Nepal, Feb. 10 -- In August 2025, Nepal Rastra Bank commissioned an independent loan portfolio review of the country's ten largest commercial banks, conducted by Howladar Yunus & Co. of Bangladesh. The exercise - covering over 60 percent of total system lending- was mandated under Nepal's IMF Extended Credit Facility amid concerns around loan evergreening, weak classification, and inadequate provisioning.

The review assessed collateral valuation among other things, across the largest lenders. Although the report is yet to be made public, it has already triggered debate. It should not.

This is not a story of imminent collapse. It is a question of sequencing reform to align truth with capacity. The IMF mandated assessment of major commerc...