KATHMANDU, July 26: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has unveiled the Monetary Policy for fiscal year 2024/2025. The NRB has lowered the bank rate and the deposit collection rate through the new monetary policy.

With the unveiling of the monetary policy, Maha Prasad Adhikari, governor of the NRB, said that the upper limit of the interest rate corridor has been set at 6.5 percent from the earlier seven percent and the policy rate has been maintained at five percent from 5.5 percent. The lower limit of the interest rate corridor, which is the deposit collection rate, remains unchanged at 3 percent. 

The NRB has stated that while continuing the provision of the Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) at the bank rate, the conditions for providing the SLF will be made flexible. Likewise, the existing provisions regarding the mandatory cash reserve ratio (CRR) and statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to be maintained by the banks and financial institutions have been continued. 

Unveiling the new monetary policy, NRB Governor Adhikari said that a flexible monetary policy has been carefully given continuity to make the economy dynamic by taking into account the stable prices and the external sector situation. Similarly, the regulatory system has been designed to maintain financial stability while emphasizing on lending to the productive sector and improving the quality of credit, he said.