February 24: Office bearers of the Confederation of Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CBFIN) on Wednesday held a meeting with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Jarkko Turunen.

The two sides discussed about the current economic situation of Nepal in the meeting.

Turunen, the head of the mission team of the IMF, said that he came to Nepal to review the current state of Nepal's economy and to consult with the stakeholders regarding the post-Covid-19 scenario. During the discussion, the representative of CBFIN informed the visiting delegates about various topics including import, liquidity problem and its impact, shrinking of profits of banks and financial institutions, decline in the capital market, the implementation status of a provision of Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) which can convert promoter shares into ordinary shares, increase in non-performing loans, rising interest rates, lack of loanable capital, etc.

The representatives of the team from the IMF said that they will study the current economic problems of Nepal and prepare a report. Saying that the meeting and discussion were meaningful, the representative of the IMF relayed the message that they will continue the discussion and cooperation with CBFIN on various issues in the financial and banking sector in the future as well.

The discussion was attended by Teresa Daban Sanchez, the resident representative of IMF Nepal, Russell Green, senior economist of IMF, and CBFIN Vice President Rajesh Upadhyay, Secretary General Rajan Singh Bhandari, Executive Member Radhesh Panta and Director General Dr. Gopal Prasad Tiwari.