Kathmandu, July 30
Several days after the microfinance
victims' protests, Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle formed a committee to
hold talks with protesting microfinance victims.
Making a ministerial decision on Thursday,
he constituted a negotiation team under the coordination of Mahesh Acharya,
Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The committee held talks with
the victims on the same day.
According to the Finance Minister's
Secretariat, the talks between the committee and microfinance victims were
positive and focused on finding a solution.
The negotiations concluded on Thursday with
both sides agreeing to reconvene it on Friday.
The committee comprises Binod Kumar
Bhattarai, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary
Affairs, Suresh Panthi, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, and
Ramu Paudel, Executive Director at the Nepal Rastra Bank.
Bolraj Acharya, Under Secretary at the
Ministry of Finance, has been appointed as the committee's member secretary.
Microfinance victims are organising
demonstrations and hunger strikes since Tuesday demanding the government to
implement study reports prepared on microfinance regulations and reforms.
They are also demanding to cease the
auction of land collateral, fair judicial resolution for predatory loan
recovery by the microfinance institutions, bring the interest rates down and
remove hidden service charges.
Likewise, the protestors have demanded an
end to financial exploitation and called for social justice.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 July 2026.
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