Kathmandu, Apr. 23
Former Prime Minister and chairman of the CPN-UML,
KP Sharma Oli, has said that if there were an arrangement in which the
Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) looks into
the issues of the private businesses, one more regulator for the private sector
would be added which would discourage the private sector.
Talking to a delegation of the Federation
of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), led by its President, Chandra
Prasad Dhakal, the other day, Oli said that he was not aware of the bill until
it was passed by the National Assembly.
The delegation had called on the former PM
on Saturday evening.
The bill regarding the amendment of the CIAA
Act, which was sent to the House of Representatives from the National Assembly,
includes provisions to put the private sector inside the radar of the
anti-graft body.
Dhakal drew attention of former PM Oli to
the fact that the private sector, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of
the economy and employment, will be discouraged and the investment environment
woulkd deteriorate if this provision was passed.
"According to Article 239 of the
Constitution, the CIAA cannot look into the private sector. The FNCCI has
already drawn the attention of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal“ Prachanda“ and
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense and Law Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka,"
the business body said in a statement on Sunday.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Prachanda
had promised to remove the system as the Authority could not look into the
private sector.
On this subject, in a programme held at
the office of the Congress parliamentary party on Thursday, the
parliamentarians were of the opinion that the economy should not be put at risk
by bringing the private sector under the authority's jurisdiction.
Similarly, in the meeting with former
Prime Minister Oli, FNCCI President Dhakal drew the former’s attention to the
need to adopt immediate policy measures to reduce the interest rate in the case
of non-disbursement of loans despite the availability of liquidity in the
banking system.
In addition, Dhakal emphasised that
restructuring and rescheduling of loans are also necessary when the market is
not functioning.
"The ability to pay the interest on
the loan is decreasing. Bad loan ratio of banks has also reached around 4 per cent.
Since the bad loan is likely to increase in mid-June, restructuring and
rescheduling of loans is necessary," Dhakal said.
Former Prime Minister Oli said that he and
his party were always ready to address the problems of the private sector and
create a safe working environment. He also informed that he was in favour of
solving the problems of the financial sector and increasing credit flow.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 April 2023.
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