There is good news for people waiting for education loans from banks to apply for their studies abroad. Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said the government is talking with the Royal Monetary Authority. The Prime Minister during the question hour session at the National Assembly today said the government is willing to take the risks on behalf of the banks.
Responding to the concerns raised by members of parliament of Sombaykha and Khengkhar Weringla, the Prime Minister said it was not the government that asked the banks to suspend the education loans. Tashi Bank and the Druk Punjab National Bank stopped giving education loans in the last two months.
“There are some rules made by the RMA for the banks. In their rules, all the different kinds of loans have certain ceilings. When it comes to education loans, it states that a bank cannot cross the 5 per cent threshold. The current suspension is because of a huge number of people who availed of loans of thirty to forty hundred thousand ngultrums,” said Lyonchhen.
The loans were mainly availed of by students aspiring to go to Australia. The Prime Minister said the government has had several meetings with the RMA as the loans can help many Bhutanese realise their dreams:
“The most relevant person is Finance Minister and he met with the RMA to see the possibility of doing away with the 5 per cent ceiling of the loans. There are risks associated if we do not abide by the ceiling imposed by the RMA. But we submitted that the government is going to take the risk on behalf of the banks.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also clarified that the government did not stop the loans from Bhutan Development Bank and CSI banks. Since loans from these two banks are important for entrepreneurs and startups, the Prime Minister said the Finance Minister has talked with relevant agencies.
According to the Prime Minister, the RMA has said the issues would be discussed in the board meeting. However, he said the RMA has postponed the meeting just because a member of the board went on a pilgrimage recently.
Kinley Dem
Edited by Sonam
