By Karuna Thapa
Kathmandu, March 13
Commercial banks have chosen to provide a new interest rate on deposits of 11.03 percent for April. The Bankers’ Association’s executive director, Anil Sharma, stated that the interest rate on deposits will be maintained.
Every month, banks are required to publish new deposit interest rates. Due to a lack of
investable capital, banks have been hiking deposit interest rates in recent months.
Previously, the Banker’s Association has suggested reducing the interest in April if everything worked out in March as said. However, because the banks’ liquidity concerns have not improved, they have decided to maintain interest rates steady.
On Friday evening, the chief executive officers of all 27 banks met to discuss whether the
interest rate should be raised or lowered. CEOs were split on whether to raise or reduce
interest rates during the conference.
The majority of bankers believed that interest rates should be raised, not lowered. On Sunday, however, the organization chose to maintain the interest rate, claiming that boosting interest rates alone would not attract deposits.
Raising deposit interest rates has an impact on loan interest rates as well. Every three months, banks are obligated to make the base rate public. As deposit interest rates rise, so does the base rate, which has a direct impact on lending interest rates.
