April 8: The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Entrepreneurs has expressed its reservation over the 11th amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation…
April 8: The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Entrepreneurs has expressed its reservation over the 11th amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation…
April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March…
April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird…
April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the…
April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April…
April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export…
April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5.…
April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May…
April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in…
April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from…
April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation…
April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara,…
April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal.…
April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in…
April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation…
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The federation expresses its objection to the faulty and unconstitutional amendment,” reads a statement issued by the federation on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation said that the amended regulation has included some provisions which the federation had been pressing for since a long time but many other issues have been left out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the federation, the amended regulation will benefit a certain group of service providers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement says that the new provision requires the service providers to mandatorily take permission from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to operate OTT streaming service. It means that the foreign OTT services will be considered illegal once the new provision comes into effect. Therefore, the federation has urged the government to stop such OTT streaming services immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had amended the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052 on March 3.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14807', 'image' => '20220408110532_plataforms.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 11:04:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15060', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third Rating Company Comes into Operation in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Established as a subsidiary of India's rating agency Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd, the company has a paid-up capital of Rs 100 million. According to the Credit Rating Rules 2068, in order to establish a credit rating company in Nepal, it is mandatory to have partnership with an organization that has done rating work abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, 51% share of the company is held by Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd and the rest belongs to the local partners.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a need for a new rating company in Nepal as the Nepal Rastra Bank has made arrangements for rating even for loans of more than Rs 500 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s office is located at Baneshwor Heights. Chief Executive Officer of Informerics Credit Rating Nepal, Rabin Pudasaini, assured that the service of the company will be of high quality.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of rating companies in Nepal is currently three. The other two rating companies in operation are Care Rating Nepal and ICRA Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14802', 'image' => '20220407012426_credit-rating.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 13:23:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15057', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bird Flu on the Rise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu. The ministry warned that the infection is on the rise. Bird flu has spread in 13 districts in the last two months. The situation has gone out of hand after the government failed to take appropriate steps to control the infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the Ministry, Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the number of bird flu cases has increased this year as compared to previous years. The infection rate is more widespread than estimated by the Ministry and the Department of Livestock Services this year. That is why Sanjel insisted that all stakeholders need to be highly alert.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that they face manpower crunch and lack of budget to stop the infection even though the infection rate is increasing day by day. The department has allocated a budget of Rs 12.1 million this year for infection prevention and compensation. But looking at the current state of infection, it is estimated that Rs 100 million is needed to control it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, bird flu has been confirmed in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kaski, Morang, Udayapur, Sunsari, Bara, Parsa and Dhanusha so far. The department has issued a notice urging all poultry traders to be more alert and not to move livestock and meat from the infected areas to other places. The departments’ spokesperson Dr Chandra Dhakal said that the infection is spreading in large farms and it is becoming difficult for a limited number of people to control the spread of the disease.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14798', 'image' => '20220406032807_birddd.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 15:27:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Pledges to Support Employment Promotion in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The World Bank made such commitment during a courtesy call paid to the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security by its delegation led by the bank's Regional Director Lynne Benz. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, matters related to the effectiveness of the WB-funded projects were also discussed, according to the Labour Minster's secretariat. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha said the World Bank's support has been helpful in the implementation of the government-adopted strategy for the promotion of internal employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha thanked the World Bank for its support to the Youth Employment and Transformation Initiative Project under the Prime Minister Employment Programme to generate employment opportunities for youths within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB has backed the improvement of integrated employment management information system to collect personal details of unemployed person, his/her knowledge, skills and experience, potential area of employment, labour market demand and supply sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">WB's Regional Director Lynn expressed the bank's readiness to support Nepali people living a disadvantaged and vulnerable life in collaboration with the government, development partners and the private sector. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14796', 'image' => '20220406081629_World-Bank-600x337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:13:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has increased the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene each by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the revised price list of NOC, petrol will now cost Rs 160 per litre while diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 143 per litre. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, NOC had fixed the price of petrol at Rs 155 per litre almost three weeks ago on March 16. It had also fixed the price of diesel and kerosene at Rs 138 per litre after increasing the price by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NOC has also increased the price of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 25 per cylinder. The price of LPG had remained constant since the last 5 months while the prices of other petroleum products were increased time and again by the NOC under various pretexts. A cylinder of cooking gas will now cost Rs 1600 for the consumers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the NOC has also increased the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for domestic flights from Rs 151 per litre to Rs 156 per litre.</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"">This is the tenth time that the NOC has increased the prices of petroleum products in the last nine months. The prices have been rising constantly since August 2021, when the price of petrol was just Rs 130 per litre. </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 NOC has been stating that it has been bearing losses even after increasing the fuel prices. The NOC revises the price every fortnight after receiving a new list from the Indian Oil Corporation. Lately, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a rise in fuel prices in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14795', 'image' => '20220406103104_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:28:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Sharma in Favour of making Dry Port an Export Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The remittance and import-based economy is risky for Nepal, Minister Sharma said, stressing the dry port should be developed a centre point for exporting goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized following the inauguration of the dry port by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sharma said the dry port should be strategically used to increase export of food items and agro-based goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Finance Minister also highlighted the need of moving towards self-dependence by converting labour and natural resources into capital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further expressed the readiness on part of the government to collaborate with private sector and cooperatives for the same. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the data related to import and export on the occasion, he said Nepal's import has been estimated to be around Rs 1,308 billion as of mid-March 2022 and this has increased by 38 per cent in comparison to last 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"">He further shared the country's exports stand at Rs 147 billion in the last eight months which is a slightly better than in in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister added that COVID-19 pandemic followed by Russia-Ukraine war have added serious challenges to the country's economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of mid-March, the country's foreign exchange reserves were equivalent to Rs 940 billion, he said, adding the reserves were enough to manage import of goods for at least six months. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14794', 'image' => '20220406100345_20220406080457_ROS_KTM-9164.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Inaugurates Chobhar Dry Port', 'sub_title' => 'The new facility expected to develop Kathmandu as a major trade hub ', 'summary' => 'April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. The dry port was constructed to facilitate the country's international trade. </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"">Inaugurating the Dry Port, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed confidence that the construction of Nepal's first dry port on the outskirts of the capital is a milestone in developing the federal capital Kathmandu as an international trade hub. </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"">He said that the dry port would play a special role in facilitating export-based trade and availability of a one-stop service including customs screening and quarantine to reduce the cost of foreign trade and also to help the administrative process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further claimed that the dry port would promote export by facilitating trade and enhancing transparency. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port is expected to further ease foreign trade through Kathmandu and make the trade of goods and services competitive and effective by reducing costs involved in export. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that administrative hassles are still prevalent especially in the transportation of goods in Nepal's foreign trade, PM Deuba said such a high-quality trade infrastructure would help lessen the hassles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba said trade deficit could be reduced by increasing the export of Nepal-made goods in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM assured that his government was committed to create a conducive environment for industrial development and to attract foreign investment. He added that various programmes were introduced for reforms at policy-level and procedural level to achieve the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the PM spoke of the need to simplify and reduce the existing procedural hassles in foreign trade and said he was ready to collaborate with the private sector to promote trade. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14793', 'image' => '20220406100418_ROS_KTM-9311.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:04:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Expenditure of Local Election Likely to Cross Rs 40 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13. With 38 days left for the election, experts have analyzed the impact of election on the economy from various angles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated a budget of around Rs 9 billion to the Election Commission (EC). The ministry has also given approval to the Ministry of Home Affairs to spend around Rs 10 billion. The Home Ministry will deploy temporary police in polling stations across the country for election security and pay them from the allocated budget. These two government bodies will spend around Rs 19 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shaligram Poudel, spokesperson of the EC, the amount will be spent on voter education, printing and transportation of ballot papers, election observation and salaries and allowances of polling staff. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance estimates that Rs 30 to 40 billion will be spent on local level elections including the expenses of the Election Commission and the Home Ministry. Not only the government, but the political parties and the candidates also spend money for the election campaigns. The EC has issued a code of conduct that does not allow a candidate to spend more than Rs 300,000. However, Gopinath Mainali, former secretary of the EC, says that this code of conduct is not applicable in practice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The code of conduct is just for the sake of formality. Since the commission appoints officials on from political parties, no action will be taken even if the parties and candidates violate the code of conduct," he said. Former Secretary Mainali is of the view that the electoral economy has both positive and negative aspects. According to him, the parties spend a few billion rupees on propaganda and publicity. Even the NGOs and INGOs can spend on voter education. