Kathmandu. The post of Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has been lying vacant for a month. During this period, the governor’s recommendation committee has not been able to hold a formal meeting, let alone appoint the governor.
The resignations of executive directors, who are about to resign to become governors, have not been accepted. Neelam Dhungana Timsina is currently the acting governor. She has not accepted the resignations of Prakash Kumar Shrestha and Gunakar Bhatta.
Timsina, who was unhappy with not being made a governor outside, does not seem to have accepted her resignation, but the inside story is different. According to experts, the UML has asked not to accept the resignation to stop the governor.
In the past, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had said that Timsina would be made the governor. Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife Arju Rana came in the way of Oli’s efforts to make himself more powerful by making him the first woman governor.
The Deuba couple stood in front of Oli to make Gunakar Bhatta the governor. It was then reported that Oli had agreed to make Bhatta the governor.
However, the UML seems to be pressurising oli Bhatta and another governor aspirant Shrestha not to accept their resignations. At the same time, the process of appointing the governor may be extended a bit.
There is a provision in the Rastra Bank Act that the governor should be appointed one month before the post of governor falls vacant. However, the government has been delaying the appointment of the governor due to lack of interest.
Rastra Bank is the central bank. From signing notes to handling the country’s coffers, the central bank has important responsibilities. Regulating all banks and financial institutions is considered attractive in the Rastra Bank.
To turn this attraction into power, there is now a tussle between the middleman group and the government. In the meantime, the UML has now dominated the governor’s recommendation committee.
Former Governor Bijaya Nath Bhattarai has been removed from the governor’s recommendation committee. Currently, coordinators Bishnu Poudel and Adhikari are from UML while Bishwo Poudel is from NC.
Now they will recommend three people to become governors and finally the cabinet meeting will appoint one governor. However, the committee has not been able to recommend the name of the governor.
The Rastra Bank is currently without leadership due to lack of political division and self-interest. Experts say that the government seems to be in a mood to extend it further.
Bhatta and Gyanendra Dhungana from the Nepali Congress and Timsina from the UML and Shrestha as the last option could be made the governor. However, the UML, which has already agreed with Bhatta, will not be in a position to break the agreement now. However, it seems that the process has been extended and broken.
