KATHMANDU, August 21: Province 2 has the lowest availability of banking service per person with only nine banking outlets available for every 100,000 people in the province.

According to a report titled ‘Financial Access in Nepal’ published by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), branches of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) per 100,000 population is 9.73 in Province 2. The figure is half the national average of 18.98 branches per 100,000 people. There are only 609 BFIs outlets operating in the province with a total population of 6,256,166.

As of mid-June 2020, a total of 5,694 branches of BFIs were in operation across the country. However, the density of BFI branches in urban areas is high whereas it is low in rural areas and mountain districts, shows the NRB report. The figure is 45.76 outlets per 100,000 populations in metropolitan cities, 28.76 in sub-metropolitan cities, 19.91 in urban municipalities and 8.54 in rural municipalities.

With 30.25 branches per 100,000 populations, Gandaki Province has the highest density of BFI outlets, followed by Bagmati Province with 29.61 branches per 100,000 population. There are 1,906 and 762 units of BFI outlets in Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province, respectively. 

 
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