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Economist Dr Dilliraj Khanal said that apart from the problem of increasing budget deficit and reducing development expenditure, there is a risk of inflation when a lot of money flows into the economy all of a sudden. He said that the election would create short-term employment. However, Khanal is of the view that the election has not had a significant impact on the overall economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He sees the election as a threat that is likely to increase liquidity crisis, increase consumption, increase imports and put pressure on foreign exchange reserves. "Increased economic activity has some positive effects on gross domestic product (GDP). However, according to the rules of economics, exports have a positive effect on the economy and imports have a negative effect," he said. Khanal believes that the election will not have much impact on domestic production but it will not have much impact on the economy as imports will increase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Election Commission, in the previous election, there was a provision of keeping a deposit of Rs 1,500 when registering for the candidacy of chief of municipality and rural municipality. There is a provision of to exempt half the deposit amount for women, Dalits and people from the minority groups or poor candidates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The commission has arranged deposits of Rs 1,000 for ward chairperson and Rs 500 for ward members. If a candidate gets less than 10 percent of the total votes, the deposit will be confiscated. There is a rule that the confiscated amount should be deposited in the state coffers. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14792', 'image' => '20220405032610_EC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:25:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu. The program, that kicked off on April 4 will run till April 6, Wednesday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The three-day training program kicked off with two plenary sessions on “E-tourism marketing,” and “Handicraft and Agriculture: Leveraging Digital Technology Opportunities”. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inaugurating the program, Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhakri launched a manual entitled “Beginner’s manual on Digital Marketing and E-commerce”. On the occasion Minister Jhakri stressed on empowering women socially and economically. She also expressed her confidence that this training program would help women in digitalization of their business. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, president of South Asian Women Development Forum, Pramila Acharya Rijal informed that, since the inception of UNESCAP and SAWDF partnership project on “E-commerce Capacity Building for Women-led SMEs in South Asia”, more than 1500 women entrepreneurs have been trained in South Asia, with more than 200 Nepali women entrepreneurs benefitting from this project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Dr Rajan Sudesh Ratna, deputy head of ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi, India, the “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” has been instrumental in bridging the digital divide and will help in a stronger participation of women entrepreneurs in the digitization business in South Asia.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The training aims to share experiences of successful e-commerce and digital marketing women entrepreneurs, and train them on ways to register and link their businesses to e-commerce and digital marketing platforms, the organisers said. Furthermore, they are also organising the event to help women entrepreneurs build a network and provide an opportunity to display their product and services to fellow participants. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14789', 'image' => '20220405022549_Training-of-women-entrepreneurs-04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 14:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Struggling to Acquire Loans from Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, banks have acquired only a minimal amount of loan during this period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bankers say it is difficult to acquire loan from foreign banks because the country doesn’t have credit rating and the loan becomes expensive due to the fluctuation in rate of dollar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Acquiring loans from foreign banks is a good alternative to resolve the liquidity crisis,” says Vice President of Nepal Bankers’ Association Sunil KC, who is also the CEO of NMB Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“However, foreign banks don’t trust us because we lack country rating,” added KC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">So far, around a dozen banks have sought permission from the central bank to acquire loans worth Rs 30 billion in total from foreign banks. Out of that amount, around Rs 10 billion has already entered the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around half a dozen BFIs including a microfinance company have acquired foreign loans so far. Majority of those loans were provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the World Bank Group. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides loan from IFC, some BFIs have also acquired loans from Switzerland, Germany, Dubai and Singapore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta says that the BFIs are struggling to acquire foreign loans as there is a provision to invest such loans in infrastructure and development projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Loans from abroad need to be invested in development projects. Such loans are expensive and therefore BFIs are facing difficulty in taking such loans and investing them in development projects,” said Bhatta.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14785', 'image' => '20220404080256_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 20:02:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supply of Petroleum Products Eases after a Pact between NOC and Dealers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government-owned petrol stations across the country were jam-packed this weekend after the private petrol stations refused to collect up petroleum products from the NOC demanding hike in commission.</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 Nepal Petroleum Dealers' National Association had launched a protest last week against the NOC for not increasing the commission received by private petrol stations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The dealers argued that they incurred huge losses due to the rising prices of petroleum products in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the agreement, supply of petroleum products in the market has eased since Sunday morning (April 4), RSS further reported. The NOC said it delivered 1,600 kiloliters of petrol and 1,100 kiloliters of diesel to the market.</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 the agreement, a decision on the commission amounts and the supply of LP gas would be taken within seven days while the other demands of the association would be addressed by May 29, informed NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14784', 'image' => '20220404054538_nocc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 17:44:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15041', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Multinational Companies to Build 2 Blocks in Simara SEZ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara. The Special Economic Zone Authority is preparing to bring a foreign company to build infrastructure on 200 bigahs of land in block B and C of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Block A of the SEZ has already been completed. SEZ Executive Director Chandika Prasad Bhatta informed that they are preparing to propose to multinational companies from China, India and other countries to build the infrastructure required for B and C blocks of the SEZ. The SEZ will have a total of 5 blocks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On Sunday, SEZ and Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA) reached an agreement to invest in the construction of infrastructure in those blocks of Simara SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We will bring private sector and multinational companies for the construction of SEZ under public-private partnership concept," Bhatta said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhatta said that it was necessary to bring in new investors and foreign companies to create export-oriented environment as per the objective of SEZ. So far, only the government has been investing in the infrastructure to be built in the SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Accordingly, the government has invested Rs 3 billion in the construction of drinking water, electricity, administrative building, sewerage, roads and other infrastructure in block A of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The SEZs have been set up with the main objective of promoting trade and export.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14783', 'image' => '20220405012430_1649031704.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 16:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15038', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare up by 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. The Department of Transport Management has increased the fares for long distance route by 10 to 15 percent as per a ministerial-level decision taken by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport had decided to increase the fare of inter-provincial public transportation on Thursday. Based on the same decision, the department issued a notice on Sunday informing that public transportation fares in hill and terai regions have been fixed depending upon the geography of the area. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The fares for cargo vehicles have been increased by 13 percent in the hill region and by 15 percent in the terai region, the department informed. Meanwhile, the fare of passenger vehicles has been increased by 10 percent. Director of the department, Namaraj Ghimire said that the fares have been adjusted based on the increased rates of fuels in the international market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The transportation fares will be adjusted automatically if the prices of fuel fluctuate by 5 percent,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Central Federation of Public Transport, Bharat Nepal stated that the transport entrepreneurs have partially agreed with the government’s decision of adjustment of public transportation fares. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We presented a memorandum to the ministry for increasing the fares by 16 to 26 percent based on the increase in rates of fuels. But the government decided to increase the fares by just 15 percent and we are dissatisfied with it,” said Nepal, adding, “We are happy with the implementation of the automated fare system that we have been demanding time and again.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14782', 'image' => '20220404020507_public transport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:04:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15039', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Lowers Electricity Rate by Rs 13', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India has reduced the maximum price of electricity from IRs 20 to IRs 12. On the other hand, the production of electricity has started to increase in Nepal due to the melting of snow. With the onset of monsoon in June / July, Nepal's surplus energy is expected to be wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission of India (CERI) has recently issued a notification lowering the maximum power purchase rate from IRs 20 per unit to IRs 12 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, the electricity that Nepal buys from the Indian Electricity Exchange Market is expected to be cheaper. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been importing electricity from the Indian market at IRs 20 (NRs 32) per unit recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the energy crisis in India, NEA was forced to buy electricity at exorbitant price through bidding in the open market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This had forced NEA to sell electricity purchased at IRs 32 to be sold at an average price of NRs 10 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Now, NEA is getting electricity at less than that rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most of the hydropower projects in Nepal are based on river flow. When the amount of water in the river decreases in winter, the production of the hydropower project automatically decreases. NEA has been importing electricity from India and supplying it to the domestic market during the dry season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, India is not able to generate enough electricity due to the shortage of coal. Due to this reason, electricity is being bought and sold at maximum rate in the Indian market due to low production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In view of its negative impact, particularly on the country’s industrial sector, the Indian government has reduced the maximum rate limit. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Indian industries and factories have also been affected by the hike of energy prices. They are also forced to buy electricity at expensive rates.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14779', 'image' => '20220404020923_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:08:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15036', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal, India Issue Common Vision on Energy Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has been making efforts since a long time for selling surplus electricity produced during the monsoon in the regional market, it had not been successful. Nepal's goal of exporting electricity has got the green signal after the two countries issued the 'India-Nepal Common Vision' on energy development during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s visit to the southern neighbour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">By issuing the vision, both the countries have agreed to increase mutual cooperation in the energy sector. With this, Nepal's aspiration of entering the regional power market will turn to reality. The prime ministers of both the countries have described the Common Vision as the biggest achievement so far in the energy sector. It is believed that this will pave the way for exporting surplus electricity to India and Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Common Vision envisages developing some big projects in Nepal through joint investment of both the countries, constructing inter-country transmission line and providing appropriate access based on market demand, among other things. