KATHMANDU, March 15: The 4th National Microfinance Summit organized by the Center for Microfinance (CMF), Nepal has kicked off in the capital from today. 

Minister for Finance Krisha Bahadur Mahara inaugurated the three-day summit where more than 800 participants from various stakeholders like the government, microfinance institutions, development partners, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and beneficiaries are participating. 

Minister Mahara stressed the need to work on economic empowerment by consolidating the rural economy and regularizing the microfinance sector. 
Mahara highlighted the role of the microfinance in strengthening the rural and socialist economy and bringing the public under the ambit of financial awareness and literacy. 
Similarly, the Governor of the NRB Dr Chiranjivi Nepal blamed that the microfinance in Nepal were financially exploiting the public rather than helping in elimination of poverty. He pledged that microfinance fleecing the public would be brought to book. 
The summit aims to discuss and offer microfinance institutions, cooperatives, and government agencies a much needed chance to cooperate on solutions to the sector's most pressing challenges besides issuing a declaration on microfinance, according to the organizers. 
Altogether 28 working papers pertaining to microfinance issues would be presented during the convention. RSS 

 
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