Finance Minister Sharma calls NRN to open dollar accounts

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, amidst Nepal’s economic crisis, urged Nepalis residing in foreign countries to open dollar accounts in Nepali banks and make investments.

Speaking at a virtual interaction organized by the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), Finance Minister Sharma Thursday said that opening dollar accounts in the Nepali banks by NRNs would help the country to get rid of the current foreign currency crunch. “There will be no shortage of liquidity if 100,000 NRNs open bank accounts in Nepal at the rate of 10,000 dollars,” Sharma pointed out. “We have enough foreign currency to buy goods and services for 6-7 months. As per the latest report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank, the government has 9.58 billion dollars in reserve,” Minister Sharma said. “As the price of petrol has increased, millions of dollars have to be spent on that.” He also informed that the government has completed proper policy process for the dollar account for the benefit of Nepalis living abroad.

Finance Minister Sharma said that discussions are underway about providing free visas to tourists coming to Nepal, which will make it easier for NRNs as well. During the programme, Kul Acharya, executive president of NRNA, said that opening dollar accounts was a means of connecting NRNs with Nepal. He extended thanks the government for changing the policy rules to make it easier for Nepalis living abroad to open foreign currency accounts in Nepal.