Nepal, Sept. 15 -- The Economist on July 9 published a story on Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), a new financial instrument designed to attract young people with limited credit histories to use credit cards in the consumer market. The instrument is an installment-based payment system introduced by financial innovators.

In Nepal, where issuance of credit cards to consumers is less than 1 percent of the total account holders, BNPL is irrelevant. Household consumption growth in the last three years hovered around 1 percent only. The rise of consumers' demand for non-essential goods and services has been an abysmal post-Covid-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, bank interest rates on deposits have gradually declined to a negative rate (saving deposit in...