KATHMANDU: Nepal Rastra Bank(NRB) has invited applications from those seeking refinancing facilities from it.

Issuing a notice on Monday, the monetary, regulatory and supervisory authority of banks and financial institutions in Nepal, NRB has invited applications from the banks and financial institutions that have been licensed as ‘A’, ‘B’,  and ‘C’ category for refinancing facility.

The deadline for the application that was opened on August 17 is set for September 30.

The invitation is deemed special as it offers loans in low-interest-rate up to Rs 100 billion.

What is refinancing?

Refinancing is the act of providing loans to the banks and financial institutions for circulating the loans in the areas directed by NRB.

Refinancing is also replacing an existing loan with a new and ideally better loan.

NRB has introduced a procedure by categorizing the area for loans into three groups: micro-enterprise refinancing, special refinancing and general refinancing.

Under the Micro, Cottage and Small scale industries refinancing, the eligible candidate can get re-loan up to Rs 1.5 million. For this NRB levies 2% interest from the banks and financial institutions whereas the latter ones provide the loan to the customers at a 5% interest rate.

Special refinance facility is provided to the export-oriented industries, the industries run by the women and disabled people and the industries hard hit by natural disaster. For providing refinancing facilities under this category, NRB levies a 1% interest rate from the institutions and they provide the loan to the customers levying 3% interest for the investment.

Similarly, for general financing, NRB levies 3% on the banks whereas the banks levy 5% interest to the customers.

The upper refinancing limit for the special and general refinancing is set as Rs 200 million. This is also divided into 2 categories.

Generally, the loan limit for the customers is 50 million including the previous loan.

The NRB procedures hail the limit of the refinancing facility provided based on the evaluation of the customer as Rs 200 million. However, as NRB has invited application for the outright refinancing only, the upper limit of the re-loan facility the eligible beneficiaries will entertain will be of up to Rs 50 million.

Prospective beneficiaries of refinancing

The refinancing facility NRB aims to provide this time belongs to the second category of refinancing or Special Refinancing and is aimed to revive the COVID-19 struck entrepreneurs.

Hence, according to Dev Kumar Dhakal, the chief of NRB’s regulatory department, the entrepreneurs of the pandemic-hit industries are can apply for it.

“Once the applications reach to us, we will issue refinancing facility on a priority basis, esp. giving top priority to the worst-hit sectors,” Dhakal said.

NRB has listed tourism, air service, recreation parks, cinema hall, party palace, the agro-based industries like the ones related with the production of vegetable, fruit, meat and fodder industry, hosiery industry, foreign employment, manpower industry etc. in the most affected areas eligible for applying for refinancing.

Similarly, the school, college, university, public transportation,  hair-salons, hospitals, health and fitness center, publication houses, forest and mine-based industry, construction- related industries etc under medium-affected industries for refinancing purpose.

However, NRB has made it clear that the refinancing facility will not be provided to those who have taken new loans.

“We have made it loud and clear that the refinancing is aimed at the COVID-19 impacted loan,” Dhakal spoke about the NRB provision meant for this time, “this will not be available for the new loans as there are other ways of supporting such sectors differently.”

How to apply

In its notice, NRB has stated that those seeking to refinance this time have to apply as per the provision mentioned in the NRB Refinancing Procedures 2020 and they should apply via the banks they have taken a loan from.