KATHMANDU, April 10: Former finance ministers representing the CPN-UML in past governments have condemned the government’s move to suspend Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari.

Issuing a joint statement on Sunday, former ministers Surendra Pandey, Bishnu Poudel and Yubaraj Khatiwada, said that the coalition government has suspended NRB governor Adhikari to cover up the inability and incompetence of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma and the present government. “At a time when the country is headed toward an economic crisis, the government, instead, should have coordinated with all stakeholders to safeguard the economy,” reads the joint statement.

The trio have claimed that the action taken against the NRB governor was premeditated and as per a plan. According to them, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba too has taken a wrong decision on the advice of Finance Minister Sharma.

On Friday, the government suspended NRB Governor Adhikari, who has been accused of leaking sensitive information on policies forwarded by the Ministry of Finance. Minister Sharma has also accused the NRB officials for carrying out a bargaining to release millions of US dollars from the account of Prithvi Bahadur Shah of Achham.

On the other hand, the former finance ministers have accused Finance Minister Sharma of taking the move after being unable to fulfill the vested interests of “some businessmen who are in close connection with the government bodies”.

Meanwhile, the private sector has also expressed its dissatisfaction over the suspension of NRB Governor Adhikari from his post. “Instead of setting good coordination between NRB and MoF to solve the ongoing crisis, the recent move is likely to result in more complexity in the state’s working mechanism,” reads a press statement issued by Chamber of Industries, Morang (CIM).

At present, Nepal has been reeling under persistent liquidity crunch, worsening balance of payments and depletion of foreign currency reserves. While the interest rates of banks have skyrocketed, the import of raw materials and capital goods has been affected badly due to an increasing pressure of falling foreign currency reserves, according to the CIM.      

 
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