The government and debtors of microfinance institutions have signed a six-point agreement on Friday.
The talks team headed by Joint Secretary at the Finance Ministry Narayan Prasad Risal and the agitating debtors have signed the agreement Friday afternoon to end the ongoing protests.
The agreement includes the government’s commitment to urge the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to recommend policy and legal provisions to make microfinance institutions more service-oriented and not profit-oriented as they are now.
The two sides have also agreed to restrict microfinance institutions from charging high interest rates on loans, and impose other restrictions on the institutions through the NRB to stop malpractices while lending.
The agreement also includes a point about making the debtors financially literate and sensitizing them before providing loans.
The two-sides have also agreed to form a task-force including experts and representatives from the agitators to study about the debtors who were affected by the Gorkha Earthquake, Indian blockade and COVID-19 pandemic to address the demands for leniency on those who consequently defaulted on those loans.
The debtors had been staging demonstrations in Kathmandu for the past several months with various demands including revocation of microfinance institutions.
