Nepal Rastra Bank's (NRB) Notice Relating to Foreign Payment System

The central bank of Nepal, Nepal Rastra Bank ("NRB") published a notice ("Notice") relating to foreign payment system on 2076/10/17 (January 31, 2020).

The Notice forbids an act of making payment outside Nepal through unofficial medium (other than banking channel) for advertising in social media, such as, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube as well as Internet or receiving payment from other countries and thus declares such an act to be illegal. The Notice further states that, such an act encourages for misuse of foreign exchange and anyone carrying out such transaction shall be prosecuted under Foreign Exchange (Regulation) Act 2019 (1962) and prevailing laws.

Lately, the trend of advertising in social media and other online portal is on a rise in Nepal. It has been seen that companies in Nepal are using third parties such as their friends or relatives living abroad to make payment for such advertisements to avoid official channel. Through the Notice, NRB aims to stop such practice.

The notice may be obtained by clicking here.