KATHMANDU, Jan 29: Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada has stated that the loan provided to Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) by the Citizen's Investment Trust (CIT) does not have any risk.
Speaking at a meeting of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday, Minister Khatiwada reiterated that the risk is getting minimized as the wide-body aircraft purchased after getting a loan from CIT has been making returns.
"I'm quite confident that the NAC will pay-back the entire loan amount in time," said he while participating in the clause-wise debate on Citizen's Investment Trust Act -2047 BS. According to him, the loan was approved after the government ensured timely payback. "Similarly, the limitation for the investment was determined based on CIT's areas of priority."
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Speaking in the meeting, lawmaker Divyamani Rajbhandari opined that such kinds of investment should not be allowed in the coming days by endorsing laws claiming that the recent investment on wide-body plane procurement for NAC is not safe."Although the government is guaranteer, NAC seems to be unable to pay back the loan."
Another lawmaker Surendra Pandey, however, insisted that the investment is safe as the government has guaranteed its security.
The meeting reached a common understanding on guaranteeing the participation of female members in the CIT operating committee. They also agreed on making it mandatory for a prospective CEO of the CIT to have at least 15-year experience in financial management along with a post-graduation degree on management or economics or commerce.
Committee chairperson Krishna Prasad Dahal informed that the next meeting will finalize the bill by incorporating the amended provisions.
