KATHMANDU, March 19: Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have to be made free from procedural hassles and financially supported as they generate huge employment opportunities for countries like Nepal.

Deputy Director General of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Manmohan Parkash expressed this view during a meeting with the Confederation of the Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CBFIN) on Friday. 

Expressing an interest to join hands with the CBFIN, the high-level delegates who are on visit from ADB, Manila, stressed on the need to strengthen the financial sector, promote indigenous industry through easy access to credit, and other logistics infrastructure to sustain Nepalese economy.

“As there is huge employment generation from MSMEs, these sectors should be supported with financing, market opportunities, and infrastructure along with skills,” said Parkash at the meeting. He suggested a reasonable interest rate with no procedural hassles for borrowers so that MSMEs can be operated efficiently and sustained, that is even as collateral-free loans.

President of CBFIN Pawan Kumar Golyan requested the ADB to provide soft loans of over one billion US dollars to Nepal to manage the liquidity and support the required financing to the business sector enterprise through banks and financial institutions. Golyan said the support from ADB would be of great help as banks and financial institutions are now facing a shortage of liquid funds to provide loans to the private sector.

Similarly, ADB’s facilitation is required in bringing commercial borrowings from international financial institutions, which can be consumed by the country’s commercial banks at this difficult time, said Golyan, according to a press release issued by the CBFIN.

 
• MSMEs
 
• ADB
 
• CBFIN