A committee formed to name new governor in 2005 had named Bhattarai to the post ahead of Dr Khatiwada.
“It is interesting to note that we were competitors once,” Dr Khatiwada said in his farewell speech. He also remembered that he was promoted to the post occupied by Bhattarai since 1991 after the latter was promoted as deputy governor. [break]
Dr Khatiwada was appointed as the head of Currency Management Department of NRB, a position held by Bhattarai, after Bhattarai was promoted to the post of deputy governor.
Bhattarai completed his five year tenure on January 31, 2010.
Dr Khatiwada offered garlands and a souvenir to Bhattarai at a program organized by NRB Employees´ Association.
Bhattarai passed almost half of his five-year tenure fighting for his reinstatement after the government suspended him for two years.
Remembering his lone fight, Dr Khatiwada urged all NRB employees to remain united, saying that it would be difficult to maintain financial discipline in the entire system sans unity among employees. He also requested NRB employees for their positive support and cooperation.
Dr Khatiwada termed Bhattarai as a skillful economist and the expert in monetary economy. He also criticized the commercial banks for becoming profit-motive and not focusing much on quality service delivery. He also said a major chunk of commercial banks´ investment was concentrated on unproductive sector.
Former governor Bhattarai regretted undisciplined attitude of employees during his tenure at the helm of the central bank. “Such was the situation that, no sooner a proposal was forwarded in the board of NRB, it would already be in the hands of mafias,” Bhattarai said, adding, “NRB is a very sensitive organization. There are many issues that needed to be kept secret.”
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