Businessmen of Dhangadhi oppose interest rates of banks 

Dhangadhi: The businessmen of Dhangadhi staged a protest on Friday opposing banks' interest rates arbitrarily. The businessmen, who started a phased protest against the high-interest rate of the bank, have also staged a dharna in front of the Chief Minister's office.

Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah said that he was in favor of businessmen. Pushkar Ojha, the vice president of the Kailali Industry and Commerce Association, expressed his anger that the interest on the loan taken at 8 percent had reached 17 percent before the anniversary. "A policy was introduced as free customs exemption for electric vehicles, it has not been three months, the businessmen invested, brought the vehicle, and put it in the customs and the price of one vehicle has been increased by 2.2 million, how can the businessmen invest with such a policy?"

The businessmen of Dhangadhi are complaining that the businessmen are under stress when the interest which was 6-7 percent in the past suddenly increased to 17-18 percent. They said that they were forced to take part in the protest after the bank started torturing them by calling repeatedly to pay the installments. Businessmen allege that the bank is arbitrarily increasing the interest rate as Nepal Rastra Bank, the regulatory body for banks and financial institutions, is also silent.

The businessmen of Dhangadhi have complained that the bank is charging high interest when the National Bank does not regulate and control it effectively. The interest rate of loans should be less than 9 percent for businessmen, banks should not charge service fees under various headings while providing loans, the old working capital loan guidelines should be maintained and the new guidelines should be implemented gradually, mortgage auction process 2079. They have also demanded that the repo rate issued by the National Bank should be reduced to 1% and that it should be maintained till March.

Industrialists have taken to the streets against the high-interest rate of banks and current capital loan guidelines 2079 issued by Nepal Rastra Bank. Businessmen have alleged that the bank has only done the job of screwing the back of the private sector by increasing the interest rate from 8 to 15 percent. The businessmen of Dhangadhi protested saying that the government's monetary policy, which should be implemented in a phased manner over a period of 5 to 10 years, was unfair by implementing it all at once.

High inflation and high bank interest rates have affected the private sector and the general public. It has been protested that industrialists have come to the point of locking the industry after the situation of not getting loans to run the industry and not getting dollars to import raw materials. Now the Federal Finance Minister is in Dhangadhi, the businessmen have also requested to take a proper decision on this matter.