EPF to lend Rs 600 million to NOC

KATHMANDU,MAY 30: 

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will lend Rs 600 million to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the Finance Ministry provided a guarantee to it.

The Finance Ministry, today, asked the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) to prepare a proposal for a loan from the Employees Provident Fund, said spokesperson at MoCS Deepak Subedi, adding that the ministry and EPF will decide the interest rate and the term of the loan.

The Finance Ministry had decided to provide a loan of Rs 2.10 billion to Nepal Oil Corporation to ensure smooth supply of petroleum products. 

Of the total approved amount, the ministry itself has already provided Rs 500 million to the corporation. Similarly, a loan of Rs one billion from Citizen Investment Trust is in the pipeline, according to Subedi. 

With the latest loan decision, the state oil monopoly will have a total loan burden of around Rs 25 billion including those from different government agencies and commercial banks, according to NOC. 

However, Rs 600 million is not sufficient to clear the dues of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), according to it. The corporation already has an outstanding due of Rs 1.91 billion with IOC, said acting managing director of NOC Suresh Kumar Agrawal.

Source: THT