The meeting of the Governors of the Central Bank of South Asia has been completed in Kathmandu. The sixth meeting (round table) of leaders of the South Asia Regional Financial Inclusion Initiative (SARFLL) was held in Kathmandu on Thursday.
In the meeting, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr. Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Maldives Monetary Authority Deputy Governor Imad Ahmed, Central Bank of Pakistan Executive Director Syed Samar Husnain, Bangladesh Finance Ministry Joint Secretary Kamrul Haque Maroof were present. In the
program, the governor officer of Nepal Rastra Bank pointed out the need to make the activities of SARFLL result-oriented in order to achieve the target objective of financial inclusion in the South Asia region. He was of the opinion that regional cooperation and coordination should be further strengthened for this.
Strengthening regional cooperation and coordination through SARFLL, the agenda of preparing a format for sustainable, inclusive and innovative financial services for the next five years was prioritized in the meeting. The
meeting has also approved the annual action plan to be operated in the year 2025 through SARFLL . In the first session of the meeting, on behalf of all the participants of the member organizations, the current status of financial inclusion in their respective countries and the future approach to be adopted through SARFLL for the promotion of financial inclusion in South Asia were presented.
On the occasion, Governor Adhikari mentioned the efforts made by Nepal Rastra Bank in promoting financial inclusion and discussed that Nepal has made a significant leap in financial access and the use of electronic payments. To strengthen financial inclusion in the South Asia region, he called for emphasis on digitization of financial services, customer protection, digital financial literacy and expansion of financial services to small and medium enterprises.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Weerasinghe highlighted the status of Sri Lanka's financial inclusion and presented suggestions on the future approach to be adopted through SARFLL for expanding financial access and financial services in South Asia. In that session, Senior Deputy Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dr. Neelam Dhungana Timsina said SARFLL is an important network to address the challenges of expanding access to financial services in South Asia. On that occasion, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Si Su Yuin gave an opening speech.
