Kathmandu. The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal (FNPA) has made one and a half dozen suggestions for the monetary policy for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84 to be unveiled by Nepal Rastra Bank.

The federation has given more than one and a half dozen suggestions under three different headings. FNCCI has made 5 suggestions for export promotion and industrial development, 6 for banking and financial institution arrangements, 5 suggestions for e-payment and digital payment system.

The FNCCI has recommended the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for export promotion and industrial development for the upcoming monetary policy, which states that the loan period should be extended to at least 3 years by arranging a special refinancing fund for export-oriented and domestic raw materials-based productive industries.

The committee has suggested that a policy arrangement should be made to provide loans to export industries at concessional interest rate by adding a maximum of 1 percent premium to the base rate of banks, necessary flexibility should be adopted in the limit of operating capital loan, renewal and payment arrangements to maintain the continuity of production of export-oriented industries.

Likewise, it has been suggested that the process of pre-shipment and post-shipment export credit should be simplified, made easy and cost-effective to facilitate the management of working capital of exporters, and provide concessional refinancing and preferential credit facilities to high value addition, green and technology-friendly export industries.

Among the suggestions given by the Federation of Nepal Rastra Bank (FNB) relating to banks and financial institutions, the process of bringing in foreign currency earned from exports should be made more simple, efficient and digital, necessary targets should be determined by including ‘export industry’ as a separate sub-heading in the provision related to compulsory credit flow to the productive sector and monetary management should be made to prevent excessive fluctuation in interest rate to maintain the competitiveness of export industries ।

Similarly, trade finance services including letter of credit, bank guarantee and document negotiation should be made completely digital, paperless and time-bound.

Likewise, the committee has suggested expanding the provision of cash flow and project evaluation to the industries producing good exports so as to reduce the excessive dependence on collateral.

For this, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) should make arrangements to operate banks to reduce their risk and expand foreign exchange hedging facility easy and low-cost for small and medium exporters to reduce the risk of foreign exchange rate.

Similarly, 5 suggestions related to e-payment and digital payment system have been given. It has suggested that the expansion of cross-border digital payment systems should be prioritized to strengthen Nepal’s digital economy and international trade.

It has also suggested that initiatives should be taken to expand the cross-border payment system with China, the Gulf countries and other major trading partners by making the QR-based cross-border payment system operating with India more effective.

The foreign exchange and regulatory framework should be facilitated for the operation of international digital payment platforms so that Nepali IT and service exporters can receive payments from abroad easily, quickly and at low cost.

It has suggested reducing the service charge levied while importing foreign currency by exporting goods and services through online medium and increasing the limit on the amount that can be received directly in the bank account by simplifying the necessary paperwork.

Likewise, it has suggested that the annual limit of dollar cards used by export-oriented industries to pay for digital marketing, cloud services, software and international business services should be reviewed and increased on the basis of export capacity and turnover of the industry.