March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year.…
March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year.…
March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house.…
March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14…
March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal…
March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been…
March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of…
March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March…
February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY…
February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government…
February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation…
February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY…
February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank…
February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday)…
February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh…
February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Homework for extra help</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Homework for extra help</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Homework for extra help</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Homework for extra help</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17146', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Extends Financial Assistance of Rs 54 Million to 129 Individuals', 'sub_title' => 'Nearly Rs 45 Billion Budget Transferred in Seven Months', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: The government provided financial assistance worth Rs 54.6 million to 129 individuals in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the financial assistance was provided to those individuals based on cabinet decisions. The report provides details of issues related to financial assistance, additional allocation, budget transfer, resource allocation and the amount spent under the heading of ‘finance miscellany’. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, the government has transferred nearly Rs 44.74 billion budget in the review period including Rs 300 million against the rules and regulations.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per Rule 32 of the Financial Work Procedure and Fiscal Liability Regulation, 2077, the government cannot transfer the budget nor can it make additional release in the initial three months of the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Going against this regulation, the government transferred an amount of Rs 300 million in the Nepali month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) alone and released additional amount of Rs 2.25 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the report, Rs 200 million allocated for the Department of Railways was transferred to the Road Division Office, Doti for the land compensation purpose during last July/August. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs 100 million budget allocated for National Information Technology Centre under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was transferred to the construction of a building for the Postal Office Orientation Centre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report also states that the government has agreed to allocate financial resources of Rs 63.1 billion for multiyear projects. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16884', 'image' => '20230228100447_PO-KTM-19-RSS2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 22:04:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Integrated Website Management System', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government bodies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">February 28: The government has operated the Integrated Website Management System (IWMS) and the web monitoring system in a bid to strengthen security system by bringing uniformity in websites of all government sectors. <br /> The two systems were developed by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) in line with the Development and Management of Government Agencies Websites Directive, 2078 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma inaugurated both the systems amid a function on Tuesday. <br /> Government agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology including the Department of Information and Broadcasting, the Postal Services Department, the DoIT and the Department of Printing have started operating their websites using the new system. <br /> The service will be gradually expanded to other ministries and their subordinate bodies, said the DoIT. <br /> On the occasion, Minister Sharma expressed the hope that the new systems would help the ease the access of service seekers and decrease economic burden. <br /> It would also help identify and resolve problems like website down and hacks and operate websites in a safe way, she added. <br /> The procedure to manage the systems has been already passed, and they would be effectively managed through their implementation and monitoring, said the minister. <br /> Communications and Information Technology Minister Sharma stressed the need for expanding the system across the country including at the local level. <br /> "There is a tendency among offices and agencies of not running their own websites, thus not ensuring their security and adding financial burden to the state coffers. <br /> The systems have been developed in a way to provide easy and accessible services to the service seekers. It will also help implement the monitoring part effectively," she said. <br /> Similarly, the Ministry's secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal said the systems aim to bring uniformity in all government agencies' websites and help provide the same information in an easy and accessible way. <br /> "This has helped reduce expenses each ministry and government agency has to spend in building their own websites. They can create websites for themselves on their own through the same kind of website templates. It also does not require qualified workforce," he said. <br /> <br /> "The system continuously monitors and alerts where and which site is going to be hacked or go down for what reasons. It will help make government websites more safe and to improve immediately if problems surface," added Aryal. <br /> Similarly, Director General of the Department of Information Technology, Prem Charan Shrestha, opined that the system not only helps operate government websites in a safe manner, it would help recover immediately after carrying out monitoring of the government online system if it is hacked. <br /> The websites developed through this system will have disabled-friendly features as well as sections like frequently asked questions, complaints management and automated assistant. <br /> A press statement issued by the department mentions that the web monitoring system was developed to minimize risk of hacking. -- RSS</span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16883', 'image' => '20230228061535_RS_KTM_RATL505302282023.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 18:14:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Unveils 10-Point Action Plan ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati has introduced a 10-point action plan ranging from making diplomatic efforts to operate the Gautam Buddha International Airport in full fledge to taking forward the Civil Aviation Bill. