off the strike after the prime minister as well as the finance minister assured them to address their demands.

Following the meeting, various umbrella bodies of industrialists and entrepreneurs organized a joint press conference on Wednesday evening and announced their decision to call off the strikes.

 The meeting held earlier with Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Paudel was led by Bhavani Rana, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI).

“The finance minister took the matter seriously and assured that most of the problems will be addressed within the month of Paush (mid-December to mid-January),” said Rana.

Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari was also present during the meeting.

During the discussion, the industrialists had raised the issues of working capital loan guidelines and the high interest rates charged by the banks. They also urged to categorize bankers and businessmen and requested the government to lower the service charge of banks. In order to ease the liquidity crisis in the banking system, the industrialists suggested the government to impose CCD ratio instead of maintaining the CD ratio, according to FNCCI Vice President Dinesh Shrestha.

Shrestha said that the finance minister was positive about addressing the demands of the private sector including the demand to lower the interest rates, easing liquidity crisis and giving additional time for refinancing.