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcement to include the countries in the BBIN, a sub-regional organisation, in the Common Vision is significant in itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the latest agreement with India, Nepal has been ensured the market for electricity in India and up to Bangladesh. It may be noted that during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit to India, Indian Prime Minister publicly pledged to purchase electricity from Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal and her Indian counterpart Raj Kumar Singh discussed about the development of energy of Nepal during a sideline meeting. </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"">Nepal exported 39 megawatts of electricity to India from two projects in Nuwakot five months ago. The projects were constructed with Indian grants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In lack of market, approximately Rs 5 billion worth of electricity was wasted, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14778', 'image' => '20220404114358_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 11:42:57', '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' => '15065', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cable TV Operators Oppose Amendment to National Broadcasting Regulation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 8: The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Entrepreneurs has expressed its reservation over the 11th amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 8: The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Entrepreneurs has expressed its reservation over the 11<sup>th</sup> amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation accused the government of amending the regulation without consulting with the stakeholders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The 11<sup>th</sup> amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052 has included some provisions that curtail the basic rights ensured by the constitution. The federation expresses its objection to the faulty and unconstitutional amendment,” reads a statement issued by the federation on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation said that the amended regulation has included some provisions which the federation had been pressing for since a long time but many other issues have been left out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the federation, the amended regulation will benefit a certain group of service providers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement says that the new provision requires the service providers to mandatorily take permission from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to operate OTT streaming service. It means that the foreign OTT services will be considered illegal once the new provision comes into effect. Therefore, the federation has urged the government to stop such OTT streaming services immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had amended the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052 on March 3.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14807', 'image' => '20220408110532_plataforms.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 11:04:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15060', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third Rating Company Comes into Operation in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Established as a subsidiary of India's rating agency Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd, the company has a paid-up capital of Rs 100 million. According to the Credit Rating Rules 2068, in order to establish a credit rating company in Nepal, it is mandatory to have partnership with an organization that has done rating work abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, 51% share of the company is held by Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd and the rest belongs to the local partners.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a need for a new rating company in Nepal as the Nepal Rastra Bank has made arrangements for rating even for loans of more than Rs 500 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s office is located at Baneshwor Heights. Chief Executive Officer of Informerics Credit Rating Nepal, Rabin Pudasaini, assured that the service of the company will be of high quality.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of rating companies in Nepal is currently three. The other two rating companies in operation are Care Rating Nepal and ICRA Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14802', 'image' => '20220407012426_credit-rating.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 13:23:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15057', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bird Flu on the Rise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu. The ministry warned that the infection is on the rise. Bird flu has spread in 13 districts in the last two months. The situation has gone out of hand after the government failed to take appropriate steps to control the infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the Ministry, Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the number of bird flu cases has increased this year as compared to previous years. The infection rate is more widespread than estimated by the Ministry and the Department of Livestock Services this year. That is why Sanjel insisted that all stakeholders need to be highly alert.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that they face manpower crunch and lack of budget to stop the infection even though the infection rate is increasing day by day. The department has allocated a budget of Rs 12.1 million this year for infection prevention and compensation. But looking at the current state of infection, it is estimated that Rs 100 million is needed to control it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, bird flu has been confirmed in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kaski, Morang, Udayapur, Sunsari, Bara, Parsa and Dhanusha so far. The department has issued a notice urging all poultry traders to be more alert and not to move livestock and meat from the infected areas to other places. The departments’ spokesperson Dr Chandra Dhakal said that the infection is spreading in large farms and it is becoming difficult for a limited number of people to control the spread of the disease.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14798', 'image' => '20220406032807_birddd.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 15:27:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Pledges to Support Employment Promotion in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The World Bank made such commitment during a courtesy call paid to the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security by its delegation led by the bank's Regional Director Lynne Benz. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, matters related to the effectiveness of the WB-funded projects were also discussed, according to the Labour Minster's secretariat. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha said the World Bank's support has been helpful in the implementation of the government-adopted strategy for the promotion of internal employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha thanked the World Bank for its support to the Youth Employment and Transformation Initiative Project under the Prime Minister Employment Programme to generate employment opportunities for youths within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB has backed the improvement of integrated employment management information system to collect personal details of unemployed person, his/her knowledge, skills and experience, potential area of employment, labour market demand and supply sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">WB's Regional Director Lynn expressed the bank's readiness to support Nepali people living a disadvantaged and vulnerable life in collaboration with the government, development partners and the private sector. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14796', 'image' => '20220406081629_World-Bank-600x337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:13:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has increased the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene each by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the revised price list of NOC, petrol will now cost Rs 160 per litre while diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 143 per litre. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, NOC had fixed the price of petrol at Rs 155 per litre almost three weeks ago on March 16. It had also fixed the price of diesel and kerosene at Rs 138 per litre after increasing the price by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NOC has also increased the price of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 25 per cylinder. The price of LPG had remained constant since the last 5 months while the prices of other petroleum products were increased time and again by the NOC under various pretexts. A cylinder of cooking gas will now cost Rs 1600 for the consumers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the NOC has also increased the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for domestic flights from Rs 151 per litre to Rs 156 per litre.</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"">This is the tenth time that the NOC has increased the prices of petroleum products in the last nine months. The prices have been rising constantly since August 2021, when the price of petrol was just Rs 130 per litre. </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 NOC has been stating that it has been bearing losses even after increasing the fuel prices. The NOC revises the price every fortnight after receiving a new list from the Indian Oil Corporation. Lately, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a rise in fuel prices in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14795', 'image' => '20220406103104_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:28:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Sharma in Favour of making Dry Port an Export Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The remittance and import-based economy is risky for Nepal, Minister Sharma said, stressing the dry port should be developed a centre point for exporting goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized following the inauguration of the dry port by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sharma said the dry port should be strategically used to increase export of food items and agro-based goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Finance Minister also highlighted the need of moving towards self-dependence by converting labour and natural resources into capital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further expressed the readiness on part of the government to collaborate with private sector and cooperatives for the same. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the data related to import and export on the occasion, he said Nepal's import has been estimated to be around Rs 1,308 billion as of mid-March 2022 and this has increased by 38 per cent in comparison to last 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"">He further shared the country's exports stand at Rs 147 billion in the last eight months which is a slightly better than in in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister added that COVID-19 pandemic followed by Russia-Ukraine war have added serious challenges to the country's economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of mid-March, the country's foreign exchange reserves were equivalent to Rs 940 billion, he said, adding the reserves were enough to manage import of goods for at least six months. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14794', 'image' => '20220406100345_20220406080457_ROS_KTM-9164.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Inaugurates Chobhar Dry Port', 'sub_title' => 'The new facility expected to develop Kathmandu as a major trade hub ', 'summary' => 'April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. The dry port was constructed to facilitate the country's international trade. </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"">Inaugurating the Dry Port, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed confidence that the construction of Nepal's first dry port on the outskirts of the capital is a milestone in developing the federal capital Kathmandu as an international trade hub. </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"">He said that the dry port would play a special role in facilitating export-based trade and availability of a one-stop service including customs screening and quarantine to reduce the cost of foreign trade and also to help the administrative process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further claimed that the dry port would promote export by facilitating trade and enhancing transparency. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port is expected to further ease foreign trade through Kathmandu and make the trade of goods and services competitive and effective by reducing costs involved in export. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that administrative hassles are still prevalent especially in the transportation of goods in Nepal's foreign trade, PM Deuba said such a high-quality trade infrastructure would help lessen the hassles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba said trade deficit could be reduced by increasing the export of Nepal-made goods in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM assured that his government was committed to create a conducive environment for industrial development and to attract foreign investment. He added that various programmes were introduced for reforms at policy-level and procedural level to achieve the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the PM spoke of the need to simplify and reduce the existing procedural hassles in foreign trade and said he was ready to collaborate with the private sector to promote trade. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14793', 'image' => '20220406100418_ROS_KTM-9311.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:04:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Expenditure of Local Election Likely to Cross Rs 40 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13. With 38 days left for the election, experts have analyzed the impact of election on the economy from various angles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated a budget of around Rs 9 billion to the Election Commission (EC). The ministry has also given approval to the Ministry of Home Affairs to spend around Rs 10 billion. The Home Ministry will deploy temporary police in polling stations across the country for election security and pay them from the allocated budget. These two government bodies will spend around Rs 19 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shaligram Poudel, spokesperson of the EC, the amount will be spent on voter education, printing and transportation of ballot papers, election observation and salaries and allowances of polling staff. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance estimates that Rs 30 to 40 billion will be spent on local level elections including the expenses of the Election Commission and the Home Ministry. Not only the government, but the political parties and the candidates also spend money for the election campaigns. The EC has issued a code of conduct that does not allow a candidate to spend more than Rs 300,000. However, Gopinath Mainali, former secretary of the EC, says that this code of conduct is not applicable in practice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The code of conduct is just for the sake of formality. Since the commission appoints officials on from political parties, no action will be taken even if the parties and candidates violate the code of conduct," he said. Former Secretary Mainali is of the view that the electoral economy has both positive and negative aspects. According to him, the parties spend a few billion rupees on propaganda and publicity. Even the NGOs and INGOs can spend on voter education. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Economist Dr Dilliraj Khanal said that apart from the problem of increasing budget deficit and reducing development expenditure, there is a risk of inflation when a lot of money flows into the economy all of a sudden. He said that the election would create short-term employment. However, Khanal is of the view that the election has not had a significant impact on the overall economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He sees the election as a threat that is likely to increase liquidity crisis, increase consumption, increase imports and put pressure on foreign exchange reserves. "Increased economic activity has some positive effects on gross domestic product (GDP). However, according to the rules of economics, exports have a positive effect on the economy and imports have a negative effect," he said. Khanal believes that the election will not have much impact on domestic production but it will not have much impact on the economy as imports will increase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Election Commission, in the previous election, there was a provision of keeping a deposit of Rs 1,500 when registering for the candidacy of chief of municipality and rural municipality. There is a provision of to exempt half the deposit amount for women, Dalits and people from the minority groups or poor candidates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The commission has arranged deposits of Rs 1,000 for ward chairperson and Rs 500 for ward members. If a candidate gets less than 10 percent of the total votes, the deposit will be confiscated. There is a rule that the confiscated amount should be deposited in the state coffers. