Kathmandu. Banks and financial institutions have raised interest rates in line with the new interest rates announced by commercial banks.

Four commercial banks have announced new interest rates with effect from mid-April. Everest Bank, Himalayan Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Kumari Bank have announced such interest rates.

Everest Bank has raised the interest rate on six-month deposits from 6.50 percent to 6.25 percent. Everest Bank has increased its deposits for less than six months by 0.25 percent to 4.75 percent. Similarly, the interest rate on deposits of one year or more has been increased by 0.25 percent to 6.75 percent.

Himalayan Bank has also increased its six-month deposit by 1 percent to 6 percent. The interest rate on term deposits of lesser or longer duration has been kept constant. At present, Himalayan has fixed the interest rate for 4 months personal term deposit account at 4 percent, for 9 months at 6.5 percent and for more than one year at 7 percent. Himalayan has also arranged to pay 2 to 4 percent interest on savings accounts.

Standard Chartered Bank, on the other hand, has not raised interest rates for the month of April. The bank has been offering interest rate of 2 to 4 percent on savings. The interest rate on term deposit is 4.5 percent for 3 months, 5 percent for less than 3 months to 1 year and 6 percent for 1 year or more.

Kumari Bank has also increased the interest rate on term deposits by keeping the interest rate on savings stable. Kumari has fixed the interest rate of savings account at 2 to 4 percent. In the term account, it has been increased from 1.5 percent to 5.5 percent in less than three months to one year.

The interest rates on long-term deposits of those banks that have made interest rates public are now stable. Similarly, interest rate on savings account has also remained stable.