A Cabinet meeting on Friday okayed bailout funds amounting to Rs 2.5 billion to help Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) pay its import bills and ease the fuel crisis that has continued for more than two weeks.
The state-owned oil monopoly will get a loan of Rs 1.5 billion from the Employees’ Provident Fund and Rs 1 billion from the Citizen Investment Trust to tide it over till a long-term solution is found.
Including these borrowings, NOC’s debts to the government and varied banks and financial institutions have reached a grant total of Rs 36.66 billion. The figure is more than 25 times the corporation’s net worth.
Mukunda Ghimire, spokesperson at NOC, said the latest loan would be used to settle the bill that NOC owes to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). “After paying the dues, the petroleum supply will come to normal,” he added.
NOC had cut petroleum imports by around 30 percent after its dues to IOC stood at Rs 9.45 billion as of mid-April.
The petroleum monopoly has increased the supply since Tuesday after paying Rs 4.94 billion.
The enterprise has been asking the government to provide a total of Rs 5 billion to clear its dues to IOC. Ghimire said they would continue their plea for an additional Rs 2.5 billion to the government.
According to NOC, it has been sustaining losses of Rs 640 million per month. The enterprise said it suffers a loss of Rs 690 per cylinder of LPG. Although it has been saying that LPG should be sold at the actual value by implementing a dual cylinder system, it has not happened so far.
Remaining
The state-owned oil monopoly will get a loan of Rs 1.5 billion from the Employees’ Provident Fund and Rs 1 billion from the Citizen Investment Trust to tide it over till a long-term solution is found.
Including these borrowings, NOC’s debts to the government and varied banks and financial institutions have reached a grant total of Rs 36.66 billion. The figure is more than 25 times the corporation’s net worth.
Mukunda Ghimire, spokesperson at NOC, said the latest loan would be used to settle the bill that NOC owes to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). “After paying the dues, the petroleum supply will come to normal,” he added.
NOC had cut petroleum imports by around 30 percent after its dues to IOC stood at Rs 9.45 billion as of mid-April.
The petroleum monopoly has increased the supply since Tuesday after paying Rs 4.94 billion.
The enterprise has been asking the government to provide a total of Rs 5 billion to clear its dues to IOC. Ghimire said they would continue their plea for an additional Rs 2.5 billion to the government.
According to NOC, it has been sustaining losses of Rs 640 million per month. The enterprise said it suffers a loss of Rs 690 per cylinder of LPG. Although it has been saying that LPG should be sold at the actual value by implementing a dual cylinder system, it has not happened so far.
Remaining
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