By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec. 14: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the government is doing homework to resolve the problem relating to the COVID-19 insurance payment.
Addressing ground-breaking ceremony of the office building of the Beema Samiti (Insurance Board) on Monday, he said that billions of rupees worth of liabilities have been created from COVID-19 insurance and the homework was being done to address the problem.

Minister Sharma informed that insurance was made against COVID-19 during the initial phase of the pandemic but there is now a problem in paying the amount.
He stressed the need for amending laws and acts to regulate the insurance sector. He said that while the scope of the insurance sector is expanding, the law to regulate it should be developed accordingly.
“In the context of the increasing need for the insurance sector and the growing number of businesses, laws need to be developed to regulate it. Acts formulated almost 30 years ago need to be modified and updated according to the needs of today’s people and today’s business conditions,” he said.

Minister Sharma stressed on the need to strengthen all the structures to provide quality service to the service recipients. He expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that insurance companies are only city-centric and business-centric.
The insurance companies should go to the villages and insure the people based on their risk, he said. “The risk is not just in the city. Risk is not limited to prosperity.
The risk is in poverty as well as in the rural areas,” he said, “but our determination to reduce the risk has not reached that point.”
He said that insurance companies and regulatory bodies did not pay attention to agricultural crop insurance. He pointed out that even though the government has made arrangements to provide 80 per cent subsidy, there is a problem in the implementation as the concerned bodies have not paid attention to it.

He said that such insurance would help in minimising the impact of crop damage due to recent unseasonal rains. He said that the government has to bear a big responsibility even if it gives relief to the people lately due to non-insurance.
Minister Sharma expressed concern over the fact that people are not coming for insurance automatically and even those who have been insured are not getting paid.

“A lot of people are complaining about the non-receipt of insurance money. It should be found automatically on the basis of its evaluation,” he said. In another context, Minister Sharma said that the Ministry of Finance has always been serious in protecting the investments of all investors who have invested in the capital market.
He said that the ministry could not play a role in increasing or decreasing the share market, adding that only the regulatory body would know the reason.

He said that the ministry has already taken action against the irregularities in the market and clarified that the ministry is doing what it is supposed to do. He further added that discussions have been held with the experts and work is underway to solve the problem of the stock market.
Minister Sharma said that the ministry was serious about the problems faced by the investors unnecessarily and the policy and technology development required to secure the investment.
Stating that some groups are now spreading rumours about this, he urged the investors not to fall into such confusion.

“You will be cheated by giving you a misapprehension,” Sharma urged the general investors. “Do your business without being deceived. It does not mean that the finance minister and the finance ministry will increase or decrease the market. It will make the institutions transparent and strong, and the law will be systematic. We are committed to that.”