Treasury bills worth Rs. 10 billion to be issued Apr. 10

Biratnagar, April 2 (RSS): Nepal Rastra Bank Public Debt Department, Kathmandu, organised an interaction programme on "public debt management" here recently.

The main objective of the interaction was to familiarise people from a cross section of the society and the industrialists and businessmen on the significance, usefulness, purchasing procedures and clearance of the principal and the interest of the various bond and debenture of His Majesty’s Government such as promissory notes, development bond and treasury bill.

The interaction also aimed at familiarising the participants on the importance of the public bond, its advantage and disadvantages, the new system adopted by the Bank and the changes made in the related regulations.

Industrialists, businessmen and representatives of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Morang Traders’ Association, banks, finance companies, campuses, schools and cooperatives took part in the interaction.

On the occasion, director of Nepal Rastra Bank Public Debt Department Dibya Nidhi Bista informed that the total debt bondage of His Majesty’s Government till mid-March of this year amounted to Rs. 53.75 billion and the internal loan of Rs. 60 billion provided in the budget for the current Fiscal Year had been realised.

He said that although Nepal Rastra Bank had been itself doing all the functions of the first and second market in the past, the retailing task of the second market has been now assigned to 24 various commercial banks and finance companies while the wholesale transaction were being handled by the Nepal Rastra Bank.

Director Bista also said that unlike in the past when 99 per cent of the transaction on the promissory notes would be confined to Kathmandu valley only, this service has been extended to other parts of the country also since the last five years.

And 15 to 25 per cent of the transactions on the government’s promissory notes now take place outside Kathmandu, he added.

Assistant director of the Public Bond Department Gopal Man Shrestha called on the businessmen and all to invest in the national debentures floated with the objective of collecting the savings dispersed among the small creditors.

He said it is better to invest in debentures and government bonds rather than to invest the savings on gold and silver.

He also informed that a treasury bill of Rs. 10 billion with the interest of 9 per cent would be issued on April 10 and a debenture would be opened for sale from April 4.

Manager of Nepal Rastra Bank, Biratnagar Branch Ram Kumar Niraula shed light on the imporgtance of national bond system in the country’s economic development.

Former minister of state Radha Prasad Ghimire, former presidents of Morang Traders Association Tara Chand Khetan and Ganga Bishan Rathi, Association’s vice-president Champa Lal Rathi, Professor Tika Prasad Upreti and others also spoke on the objectives of the seminar.