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati made the action plan public amid a press conference at his office in Singha Durbar on Monday. The minister also presented the details of his undertakings and 5-point reforms achieved in the past 42 days since he assumed office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The tourism minister shared that preparations were afoot to establish the Pashupati University. Other plans include a three-month-long Pashupati cleanup campaign, formation of a permanent unit in the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to receive complaints on gender-based violence among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, an investigation committee would be formed to look into the grounded aircraft and directives would be devised to institutionalize clean-up drive of heritage sites, said the minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati added that Bharatpur Airport would be expanded. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister said he has ensured online ticket system for Nepal Airlines Corporation during his tenure. He also said there has been managerial reforms and sanitation drive as well as tangible progresses in the aviation security, Lumbini Master Plan and internet access among others. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16882', 'image' => '20230228054902_20190113122644_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 17:48:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Garment from Nepal Increases this Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">February 28: There has been an increase in export of readymade garments from Nepal in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the Center for Trade and Export Promotion, the export of readymade garments increased by Rs 510 million during this period compared to the previous year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">From mid-July to mid-January of last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 6.88 million units of readymade garments worth Rs 4.3 billion were exported from Nepal. In the same period of the current fiscal year, the export value of readymade garments has increased to Rs 4.81 billion. During this period, 7.58 million units of clothing have been exported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Data shows that most of the readymade garments produced in Nepal are exported to 12 countries in the world. In the first seven months of this year, clothes worth Rs 1.9 billion were exported to the United States of America, Rs 790 million to Britain, Rs 520 million to Germany, Rs 320 million to France and Rs 310 million to Japan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Similarly, readymade garment worth Rs 240 million were exported to the Netherlands, Rs 180 million to Italy, Rs 170 million to Australia, Rs 150 million to Canada, and Rs 130 million to India. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Likewise, readymade garments worth Rs 130 million and Rs 100 million were exported to Denmark and Austria, respectively. Apart from these countries, Nepal also exported readymade garments worth Rs 690 million to other countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pashupati Dev Pandey, chairman of Nepal Readymade Garments Association, despite the increase in the export of readymade garments, the situation is not satisfactory. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"We should have further increased exports, but that has not happened. The government has a lot of work to do in this sector to increase exports. The main thing is that the state organs should be export friendly," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to Pandey, the interest rate is high. The prices of raw materials have gone up, workers are abandoning this sector. Overall, there is no working environment, added Pandey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Businessmen involved in readymade garment industry complain that textiles and garments, which are viewed in the same way around the world, are viewed differently in Nepal. They say that the government has not given all the facilities to the garment industry that it has given to the textile industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Bhim Giri, general secretary of Nepal Readymade Garment Association, says that the government should give more concessions to businessmen and also increase coordination and cooperation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">“Businessmen need refinancing facility. A little was received right after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. It has not happened since then. The government should make necessary arrangement for refinancing. Similarly, it is necessary for the government to make arrangements for yarn production in the country,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to General Secretary Giri, there is a need to increase the number of industries as there is a good response and more orders coming from the foreign market for readymade garments produced in Nepal. According to him, the government and the private sector should move forward hand-in-hand.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16881', 'image' => '20230228030446_1677545322.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 15:04:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Need to Increase Interest Rate on Savings', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Microfinance companies need to increase the interest rate on customers’ savings, as per the new provision fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank recently amended the Unified Directives 2078 making it mandatory for microfinance companies to fix the minimum interest rate on savings at 50 percent of the maximum interest on loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank introduced such measures after it was found that some microfinance companies which extended credit at an interest rate of 15 percent were giving just 2 percent interest on deposits to the customers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data published by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the average interest on the savings of microfinance institutions was 6.45 per cent in the month of Asoj (mid-September to mid-October last year), while the lowest interest was given by Support, Mankamana, and Ganpati microfinance companies with a minimum of 2 per cent interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank said that although some of the 64 microfinance institutions in operation give 10 to 15 percent interest, most of them give interest in single digit. Lately, even commercial banks have been giving interest in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prakashraj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association, said that the interest rate of microfinance should be competitive according to the market. He shared that it is unethical to give 1 to 2 percent interest rate to customers in the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The interest rate given by microfinance should be close to that of the commercial banks," Sharma said adding, "It is wrong to give a lower interest rate than the prevailing one in the market. He suggested that although the new system of the NRB has provision to increase the interest rate, to make it practical, the system of the base rate and spread rate should also be implemented in microfinance.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Sharma, the central bank should implement the provision of base rate and spread rate like in commercial banks rather than setting a limit on the interest rate of microfinance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This will regulate the interest rate of microfinance companies."