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14792', 'image' => '20220405032610_EC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:25:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu. The program, that kicked off on April 4 will run till April 6, Wednesday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The three-day training program kicked off with two plenary sessions on “E-tourism marketing,” and “Handicraft and Agriculture: Leveraging Digital Technology Opportunities”. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inaugurating the program, Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhakri launched a manual entitled “Beginner’s manual on Digital Marketing and E-commerce”. On the occasion Minister Jhakri stressed on empowering women socially and economically. She also expressed her confidence that this training program would help women in digitalization of their business. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, president of South Asian Women Development Forum, Pramila Acharya Rijal informed that, since the inception of UNESCAP and SAWDF partnership project on “E-commerce Capacity Building for Women-led SMEs in South Asia”, more than 1500 women entrepreneurs have been trained in South Asia, with more than 200 Nepali women entrepreneurs benefitting from this project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Dr Rajan Sudesh Ratna, deputy head of ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi, India, the “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” has been instrumental in bridging the digital divide and will help in a stronger participation of women entrepreneurs in the digitization business in South Asia.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The training aims to share experiences of successful e-commerce and digital marketing women entrepreneurs, and train them on ways to register and link their businesses to e-commerce and digital marketing platforms, the organisers said. Furthermore, they are also organising the event to help women entrepreneurs build a network and provide an opportunity to display their product and services to fellow participants. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14789', 'image' => '20220405022549_Training-of-women-entrepreneurs-04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 14:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Struggling to Acquire Loans from Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, banks have acquired only a minimal amount of loan during this period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bankers say it is difficult to acquire loan from foreign banks because the country doesn’t have credit rating and the loan becomes expensive due to the fluctuation in rate of dollar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Acquiring loans from foreign banks is a good alternative to resolve the liquidity crisis,” says Vice President of Nepal Bankers’ Association Sunil KC, who is also the CEO of NMB Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“However, foreign banks don’t trust us because we lack country rating,” added KC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">So far, around a dozen banks have sought permission from the central bank to acquire loans worth Rs 30 billion in total from foreign banks. Out of that amount, around Rs 10 billion has already entered the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around half a dozen BFIs including a microfinance company have acquired foreign loans so far. Majority of those loans were provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the World Bank Group. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides loan from IFC, some BFIs have also acquired loans from Switzerland, Germany, Dubai and Singapore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta says that the BFIs are struggling to acquire foreign loans as there is a provision to invest such loans in infrastructure and development projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Loans from abroad need to be invested in development projects. Such loans are expensive and therefore BFIs are facing difficulty in taking such loans and investing them in development projects,” said Bhatta.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14785', 'image' => '20220404080256_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 20:02:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supply of Petroleum Products Eases after a Pact between NOC and Dealers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government-owned petrol stations across the country were jam-packed this weekend after the private petrol stations refused to collect up petroleum products from the NOC demanding hike in commission.</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 Nepal Petroleum Dealers' National Association had launched a protest last week against the NOC for not increasing the commission received by private petrol stations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The dealers argued that they incurred huge losses due to the rising prices of petroleum products in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the agreement, supply of petroleum products in the market has eased since Sunday morning (April 4), RSS further reported. The NOC said it delivered 1,600 kiloliters of petrol and 1,100 kiloliters of diesel to the market.</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 the agreement, a decision on the commission amounts and the supply of LP gas would be taken within seven days while the other demands of the association would be addressed by May 29, informed NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14784', 'image' => '20220404054538_nocc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 17:44:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15041', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Multinational Companies to Build 2 Blocks in Simara SEZ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara. The Special Economic Zone Authority is preparing to bring a foreign company to build infrastructure on 200 bigahs of land in block B and C of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Block A of the SEZ has already been completed. SEZ Executive Director Chandika Prasad Bhatta informed that they are preparing to propose to multinational companies from China, India and other countries to build the infrastructure required for B and C blocks of the SEZ. The SEZ will have a total of 5 blocks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On Sunday, SEZ and Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA) reached an agreement to invest in the construction of infrastructure in those blocks of Simara SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We will bring private sector and multinational companies for the construction of SEZ under public-private partnership concept," Bhatta said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhatta said that it was necessary to bring in new investors and foreign companies to create export-oriented environment as per the objective of SEZ. So far, only the government has been investing in the infrastructure to be built in the SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Accordingly, the government has invested Rs 3 billion in the construction of drinking water, electricity, administrative building, sewerage, roads and other infrastructure in block A of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The SEZs have been set up with the main objective of promoting trade and export.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14783', 'image' => '20220405012430_1649031704.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 16:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15038', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare up by 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. The Department of Transport Management has increased the fares for long distance route by 10 to 15 percent as per a ministerial-level decision taken by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport had decided to increase the fare of inter-provincial public transportation on Thursday. Based on the same decision, the department issued a notice on Sunday informing that public transportation fares in hill and terai regions have been fixed depending upon the geography of the area. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The fares for cargo vehicles have been increased by 13 percent in the hill region and by 15 percent in the terai region, the department informed. Meanwhile, the fare of passenger vehicles has been increased by 10 percent. Director of the department, Namaraj Ghimire said that the fares have been adjusted based on the increased rates of fuels in the international market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The transportation fares will be adjusted automatically if the prices of fuel fluctuate by 5 percent,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Central Federation of Public Transport, Bharat Nepal stated that the transport entrepreneurs have partially agreed with the government’s decision of adjustment of public transportation fares. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We presented a memorandum to the ministry for increasing the fares by 16 to 26 percent based on the increase in rates of fuels. But the government decided to increase the fares by just 15 percent and we are dissatisfied with it,” said Nepal, adding, “We are happy with the implementation of the automated fare system that we have been demanding time and again.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14782', 'image' => '20220404020507_public transport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:04:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15039', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Lowers Electricity Rate by Rs 13', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India has reduced the maximum price of electricity from IRs 20 to IRs 12. On the other hand, the production of electricity has started to increase in Nepal due to the melting of snow. With the onset of monsoon in June / July, Nepal's surplus energy is expected to be wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission of India (CERI) has recently issued a notification lowering the maximum power purchase rate from IRs 20 per unit to IRs 12 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, the electricity that Nepal buys from the Indian Electricity Exchange Market is expected to be cheaper. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been importing electricity from the Indian market at IRs 20 (NRs 32) per unit recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the energy crisis in India, NEA was forced to buy electricity at exorbitant price through bidding in the open market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This had forced NEA to sell electricity purchased at IRs 32 to be sold at an average price of NRs 10 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Now, NEA is getting electricity at less than that rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most of the hydropower projects in Nepal are based on river flow. When the amount of water in the river decreases in winter, the production of the hydropower project automatically decreases. NEA has been importing electricity from India and supplying it to the domestic market during the dry season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, India is not able to generate enough electricity due to the shortage of coal. Due to this reason, electricity is being bought and sold at maximum rate in the Indian market due to low production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In view of its negative impact, particularly on the country’s industrial sector, the Indian government has reduced the maximum rate limit. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Indian industries and factories have also been affected by the hike of energy prices. They are also forced to buy electricity at expensive rates.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14779', 'image' => '20220404020923_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:08:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15036', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal, India Issue Common Vision on Energy Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has been making efforts since a long time for selling surplus electricity produced during the monsoon in the regional market, it had not been successful. Nepal's goal of exporting electricity has got the green signal after the two countries issued the 'India-Nepal Common Vision' on energy development during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s visit to the southern neighbour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">By issuing the vision, both the countries have agreed to increase mutual cooperation in the energy sector. With this, Nepal's aspiration of entering the regional power market will turn to reality. The prime ministers of both the countries have described the Common Vision as the biggest achievement so far in the energy sector. It is believed that this will pave the way for exporting surplus electricity to India and Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Common Vision envisages developing some big projects in Nepal through joint investment of both the countries, constructing inter-country transmission line and providing appropriate access based on market demand, among other things. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcement to include the countries in the BBIN, a sub-regional organisation, in the Common Vision is significant in itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the latest agreement with India, Nepal has been ensured the market for electricity in India and up to Bangladesh. It may be noted that during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit to India, Indian Prime Minister publicly pledged to purchase electricity from Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal and her Indian counterpart Raj Kumar Singh discussed about the development of energy of Nepal during a sideline meeting. </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"">Nepal exported 39 megawatts of electricity to India from two projects in Nuwakot five months ago. The projects were constructed with Indian grants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In lack of market, approximately Rs 5 billion worth of electricity was wasted, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14778', 'image' => '20220404114358_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 11:42:57', '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' => '15065', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cable TV Operators Oppose Amendment to National Broadcasting Regulation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 8: The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Entrepreneurs has expressed its reservation over the 11th amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 8: The Federation of Nepal Cable Television Entrepreneurs has expressed its reservation over the 11<sup>th</sup> amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation accused the government of amending the regulation without consulting with the stakeholders.