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The ministry has asked Nepal Rastra Bank to airlift, within the next five days, the second consignment of fresh notes, said to be on the way to Kolkata.
In order to ease the circulation, the old notes in the stock and higher denomination ones - which bear the signature of ex-governor Tilak Rawal with certain “minor technical errors” - will also be distributed from tomorrow.
With fresh 100 rupee notes worth Rs. 800 million expected to reach Birgunj on Thursday, the the liquidity crunch across the country can be expected to be minimized.
Taking into consideration the looming crisis at hand, the Finance Ministry formed a three-member high-level committee Wednesday evening. The panel will probe the delay in both printing and supplying of the currency notes.
Former National Planning Commission vice-chairman Prof Dr Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, former finance secretary Bhanu Prasad Acharya and Comptroller General Abinendra Kumar Shrestha are the members of the panel. Prof Dr Manandhar is the coordinator of the committee, which will submit the report within 21 days.
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, who chaired the meeting, took extraordinary measures to diffuse the crisis.
The government had decided to bring these fresh 500-rupee notes worth Rs. 14 billion via train in the first week of October, and, according to NRB, the train had been booked for Oct. 6. Once the consignment arrives, the NRB will issue the notes even during the Tihar holidays.
Additionally, minister Pandey has accused NRB officials for the cash shortage. NRB officials could have ordered for lesser amounts of notes to be printed so that they could go on foreign visits more often, he said addressing a programme in Kathmandu, Wednesday.
The government has also directed the central bank to ensure supply of hard cash in the “deficit regions” by airlifting the same from the cash-surplus areas.
The crisis, which triggered around a week ago, had led the banks and financial institutions to ration the distribution of cash.
For the last three or four days, the NRB has been providing the commercial banks with Rs. 20m, development banks with Rs. 5 million and the finance companies with Rs. 1 million daily.
Some commercial banks have shutdown their ATMs due to shortage of cash and others put a cap on the withdrawal limits
Commercial banks have lowered cash withdrawal limits as central bank failed to meet burgeoning demand for withdrawals. In several banks, the general public can only withdraw Rs. 2,000 at a time not exceeding the daily withdrawal limit of Rs. 10,000 from the Automated Teller Machines.
The banks had also started paying in Indian Currency (IC), which can be deemed as something against the NRB’s norms. nepalnews.com
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