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Microfinance companies have been investing by taking wholesale loans from banks and financial institutions. Although these institutions cannot collect deposits from the general public, they collect deposits from customers in the name of mandatory savings and optional savings. Because there is a rule of mandatory savings to take loans, they are giving low-interest rates to the general people who have no other option than to deposit money in return of low interest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has tightened microfinance for the first time after they started being criticized for exploiting the customers with high-interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NRB, as of mid-October last year, microfinance institutions collected more than Rs 164 billion in deposits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the deposit collection, Rs 38.9 billion is under mandatory savings, Rs 82.7 billion under optional savings, and Rs 25.7 billion under gradual savings. Similarly, they have collected Rs 2.17 billion under general public deposits and Rs 15.21 billion in other deposit category.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nirdhan Uthan and Chimeki Laghubitta are allowed to collect deposits from the general public. Microfinance companies have 5.9 million members and disbursed loans to 3.3 million members.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16880', 'image' => '20230228023732_1677550297.122.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 14:36:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17141', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Few Places of Hill Areas to Receive Light Rainfall Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 28: One or two parts of the hill areas in the country are expected to receive light rainfall coupled with lightning today (Tuesday) afternoon with the weather becoming generally cloudy, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Light snowfall is likely in one or two parts of the high hills and mountainous areas, said the division. The remaining areas of the country will have a clear weather in general. The westerly wind is having a general impact while there is still the influence of the local wind in the hill areas, thus leading to this condition of the weather, the division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the weather in hill areas will be partly cloudy tonight, and the rest of the country will have fair weather in general. One or two places in the hill and mountainous areas of Province 1, Gandaki and Karnali provinces are predicted to witness light snowfall. In view of the condition of the weather, the division has urged people of the vulnerable parts to adopt caution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16879', 'image' => '20230228014128_weatherrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 13:40:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17140', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow in Agricultural Sector of Madhes Province Stands at Rs 54 Billion: NRB Report', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows that there has been an investment of around Rs 54 billion in the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the study on the economic activities of the province recently published by Janakpur-based office of NRB, the credit flow from banks and financial institutions to the agricultural sector of Madhesh Province stands at Rs 53.95 billion as of FY 2078/79. This amount is 12.55 percent of the total loan invested in Madhesh Province. The study shows that most of such loans went to Sarlahi district and the least to Saptari district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The report also mentions that there has been a significant increase in subsidized loans flowing to Madhesh Province in the review period. According to the data of the central bank, such loans have reached Rs 22.30 billion. As of Fiscal Year 2077/78, the loan under this heading was only Rs 14.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study report mentions that the loans increased due to the mandatory policy arrangements made by NRB on subsidized loans. It seems that the most of the concessional loans have been invested in Sarlahi (Rs 4.48 billion) and the least in Saptari (Rs 1.8 billion).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>More potential in agriculture</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study by NRB pointed out that there is more potential for agriculture in Madhesh Province due to its geographical accessibility and abundance of arable land. The contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product of Madhesh Province is 34 percent. This is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study also showed the possibility that fish production can be increased by using modern technology. The study found that almost all the districts of Madhesh Province fall among the top 10 districts in the country where fishery is done. The study concludes that since Madhesh Province has the highest population, labor supply will be easy and there is potential for commercial production of agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat as well as consumption market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study concluded that since the number of young people going for foreign employment from Madhesh Province is high, there is a possibility to increase productivity by attracting young people who have returned from abroad with capital, motivation, confidence and advanced technological knowledge in agricultural business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB also pointed out that as there are more fertile lands in Madhesh province, there is a possibility that it can be developed as a pocket area for food and vegetable production by expanding the area of irrigation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16878', 'image' => '20230228113510_1677550188.121.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 11:33:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17139', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Korean Company to Manufacture EV in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 28: Nepal's NK Motors Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with a Korean company, SDK, to produce electric vehicles (EV) in Province 1. The agreement was signed by representatives of NK Motors Pvt. Ltd and SDK in South Korea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the agreement signed in the presence of TR Dhakal, managing director of NK Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturing industry will be established with an investment of about Rs 3 billion. Tikaram Puri, chairman of NK Motors Pvt Ltd, informed New Business Age that the proposed industry will be established at a suitable location within Province 1. The industry will produce school and college buses and vehicles for private and public purpose.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, a delegation of the Korean company will visit Nepal in March and select a suitable location. He also informed that the target is to send the products to the market within a year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-28', 'modified' => '2023-02-28', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16877', 'image' => '20230228105435_1677548740.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-28 10:53:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
