In the last fiscal year, the government issued foreign employment savings bonds worth 1 billion rupees targeting Nepalis who are employed abroad, but only 50.16 million rupees were sold. The government provided 9 percent interest on the savings bond, which is higher than the interest rate offered by banks and financial institutions on deposits during the same period.

Various government study reports have shown that on average, more than 95 percent of the savings bonds issued by the government are not sold. According to which, the average sale of such savings bonds issued in the last 15 years is only 5.09 percent.

From the financial year 066/67 to the current year, the government has issued foreign employment savings bonds worth 17 billion 65 million rupees. Out of that, only 868.1 million rupees or 5.09 percent have been sold while the remaining 94.91 percent have not been sold. Every year, the interest rate offered on savings bonds is higher than that offered by banks on deposits during the same period.

This year too, the government has opened the sale of foreign employment savings bonds worth 50 million rupees. The Public Debt Management Office has issued a notification for the sale of savings bonds from Thursday for the purpose of raising the current year's domestic debt. The interest rate is 8.50 percent on that savings bond. This rate of interest is almost twice what banks currently offer on deposits. Until last December, the average interest rate offered by banks on deposits is 4.75 percent. The Public Debt Management Office has set a deadline for purchasing savings bonds from Thursday to March 18.

This savings card can be purchased in the name of themselves or their family members (father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter only) who are engaged in employment outside the country or who are less than 6 months after returning from employment outside the country. You can borrow/give loans from banks and financial institutions by keeping savings bonds as collateral, and through the online software used by the Public Debt Management Office, you can purchase and trade in the secondary market from your location.

With the purpose of using the money of the Nepalis who are employed abroad in the productive sector, the government has been issuing foreign employment savings certificates every year for the purpose of raising domestic debt. The interest rate of this savings bond is not only higher than the interest rate of deposits offered by banks but also higher than other types of bonds. In this way, even though the most expensive interest rate is available, it has become a matter of interest why the sale of this savings paper is low.

Head of Public Debt Management Office Gopikrishna Koirala admitted that despite many efforts, on average 95 percent of foreign employment savings bonds are not sold. Many people know about savings bank  According to him, a large part of the issued ones were not sold due to lack of availability, the interest rate found in savings bonds being lower than the expected return of the concerned person.

We have embarked on extensive publicity with the aim of selling all the savings bonds issued this year. For this, we will send formal correspondence to the Department of Foreign Employment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nepali Embassies in various countries, associations/organizations/bodies related to foreign employment, etc., he said. "Many people who are abroad do not know about savings bonds, even if some of them know about it, they do not trust it," said a senior official of the Ministry of Finance. is In the 15 years from 066/67 to 081/82, savings bonds have been issued 27 times.

The operation of savings paper does not seem to have been as expected since the beginning of the year. In the first year, 1 billion savings bonds were issued, 4 million were sold, while in the second year, 5 billion were issued, only 3.4 million were sold. In most of the subsequent years, the demand for savings bonds is less than 500 million. All foreign employment savings bonds issued during this period are for 5 years. During this period, the interest rate of foreign employment savings bond is higher than the fixed deposit of the same year from 0.01 to 2.42 percent. However, the impact of interest rates on the purchase of savings bonds has not been as expected.