July 13: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is making necessary preparations to draft the monetary policy for the fiscal year 2021/22. The monetary policy will be unveiled in the third week of July. NRB is currently going through the suggestions provided by dozens of organizations and individuals.

Narayan Pokharel, Joint Spokesperson of the central bank, informed that the Financial Research Department of NRB has started the preliminary work after studying the suggestions received so far.

"The government and private organizations have provided written suggestions while other important suggestions can still be incorporated. We have already started preparations to make the draft of the policy," he said.

Prakash Shrestha, Director of the Department,  said  the department is preparing the preliminary draft of the policy. The monetary policy will be focused on special loans and interest rates for the revival of the economy that has been battered by Covid-19 pandemic.

The department prepares a draft based on the suggestions provided by various stakeholders. Then, the draft is discussed with various departments after which, a high level committee of the central bank will discuss the draft of the policy. The committee forwards the draft to the bank's board of directors. The board prepares a final version of the policy which is introduced by the governor of the bank. 

According to Shrestha, most of the organizations have sought for the plans to restructure the business after being affected by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The monetary policy of the fiscal Year 2020/21 had also introduced provisions to boost economic activities. 

"All of the enterprises and businesses have been affected by the second wave of the pandemic so findings from various surveys and researches will be taken into consideration while preparing the monetary policy," informed Shrestha.

Recently, the central bank published a survey on the impacts of Covid-19 on the economy. Surveys carried out in different months had provided comparative insights of industries and business during the pandemic. 

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, various efforts have been made by NRB to minimize its impacts on the economy. In order to keep the banking and financial services running smoothly and minimize impacts of Covid-19, the central bank conducted various detailed studies.  Considering the impacts on tourism, industry, trade, business and financial sectors, various policies have also been implemented for the convenience of all stakeholders.