The Cabinet has decided to appoint economist Biswo Nath Poudel as the 18th governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
Government spokesperson Prithvi Subba Gurung said that a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday evening in Baluwatar decided to appoint Poudel as governor.
"The Cabinet has decided to appoint Biswo Nath Poudel as the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Three names had been recommended," he said.
The governor recommendation committee, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, had recommended the names of Biswo Nath Paudel, NRB’s acting governor Neelam Dhungana, and former secretary Dinesh Bhattarai for the position of governor on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba held discussions in Baluwatar regarding the appointment of governor. Finance Minister Paudel and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak were also present in the meeting.
The position of NRB governor has been vacant since April 6. Finance Minister Paudel had assigned the responsibility of acting governor to Deputy Governor Neelam Dhungana.
Initially, PM Oli and NC President Deuba had discussed appointing Gunakar Bhatta, an executive director of NRB, as governor. However, PM Oli and some leaders of the CPN-UML were reportedly against appointing Bhatta to the post.
Deuba had then proposed economist Poudel for the governor’s role.
