September 22: The Deposit and Credit Guarantee Fund marked its golden jubilee on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion of 50 years of operation of the fund, Minister for Finance, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat applauded the role of the fund in promoting economic activities by motivating small and medium industries and enterprises. Inaugurating the celebrations, the Finance Minister advised the fund to revise its credit guarantee programmes as per the demand of time.    
He advised the fund to prioritise the needs of small and middle-scale industries, particularly operated by disadvantaged communities and come up with programmes capable of supporting the government programmes and policies to improve nationwide financial accessibility. He sought the role of the fund to create job opportunities as well.    
Stating that the nation's economy is making positive headway, the Finance Minister said, "Economic issues in the nation are indicating the sign of improvement. Economic indicators are satisfactory and the status of remittance inflow is good."    
He also urged one and all to support the government efforts for building investment-friendly atmosphere in the country.    
Chair of the Deposit and Credit Guarantee Fund, Revenue Secretary Dr Ram Prasad Ghimire, said the fund focused on guarantee of credit investment in livestock, foreign employment, concessional loan, poverty alleviation and programmes for entrepreneurship.    
Nepal Rastra Bank’s Deputy Governor Bam Bahadur Mishra was of the view of making the fund more competitive and powerful.    
Chief Executive Officer of the Deposit and Credit Guarantee Fund, Ramesh Ghimire, said the that the fund had a direct role in promoting financial stability, poverty alleviation, self-employment creation and the development of entrepreneurship. He said that the fund had lately encouraged new areas for investment such as start-up loans, information technology loan, green energy and so on. -- RSS