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The 11<sup>th</sup> amendment to the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052 has included some provisions that curtail the basic rights ensured by the constitution. The federation expresses its objection to the faulty and unconstitutional amendment,” reads a statement issued by the federation on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation said that the amended regulation has included some provisions which the federation had been pressing for since a long time but many other issues have been left out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the federation, the amended regulation will benefit a certain group of service providers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement says that the new provision requires the service providers to mandatorily take permission from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to operate OTT streaming service. It means that the foreign OTT services will be considered illegal once the new provision comes into effect. Therefore, the federation has urged the government to stop such OTT streaming services immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had amended the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052 on March 3.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14807', 'image' => '20220408110532_plataforms.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 11:04:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15060', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third Rating Company Comes into Operation in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Established as a subsidiary of India's rating agency Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd, the company has a paid-up capital of Rs 100 million. According to the Credit Rating Rules 2068, in order to establish a credit rating company in Nepal, it is mandatory to have partnership with an organization that has done rating work abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, 51% share of the company is held by Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd and the rest belongs to the local partners.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a need for a new rating company in Nepal as the Nepal Rastra Bank has made arrangements for rating even for loans of more than Rs 500 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s office is located at Baneshwor Heights. Chief Executive Officer of Informerics Credit Rating Nepal, Rabin Pudasaini, assured that the service of the company will be of high quality.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of rating companies in Nepal is currently three. The other two rating companies in operation are Care Rating Nepal and ICRA Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14802', 'image' => '20220407012426_credit-rating.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 13:23:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15057', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bird Flu on the Rise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu. The ministry warned that the infection is on the rise. Bird flu has spread in 13 districts in the last two months. The situation has gone out of hand after the government failed to take appropriate steps to control the infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the Ministry, Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the number of bird flu cases has increased this year as compared to previous years. The infection rate is more widespread than estimated by the Ministry and the Department of Livestock Services this year. That is why Sanjel insisted that all stakeholders need to be highly alert.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that they face manpower crunch and lack of budget to stop the infection even though the infection rate is increasing day by day. The department has allocated a budget of Rs 12.1 million this year for infection prevention and compensation. But looking at the current state of infection, it is estimated that Rs 100 million is needed to control it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, bird flu has been confirmed in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kaski, Morang, Udayapur, Sunsari, Bara, Parsa and Dhanusha so far. The department has issued a notice urging all poultry traders to be more alert and not to move livestock and meat from the infected areas to other places. The departments’ spokesperson Dr Chandra Dhakal said that the infection is spreading in large farms and it is becoming difficult for a limited number of people to control the spread of the disease.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14798', 'image' => '20220406032807_birddd.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 15:27:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Pledges to Support Employment Promotion in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The World Bank made such commitment during a courtesy call paid to the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security by its delegation led by the bank's Regional Director Lynne Benz. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, matters related to the effectiveness of the WB-funded projects were also discussed, according to the Labour Minster's secretariat. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha said the World Bank's support has been helpful in the implementation of the government-adopted strategy for the promotion of internal employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha thanked the World Bank for its support to the Youth Employment and Transformation Initiative Project under the Prime Minister Employment Programme to generate employment opportunities for youths within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB has backed the improvement of integrated employment management information system to collect personal details of unemployed person, his/her knowledge, skills and experience, potential area of employment, labour market demand and supply sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">WB's Regional Director Lynn expressed the bank's readiness to support Nepali people living a disadvantaged and vulnerable life in collaboration with the government, development partners and the private sector. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14796', 'image' => '20220406081629_World-Bank-600x337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:13:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has increased the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene each by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the revised price list of NOC, petrol will now cost Rs 160 per litre while diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 143 per litre. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, NOC had fixed the price of petrol at Rs 155 per litre almost three weeks ago on March 16. It had also fixed the price of diesel and kerosene at Rs 138 per litre after increasing the price by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NOC has also increased the price of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 25 per cylinder. The price of LPG had remained constant since the last 5 months while the prices of other petroleum products were increased time and again by the NOC under various pretexts. A cylinder of cooking gas will now cost Rs 1600 for the consumers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the NOC has also increased the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for domestic flights from Rs 151 per litre to Rs 156 per litre.</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"">This is the tenth time that the NOC has increased the prices of petroleum products in the last nine months. The prices have been rising constantly since August 2021, when the price of petrol was just Rs 130 per litre. </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 NOC has been stating that it has been bearing losses even after increasing the fuel prices. The NOC revises the price every fortnight after receiving a new list from the Indian Oil Corporation. Lately, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a rise in fuel prices in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14795', 'image' => '20220406103104_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:28:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Sharma in Favour of making Dry Port an Export Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The remittance and import-based economy is risky for Nepal, Minister Sharma said, stressing the dry port should be developed a centre point for exporting goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized following the inauguration of the dry port by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sharma said the dry port should be strategically used to increase export of food items and agro-based goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Finance Minister also highlighted the need of moving towards self-dependence by converting labour and natural resources into capital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further expressed the readiness on part of the government to collaborate with private sector and cooperatives for the same. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the data related to import and export on the occasion, he said Nepal's import has been estimated to be around Rs 1,308 billion as of mid-March 2022 and this has increased by 38 per cent in comparison to last 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"">He further shared the country's exports stand at Rs 147 billion in the last eight months which is a slightly better than in in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister added that COVID-19 pandemic followed by Russia-Ukraine war have added serious challenges to the country's economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of mid-March, the country's foreign exchange reserves were equivalent to Rs 940 billion, he said, adding the reserves were enough to manage import of goods for at least six months. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14794', 'image' => '20220406100345_20220406080457_ROS_KTM-9164.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Inaugurates Chobhar Dry Port', 'sub_title' => 'The new facility expected to develop Kathmandu as a major trade hub ', 'summary' => 'April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. The dry port was constructed to facilitate the country's international trade. </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"">Inaugurating the Dry Port, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed confidence that the construction of Nepal's first dry port on the outskirts of the capital is a milestone in developing the federal capital Kathmandu as an international trade hub. </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"">He said that the dry port would play a special role in facilitating export-based trade and availability of a one-stop service including customs screening and quarantine to reduce the cost of foreign trade and also to help the administrative process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further claimed that the dry port would promote export by facilitating trade and enhancing transparency. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port is expected to further ease foreign trade through Kathmandu and make the trade of goods and services competitive and effective by reducing costs involved in export. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that administrative hassles are still prevalent especially in the transportation of goods in Nepal's foreign trade, PM Deuba said such a high-quality trade infrastructure would help lessen the hassles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba said trade deficit could be reduced by increasing the export of Nepal-made goods in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM assured that his government was committed to create a conducive environment for industrial development and to attract foreign investment. He added that various programmes were introduced for reforms at policy-level and procedural level to achieve the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the PM spoke of the need to simplify and reduce the existing procedural hassles in foreign trade and said he was ready to collaborate with the private sector to promote trade. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14793', 'image' => '20220406100418_ROS_KTM-9311.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:04:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Expenditure of Local Election Likely to Cross Rs 40 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13. With 38 days left for the election, experts have analyzed the impact of election on the economy from various angles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated a budget of around Rs 9 billion to the Election Commission (EC). The ministry has also given approval to the Ministry of Home Affairs to spend around Rs 10 billion. The Home Ministry will deploy temporary police in polling stations across the country for election security and pay them from the allocated budget. These two government bodies will spend around Rs 19 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shaligram Poudel, spokesperson of the EC, the amount will be spent on voter education, printing and transportation of ballot papers, election observation and salaries and allowances of polling staff. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance estimates that Rs 30 to 40 billion will be spent on local level elections including the expenses of the Election Commission and the Home Ministry. Not only the government, but the political parties and the candidates also spend money for the election campaigns. The EC has issued a code of conduct that does not allow a candidate to spend more than Rs 300,000. However, Gopinath Mainali, former secretary of the EC, says that this code of conduct is not applicable in practice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The code of conduct is just for the sake of formality. Since the commission appoints officials on from political parties, no action will be taken even if the parties and candidates violate the code of conduct," he said. Former Secretary Mainali is of the view that the electoral economy has both positive and negative aspects. According to him, the parties spend a few billion rupees on propaganda and publicity. Even the NGOs and INGOs can spend on voter education. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Economist Dr Dilliraj Khanal said that apart from the problem of increasing budget deficit and reducing development expenditure, there is a risk of inflation when a lot of money flows into the economy all of a sudden. He said that the election would create short-term employment. However, Khanal is of the view that the election has not had a significant impact on the overall economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He sees the election as a threat that is likely to increase liquidity crisis, increase consumption, increase imports and put pressure on foreign exchange reserves. "Increased economic activity has some positive effects on gross domestic product (GDP). However, according to the rules of economics, exports have a positive effect on the economy and imports have a negative effect," he said. Khanal believes that the election will not have much impact on domestic production but it will not have much impact on the economy as imports will increase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Election Commission, in the previous election, there was a provision of keeping a deposit of Rs 1,500 when registering for the candidacy of chief of municipality and rural municipality. There is a provision of to exempt half the deposit amount for women, Dalits and people from the minority groups or poor candidates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The commission has arranged deposits of Rs 1,000 for ward chairperson and Rs 500 for ward members. If a candidate gets less than 10 percent of the total votes, the deposit will be confiscated. There is a rule that the confiscated amount should be deposited in the state coffers. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14792', 'image' => '20220405032610_EC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:25:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu. The program, that kicked off on April 4 will run till April 6, Wednesday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The three-day training program kicked off with two plenary sessions on “E-tourism marketing,” and “Handicraft and Agriculture: Leveraging Digital Technology Opportunities”. