December 8: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has unveiled the first quarterly review report of the monetary policy for the current fiscal year. Following the release of the review report, it was endorsed by a meeting of the NRB Board of Directors on Friday.    
Presenting an analysis of various factors influencing the prevailing inflation, the NRB, through the review, has reduced the bank rates from 7.5 percent to 7 percent, considering the current status of the Balance of Payment and the growth rate of bank loans to the private sector. Similarly, policy rates have been maintained at 5.5 percent against the previous rate of 6.5 percent.    
The provisions regarding mandatory cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio have remained unchanged. As for the provision of counting debentures issued by banks and financial institutions, the NRB has decided to count them as 50 percent resource until the end of the current fiscal year. -- RSS