Overdue loans from micro-finances jump nearly eight-fold during lockdown, study says

Micro-finance institutions’ outstanding loans jumped from Rs6.85 billion to Rs45 billion between mid-March and mid-July, according to a survey by the Nepal Rastra Bank.

With the coronavirus pandemic affecting his businesses Kamal Pun Magar, 28, a grocery shop owner at Ghartigaun, Rolpa has been struggling to pay the instalment on the Rs300,000 loan he has taken from a micro-finance institution.