People use fresh banknotes during Dashian festival. Although the central bank said it has issued fresh notes to the banks and financial institutions (BFIs), people complained BFIs were not providing them as much new notes as they wanted and hence, have been forced to wait in serpentine queue at a NRB counter for hours.[break]
Radha Devi Adhikari, 78, told Republica that she had to wait for one and half hours to exchange Rs 5,000 worth of new notes. Bishwa Bandhu Bhurtel,60, also said he had to wait for similar amount of time to exchange Rs 8,000.
NRB´s Pokhara office has currently opened one counter for issuing new banknotes. “Due to rise in demand for new notes, we are planning to open another very soon,” Bholanath Baral, manager of the bank, said.
Although the bank said it has enough new notes in stock, it said it could not give more than Rs 18,000 worth of new notes to individuals and retail entrepreneurs.
“Those exchanging notes of denominations less than Rs 100, however, can only exchange Rs 8,000 worth of notes,” Baral added.
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