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inaugurating the program, Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhakri launched a manual entitled “Beginner’s manual on Digital Marketing and E-commerce”. On the occasion Minister Jhakri stressed on empowering women socially and economically. She also expressed her confidence that this training program would help women in digitalization of their business. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, president of South Asian Women Development Forum, Pramila Acharya Rijal informed that, since the inception of UNESCAP and SAWDF partnership project on “E-commerce Capacity Building for Women-led SMEs in South Asia”, more than 1500 women entrepreneurs have been trained in South Asia, with more than 200 Nepali women entrepreneurs benefitting from this project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Dr Rajan Sudesh Ratna, deputy head of ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi, India, the “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” has been instrumental in bridging the digital divide and will help in a stronger participation of women entrepreneurs in the digitization business in South Asia.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The training aims to share experiences of successful e-commerce and digital marketing women entrepreneurs, and train them on ways to register and link their businesses to e-commerce and digital marketing platforms, the organisers said. Furthermore, they are also organising the event to help women entrepreneurs build a network and provide an opportunity to display their product and services to fellow participants. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14789', 'image' => '20220405022549_Training-of-women-entrepreneurs-04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 14:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Struggling to Acquire Loans from Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, banks have acquired only a minimal amount of loan during this period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bankers say it is difficult to acquire loan from foreign banks because the country doesn’t have credit rating and the loan becomes expensive due to the fluctuation in rate of dollar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Acquiring loans from foreign banks is a good alternative to resolve the liquidity crisis,” says Vice President of Nepal Bankers’ Association Sunil KC, who is also the CEO of NMB Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“However, foreign banks don’t trust us because we lack country rating,” added KC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">So far, around a dozen banks have sought permission from the central bank to acquire loans worth Rs 30 billion in total from foreign banks. Out of that amount, around Rs 10 billion has already entered the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around half a dozen BFIs including a microfinance company have acquired foreign loans so far. Majority of those loans were provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the World Bank Group. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides loan from IFC, some BFIs have also acquired loans from Switzerland, Germany, Dubai and Singapore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta says that the BFIs are struggling to acquire foreign loans as there is a provision to invest such loans in infrastructure and development projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Loans from abroad need to be invested in development projects. Such loans are expensive and therefore BFIs are facing difficulty in taking such loans and investing them in development projects,” said Bhatta.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14785', 'image' => '20220404080256_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 20:02:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supply of Petroleum Products Eases after a Pact between NOC and Dealers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government-owned petrol stations across the country were jam-packed this weekend after the private petrol stations refused to collect up petroleum products from the NOC demanding hike in commission.</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 Nepal Petroleum Dealers' National Association had launched a protest last week against the NOC for not increasing the commission received by private petrol stations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The dealers argued that they incurred huge losses due to the rising prices of petroleum products in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the agreement, supply of petroleum products in the market has eased since Sunday morning (April 4), RSS further reported. The NOC said it delivered 1,600 kiloliters of petrol and 1,100 kiloliters of diesel to the market.</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 the agreement, a decision on the commission amounts and the supply of LP gas would be taken within seven days while the other demands of the association would be addressed by May 29, informed NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14784', 'image' => '20220404054538_nocc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 17:44:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15041', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Multinational Companies to Build 2 Blocks in Simara SEZ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara. The Special Economic Zone Authority is preparing to bring a foreign company to build infrastructure on 200 bigahs of land in block B and C of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Block A of the SEZ has already been completed. SEZ Executive Director Chandika Prasad Bhatta informed that they are preparing to propose to multinational companies from China, India and other countries to build the infrastructure required for B and C blocks of the SEZ. The SEZ will have a total of 5 blocks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On Sunday, SEZ and Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA) reached an agreement to invest in the construction of infrastructure in those blocks of Simara SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We will bring private sector and multinational companies for the construction of SEZ under public-private partnership concept," Bhatta said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhatta said that it was necessary to bring in new investors and foreign companies to create export-oriented environment as per the objective of SEZ. So far, only the government has been investing in the infrastructure to be built in the SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Accordingly, the government has invested Rs 3 billion in the construction of drinking water, electricity, administrative building, sewerage, roads and other infrastructure in block A of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The SEZs have been set up with the main objective of promoting trade and export.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14783', 'image' => '20220405012430_1649031704.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 16:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15038', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare up by 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. The Department of Transport Management has increased the fares for long distance route by 10 to 15 percent as per a ministerial-level decision taken by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport had decided to increase the fare of inter-provincial public transportation on Thursday. Based on the same decision, the department issued a notice on Sunday informing that public transportation fares in hill and terai regions have been fixed depending upon the geography of the area. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The fares for cargo vehicles have been increased by 13 percent in the hill region and by 15 percent in the terai region, the department informed. Meanwhile, the fare of passenger vehicles has been increased by 10 percent. Director of the department, Namaraj Ghimire said that the fares have been adjusted based on the increased rates of fuels in the international market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The transportation fares will be adjusted automatically if the prices of fuel fluctuate by 5 percent,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Central Federation of Public Transport, Bharat Nepal stated that the transport entrepreneurs have partially agreed with the government’s decision of adjustment of public transportation fares. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We presented a memorandum to the ministry for increasing the fares by 16 to 26 percent based on the increase in rates of fuels. But the government decided to increase the fares by just 15 percent and we are dissatisfied with it,” said Nepal, adding, “We are happy with the implementation of the automated fare system that we have been demanding time and again.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14782', 'image' => '20220404020507_public transport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:04:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15039', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Lowers Electricity Rate by Rs 13', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India has reduced the maximum price of electricity from IRs 20 to IRs 12. On the other hand, the production of electricity has started to increase in Nepal due to the melting of snow. With the onset of monsoon in June / July, Nepal's surplus energy is expected to be wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission of India (CERI) has recently issued a notification lowering the maximum power purchase rate from IRs 20 per unit to IRs 12 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, the electricity that Nepal buys from the Indian Electricity Exchange Market is expected to be cheaper. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been importing electricity from the Indian market at IRs 20 (NRs 32) per unit recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the energy crisis in India, NEA was forced to buy electricity at exorbitant price through bidding in the open market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This had forced NEA to sell electricity purchased at IRs 32 to be sold at an average price of NRs 10 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Now, NEA is getting electricity at less than that rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most of the hydropower projects in Nepal are based on river flow. When the amount of water in the river decreases in winter, the production of the hydropower project automatically decreases. NEA has been importing electricity from India and supplying it to the domestic market during the dry season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, India is not able to generate enough electricity due to the shortage of coal. Due to this reason, electricity is being bought and sold at maximum rate in the Indian market due to low production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In view of its negative impact, particularly on the country’s industrial sector, the Indian government has reduced the maximum rate limit. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Indian industries and factories have also been affected by the hike of energy prices. They are also forced to buy electricity at expensive rates.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14779', 'image' => '20220404020923_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:08:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15036', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal, India Issue Common Vision on Energy Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has been making efforts since a long time for selling surplus electricity produced during the monsoon in the regional market, it had not been successful. Nepal's goal of exporting electricity has got the green signal after the two countries issued the 'India-Nepal Common Vision' on energy development during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s visit to the southern neighbour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">By issuing the vision, both the countries have agreed to increase mutual cooperation in the energy sector. With this, Nepal's aspiration of entering the regional power market will turn to reality. The prime ministers of both the countries have described the Common Vision as the biggest achievement so far in the energy sector. It is believed that this will pave the way for exporting surplus electricity to India and Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Common Vision envisages developing some big projects in Nepal through joint investment of both the countries, constructing inter-country transmission line and providing appropriate access based on market demand, among other things. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcement to include the countries in the BBIN, a sub-regional organisation, in the Common Vision is significant in itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the latest agreement with India, Nepal has been ensured the market for electricity in India and up to Bangladesh. It may be noted that during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit to India, Indian Prime Minister publicly pledged to purchase electricity from Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal and her Indian counterpart Raj Kumar Singh discussed about the development of energy of Nepal during a sideline meeting. </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"">Nepal exported 39 megawatts of electricity to India from two projects in Nuwakot five months ago. The projects were constructed with Indian grants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In lack of market, approximately Rs 5 billion worth of electricity was wasted, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14778', 'image' => '20220404114358_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 11:42:57', '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
