Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) recorded a 22% increase in profit during the fiscal year 2023/24. Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari, while submitting the bank's annual report to Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel on Sunday, revealed that NRB's net income stood at Rs 73.76 billion.
From this profit, NRB allocated funds for various reserves and decided to transfer Rs 37.22 billion in remaining savings to the government. This decision was made during a board of directors meeting held in the second week of November.
As per the annual report, the central bank's assets and liabilities rose by 30.15% compared to July 2023, reaching Rs 2067.24 billion as of July 2024. Additionally, in fiscal year 2023/24, NRB issued 353,750,000 units of new banknotes of various denominations worth Rs 73.99 billion. As of mid-July 2024, banknotes worth Rs 690.15 billion were in circulation.
The report highlights that NRB employed 1,138 staff members in the fiscal year, with 1,076 in administration and 62 in technical departments.
NRB also implemented key regulatory measures, including strengthening anti-money laundering provisions; encouraging mergers and acquisitions among microfinance institutions; enforcing the Capital Adequacy Framework -2015, which sets capital fund requirements for national-level development banks; regulating investments by banks and financial institutions; and mandating that borrowers accessing loans above a certain limit obtain a Permanent Account Number (PAN).
These measures aim to enhance financial stability, promote transparency, and improve operational efficiency within the banking sector, reads the report.
