KATHMANDU: The government has put a ban on the import of private vehicles.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Monday called a meeting with chief executive officers and directed them not to issue letter of credit.

The NRB adopted a policy to tighten a loop on imports saying that the balance of payments has gone extremely negative due to high imports, resulting in decline in exchange reserves.

“Banks and financial institutes have been directed not to issue letter of credit, especially, for the import of private vehicles and keep monitoring on the import of essential goods,” said Gunakar Bhatta, the spokesperson of the NRB.