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The federation expresses its objection to the faulty and unconstitutional amendment,” reads a statement issued by the federation on Thursday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The federation said that the amended regulation has included some provisions which the federation had been pressing for since a long time but many other issues have been left out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the federation, the amended regulation will benefit a certain group of service providers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement says that the new provision requires the service providers to mandatorily take permission from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to operate OTT streaming service. It means that the foreign OTT services will be considered illegal once the new provision comes into effect. Therefore, the federation has urged the government to stop such OTT streaming services immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had amended the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052 on March 3.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-08', 'modified' => '2022-04-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14807', 'image' => '20220408110532_plataforms.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-08 11:04:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15060', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third Rating Company Comes into Operation in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 7: The third rating company has come into operation in Nepal. Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) issued credit rating license to Infomerics Credit Rating Nepal Limited on March 20.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Established as a subsidiary of India's rating agency Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd, the company has a paid-up capital of Rs 100 million. According to the Credit Rating Rules 2068, in order to establish a credit rating company in Nepal, it is mandatory to have partnership with an organization that has done rating work abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, 51% share of the company is held by Infomerics Valuation and Rating Pvt Ltd and the rest belongs to the local partners.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There is a need for a new rating company in Nepal as the Nepal Rastra Bank has made arrangements for rating even for loans of more than Rs 500 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company’s office is located at Baneshwor Heights. Chief Executive Officer of Informerics Credit Rating Nepal, Rabin Pudasaini, assured that the service of the company will be of high quality.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of rating companies in Nepal is currently three. The other two rating companies in operation are Care Rating Nepal and ICRA Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-07', 'modified' => '2022-04-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14802', 'image' => '20220407012426_credit-rating.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-07 13:23:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15057', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bird Flu on the Rise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 6: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has requested poultry farmers and businessmen to stay on high alert since the outbreak of bird flu. The ministry warned that the infection is on the rise. Bird flu has spread in 13 districts in the last two months. The situation has gone out of hand after the government failed to take appropriate steps to control the infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson of the Ministry, Prakash Kumar Sanjel said that the number of bird flu cases has increased this year as compared to previous years. The infection rate is more widespread than estimated by the Ministry and the Department of Livestock Services this year. That is why Sanjel insisted that all stakeholders need to be highly alert.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that they face manpower crunch and lack of budget to stop the infection even though the infection rate is increasing day by day. The department has allocated a budget of Rs 12.1 million this year for infection prevention and compensation. But looking at the current state of infection, it is estimated that Rs 100 million is needed to control it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, bird flu has been confirmed in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kaski, Morang, Udayapur, Sunsari, Bara, Parsa and Dhanusha so far. The department has issued a notice urging all poultry traders to be more alert and not to move livestock and meat from the infected areas to other places. The departments’ spokesperson Dr Chandra Dhakal said that the infection is spreading in large farms and it is becoming difficult for a limited number of people to control the spread of the disease.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14798', 'image' => '20220406032807_birddd.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 15:27:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15052', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Pledges to Support Employment Promotion in Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: The World Bank has pledged to provide support to the government's efforts for promoting employment within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The World Bank made such commitment during a courtesy call paid to the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security by its delegation led by the bank's Regional Director Lynne Benz. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, matters related to the effectiveness of the WB-funded projects were also discussed, according to the Labour Minster's secretariat. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha said the World Bank's support has been helpful in the implementation of the government-adopted strategy for the promotion of internal employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Shrestha thanked the World Bank for its support to the Youth Employment and Transformation Initiative Project under the Prime Minister Employment Programme to generate employment opportunities for youths within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The WB has backed the improvement of integrated employment management information system to collect personal details of unemployed person, his/her knowledge, skills and experience, potential area of employment, labour market demand and supply sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">WB's Regional Director Lynn expressed the bank's readiness to support Nepali people living a disadvantaged and vulnerable life in collaboration with the government, development partners and the private sector. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14796', 'image' => '20220406081629_World-Bank-600x337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:13:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15054', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 6: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Tuesday midnight (April 5).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has increased the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene each by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the revised price list of NOC, petrol will now cost Rs 160 per litre while diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 143 per litre. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prior to this, NOC had fixed the price of petrol at Rs 155 per litre almost three weeks ago on March 16. It had also fixed the price of diesel and kerosene at Rs 138 per litre after increasing the price by Rs 5 per litre.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NOC has also increased the price of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 25 per cylinder. The price of LPG had remained constant since the last 5 months while the prices of other petroleum products were increased time and again by the NOC under various pretexts. A cylinder of cooking gas will now cost Rs 1600 for the consumers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the NOC has also increased the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for domestic flights from Rs 151 per litre to Rs 156 per litre.</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"">This is the tenth time that the NOC has increased the prices of petroleum products in the last nine months. The prices have been rising constantly since August 2021, when the price of petrol was just Rs 130 per litre. </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 NOC has been stating that it has been bearing losses even after increasing the fuel prices. The NOC revises the price every fortnight after receiving a new list from the Indian Oil Corporation. Lately, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a rise in fuel prices in the international market.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14795', 'image' => '20220406103104_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:28:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15053', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Sharma in Favour of making Dry Port an Export Hub ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma underlined the urgency of making resolution to develop the dry port as an export centre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The remittance and import-based economy is risky for Nepal, Minister Sharma said, stressing the dry port should be developed a centre point for exporting goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized following the inauguration of the dry port by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sharma said the dry port should be strategically used to increase export of food items and agro-based goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Finance Minister also highlighted the need of moving towards self-dependence by converting labour and natural resources into capital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further expressed the readiness on part of the government to collaborate with private sector and cooperatives for the same. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the data related to import and export on the occasion, he said Nepal's import has been estimated to be around Rs 1,308 billion as of mid-March 2022 and this has increased by 38 per cent in comparison to last 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"">He further shared the country's exports stand at Rs 147 billion in the last eight months which is a slightly better than in in the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The minister added that COVID-19 pandemic followed by Russia-Ukraine war have added serious challenges to the country's economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of mid-March, the country's foreign exchange reserves were equivalent to Rs 940 billion, he said, adding the reserves were enough to manage import of goods for at least six months. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14794', 'image' => '20220406100345_20220406080457_ROS_KTM-9164.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 10:03:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15051', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Inaugurates Chobhar Dry Port', 'sub_title' => 'The new facility expected to develop Kathmandu as a major trade hub ', 'summary' => 'April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the Chobhar dry port amidst a programme on Tuesday, April 5. The dry port was constructed to facilitate the country's international trade. </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"">Inaugurating the Dry Port, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed confidence that the construction of Nepal's first dry port on the outskirts of the capital is a milestone in developing the federal capital Kathmandu as an international trade hub. </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"">He said that the dry port would play a special role in facilitating export-based trade and availability of a one-stop service including customs screening and quarantine to reduce the cost of foreign trade and also to help the administrative process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further claimed that the dry port would promote export by facilitating trade and enhancing transparency. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The dry port is expected to further ease foreign trade through Kathmandu and make the trade of goods and services competitive and effective by reducing costs involved in export. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that administrative hassles are still prevalent especially in the transportation of goods in Nepal's foreign trade, PM Deuba said such a high-quality trade infrastructure would help lessen the hassles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba said trade deficit could be reduced by increasing the export of Nepal-made goods in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM assured that his government was committed to create a conducive environment for industrial development and to attract foreign investment. He added that various programmes were introduced for reforms at policy-level and procedural level to achieve the target. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the PM spoke of the need to simplify and reduce the existing procedural hassles in foreign trade and said he was ready to collaborate with the private sector to promote trade. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-06', 'modified' => '2022-04-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14793', 'image' => '20220406100418_ROS_KTM-9311.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-06 08:04:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15050', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Expenditure of Local Election Likely to Cross Rs 40 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 5: The government is holding election in all 753 local levels on May 13. With 38 days left for the election, experts have analyzed the impact of election on the economy from various angles. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated a budget of around Rs 9 billion to the Election Commission (EC). The ministry has also given approval to the Ministry of Home Affairs to spend around Rs 10 billion. The Home Ministry will deploy temporary police in polling stations across the country for election security and pay them from the allocated budget. These two government bodies will spend around Rs 19 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shaligram Poudel, spokesperson of the EC, the amount will be spent on voter education, printing and transportation of ballot papers, election observation and salaries and allowances of polling staff. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance estimates that Rs 30 to 40 billion will be spent on local level elections including the expenses of the Election Commission and the Home Ministry. Not only the government, but the political parties and the candidates also spend money for the election campaigns. The EC has issued a code of conduct that does not allow a candidate to spend more than Rs 300,000. However, Gopinath Mainali, former secretary of the EC, says that this code of conduct is not applicable in practice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The code of conduct is just for the sake of formality. Since the commission appoints officials on from political parties, no action will be taken even if the parties and candidates violate the code of conduct," he said. Former Secretary Mainali is of the view that the electoral economy has both positive and negative aspects. According to him, the parties spend a few billion rupees on propaganda and publicity. Even the NGOs and INGOs can spend on voter education. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Economist Dr Dilliraj Khanal said that apart from the problem of increasing budget deficit and reducing development expenditure, there is a risk of inflation when a lot of money flows into the economy all of a sudden. He said that the election would create short-term employment. However, Khanal is of the view that the election has not had a significant impact on the overall economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He sees the election as a threat that is likely to increase liquidity crisis, increase consumption, increase imports and put pressure on foreign exchange reserves. "Increased economic activity has some positive effects on gross domestic product (GDP). However, according to the rules of economics, exports have a positive effect on the economy and imports have a negative effect," he said. Khanal believes that the election will not have much impact on domestic production but it will not have much impact on the economy as imports will increase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Election Commission, in the previous election, there was a provision of keeping a deposit of Rs 1,500 when registering for the candidacy of chief of municipality and rural municipality. There is a provision of to exempt half the deposit amount for women, Dalits and people from the minority groups or poor candidates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The commission has arranged deposits of Rs 1,000 for ward chairperson and Rs 500 for ward members. If a candidate gets less than 10 percent of the total votes, the deposit will be confiscated. There is a rule that the confiscated amount should be deposited in the state coffers. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14792', 'image' => '20220405032610_EC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 15:25:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15047', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4, Kathmandu: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and South Asian Women Development Forum (SAWDF) are jointly organizing a program on “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” in Kathmandu. The program, that kicked off on April 4 will run till April 6, Wednesday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The three-day training program kicked off with two plenary sessions on “E-tourism marketing,” and “Handicraft and Agriculture: Leveraging Digital Technology Opportunities”. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inaugurating the program, Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhakri launched a manual entitled “Beginner’s manual on Digital Marketing and E-commerce”. On the occasion Minister Jhakri stressed on empowering women socially and economically. She also expressed her confidence that this training program would help women in digitalization of their business. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, president of South Asian Women Development Forum, Pramila Acharya Rijal informed that, since the inception of UNESCAP and SAWDF partnership project on “E-commerce Capacity Building for Women-led SMEs in South Asia”, more than 1500 women entrepreneurs have been trained in South Asia, with more than 200 Nepali women entrepreneurs benefitting from this project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Dr Rajan Sudesh Ratna, deputy head of ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi, India, the “Training of Women Entrepreneurs on Expanding Business through E-commerce and Digital Marketing” has been instrumental in bridging the digital divide and will help in a stronger participation of women entrepreneurs in the digitization business in South Asia.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The training aims to share experiences of successful e-commerce and digital marketing women entrepreneurs, and train them on ways to register and link their businesses to e-commerce and digital marketing platforms, the organisers said. Furthermore, they are also organising the event to help women entrepreneurs build a network and provide an opportunity to display their product and services to fellow participants. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-05', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14789', 'image' => '20220405022549_Training-of-women-entrepreneurs-04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-05 14:24:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15043', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Struggling to Acquire Loans from Abroad', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">April 4: Banks are struggling to bring loans from foreign banks at a time when the financial system of the country is facing liquidity crunch. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had granted permission to the country’s banks four years ago to acquire loans from abroad.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, banks have acquired only a minimal amount of loan during this period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bankers say it is difficult to acquire loan from foreign banks because the country doesn’t have credit rating and the loan becomes expensive due to the fluctuation in rate of dollar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Acquiring loans from foreign banks is a good alternative to resolve the liquidity crisis,” says Vice President of Nepal Bankers’ Association Sunil KC, who is also the CEO of NMB Bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“However, foreign banks don’t trust us because we lack country rating,” added KC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">So far, around a dozen banks have sought permission from the central bank to acquire loans worth Rs 30 billion in total from foreign banks. Out of that amount, around Rs 10 billion has already entered the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Around half a dozen BFIs including a microfinance company have acquired foreign loans so far. Majority of those loans were provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the World Bank Group. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Besides loan from IFC, some BFIs have also acquired loans from Switzerland, Germany, Dubai and Singapore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta says that the BFIs are struggling to acquire foreign loans as there is a provision to invest such loans in infrastructure and development projects.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Loans from abroad need to be invested in development projects. Such loans are expensive and therefore BFIs are facing difficulty in taking such loans and investing them in development projects,” said Bhatta.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14785', 'image' => '20220404080256_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 20:02:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15042', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Supply of Petroleum Products Eases after a Pact between NOC and Dealers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: Supply of petroleum products in the market has eased following an agreement between the protesting petroleum dealers and the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government-owned petrol stations across the country were jam-packed this weekend after the private petrol stations refused to collect up petroleum products from the NOC demanding hike in commission.</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 Nepal Petroleum Dealers' National Association had launched a protest last week against the NOC for not increasing the commission received by private petrol stations, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. The dealers argued that they incurred huge losses due to the rising prices of petroleum products in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the agreement, supply of petroleum products in the market has eased since Sunday morning (April 4), RSS further reported. The NOC said it delivered 1,600 kiloliters of petrol and 1,100 kiloliters of diesel to the market.</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 the agreement, a decision on the commission amounts and the supply of LP gas would be taken within seven days while the other demands of the association would be addressed by May 29, informed NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14784', 'image' => '20220404054538_nocc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 17:44:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15041', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Multinational Companies to Build 2 Blocks in Simara SEZ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: Preparations are underway to bring a multinational company to invest in construction of infrastructure of two blocks of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Simara, Bara. The Special Economic Zone Authority is preparing to bring a foreign company to build infrastructure on 200 bigahs of land in block B and C of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Block A of the SEZ has already been completed. SEZ Executive Director Chandika Prasad Bhatta informed that they are preparing to propose to multinational companies from China, India and other countries to build the infrastructure required for B and C blocks of the SEZ. The SEZ will have a total of 5 blocks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On Sunday, SEZ and Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA) reached an agreement to invest in the construction of infrastructure in those blocks of Simara SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We will bring private sector and multinational companies for the construction of SEZ under public-private partnership concept," Bhatta said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhatta said that it was necessary to bring in new investors and foreign companies to create export-oriented environment as per the objective of SEZ. So far, only the government has been investing in the infrastructure to be built in the SEZ. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Accordingly, the government has invested Rs 3 billion in the construction of drinking water, electricity, administrative building, sewerage, roads and other infrastructure in block A of Simara SEZ.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The SEZs have been set up with the main objective of promoting trade and export.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14783', 'image' => '20220405012430_1649031704.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 16:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15038', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare up by 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">April 4: Public transportation fare has increased by 15 percent in Nepal. The Department of Transport Management has increased the fares for long distance route by 10 to 15 percent as per a ministerial-level decision taken by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport had decided to increase the fare of inter-provincial public transportation on Thursday. Based on the same decision, the department issued a notice on Sunday informing that public transportation fares in hill and terai regions have been fixed depending upon the geography of the area. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The fares for cargo vehicles have been increased by 13 percent in the hill region and by 15 percent in the terai region, the department informed. Meanwhile, the fare of passenger vehicles has been increased by 10 percent. Director of the department, Namaraj Ghimire said that the fares have been adjusted based on the increased rates of fuels in the international market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The transportation fares will be adjusted automatically if the prices of fuel fluctuate by 5 percent,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Central Federation of Public Transport, Bharat Nepal stated that the transport entrepreneurs have partially agreed with the government’s decision of adjustment of public transportation fares. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We presented a memorandum to the ministry for increasing the fares by 16 to 26 percent based on the increase in rates of fuels. But the government decided to increase the fares by just 15 percent and we are dissatisfied with it,” said Nepal, adding, “We are happy with the implementation of the automated fare system that we have been demanding time and again.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14782', 'image' => '20220404020507_public transport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:04:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15039', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Lowers Electricity Rate by Rs 13', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">April 4: The price of electricity imported from India has come down while domestic production has also increased in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India has reduced the maximum price of electricity from IRs 20 to IRs 12. On the other hand, the production of electricity has started to increase in Nepal due to the melting of snow. With the onset of monsoon in June / July, Nepal's surplus energy is expected to be wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission of India (CERI) has recently issued a notification lowering the maximum power purchase rate from IRs 20 per unit to IRs 12 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, the electricity that Nepal buys from the Indian Electricity Exchange Market is expected to be cheaper. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been importing electricity from the Indian market at IRs 20 (NRs 32) per unit recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the energy crisis in India, NEA was forced to buy electricity at exorbitant price through bidding in the open market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This had forced NEA to sell electricity purchased at IRs 32 to be sold at an average price of NRs 10 per unit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Now, NEA is getting electricity at less than that rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Most of the hydropower projects in Nepal are based on river flow. When the amount of water in the river decreases in winter, the production of the hydropower project automatically decreases. NEA has been importing electricity from India and supplying it to the domestic market during the dry season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, India is not able to generate enough electricity due to the shortage of coal. Due to this reason, electricity is being bought and sold at maximum rate in the Indian market due to low production.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In view of its negative impact, particularly on the country’s industrial sector, the Indian government has reduced the maximum rate limit. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Indian industries and factories have also been affected by the hike of energy prices. They are also forced to buy electricity at expensive rates.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14779', 'image' => '20220404020923_electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 14:08:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15036', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal, India Issue Common Vision on Energy Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">April 4: India has opened the door for electricity trade with Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although Nepal has been making efforts since a long time for selling surplus electricity produced during the monsoon in the regional market, it had not been successful. Nepal's goal of exporting electricity has got the green signal after the two countries issued the 'India-Nepal Common Vision' on energy development during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s visit to the southern neighbour. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">By issuing the vision, both the countries have agreed to increase mutual cooperation in the energy sector. With this, Nepal's aspiration of entering the regional power market will turn to reality. The prime ministers of both the countries have described the Common Vision as the biggest achievement so far in the energy sector. It is believed that this will pave the way for exporting surplus electricity to India and Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Common Vision envisages developing some big projects in Nepal through joint investment of both the countries, constructing inter-country transmission line and providing appropriate access based on market demand, among other things. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcement to include the countries in the BBIN, a sub-regional organisation, in the Common Vision is significant in itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the latest agreement with India, Nepal has been ensured the market for electricity in India and up to Bangladesh. It may be noted that during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit to India, Indian Prime Minister publicly pledged to purchase electricity from Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal and her Indian counterpart Raj Kumar Singh discussed about the development of energy of Nepal during a sideline meeting. </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"">Nepal exported 39 megawatts of electricity to India from two projects in Nuwakot five months ago. The projects were constructed with Indian grants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In lack of market, approximately Rs 5 billion worth of electricity was wasted, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-04-04', 'modified' => '2022-04-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14778', 'image' => '20220404114358_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-04-04 11:42:57', '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
