March 17: Fagu Purnima, popularly known as the festival of Holi, is being observed with much fanfare in the capital and hill districts today (March 17 this…
March 17: Fagu Purnima, popularly known as the festival of Holi, is being observed with much fanfare in the capital and hill districts today (March 17 this…
March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again.…
March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become…
March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and…
March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80).…
March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).…
March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers'…
March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 per…
March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five…
March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable…
March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International…
March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on…
March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of…
March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh…
March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters…
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Elderly people believe that premonitions can be avoided if "tika" made from the ashes of the 'Chir' is put on one's forehead or kept in the house. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Hindu mythology, demon king Hiranyakashyapu, who was unhappy with his son Prahlad for his wholehearted devotion to Lord Vishnu, ordered his sister Holika to kill Prahalad. Following her brother's instruction, Holika, who had a boon from the god that fire would not harm her, sat on a pyre with Prahlad on her lap. But she was herself burnt to death while Prahalad remained unhurt due to the blessing of Lord Vishnu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From then onwards, the festival is also known as Holi and is celebrated by smearing colours, especially vermillion powder, with enjoyment. It is believed that Lord Vishnu had warned Holika that the boon she had received would be meaningless if she misused it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year, revelers have been enjoying the festival in a grand manner as the government has lifted all kinds of restrictions issued to curb the spread of Covid-19.</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"">This festival is celebrated in the tarai region tomorrow.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14685', 'image' => '20220317081648_Holi-festival-750.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => 'Petrol to Cost a Staggering Rs 155 per Litre in the Capital', 'summary' => 'March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. A meeting of the NOC board of directors held on Wednesday decided to increase the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 5 per liter effective from March 17. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights has been increased by Rs 15 per liter and the price of ATF for international flights has been raised by US$ 200 per kiloliter. The state-owned oil monopoly has kept the price of cooking gas (LPG) unchanged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Along with the latest price hike, the price of petrol in Kathmandu Valley has reached Rs 155 per liter while diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 138 per liter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even with the new price hike, the NOC maintains that it will incur a loss of around Rs 4.66 billion in the next 15 days. The NOC decided to increase the price of petroleum products after receiving a revised list from the Indian Oil Corporation. </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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the price of petroleum products on March 3. This is the tenth time NOC has increased the price of fuel in the last eight months.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14684', 'image' => '20220317080731_6194595e531de_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inauguration of Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway Uncertain with Ordinance Turning Ineffective ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that preparations were underway to inaugurate the service virtually by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi but the ordinance has become ineffective with the prorogation of the winter session of parliament from Tuesday midnight. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Railway Company’s General Manager Niranjhan Jha, talks are underway for re-issue the ordinance to pave the way for the inauguration of the railway. However, no substantive decision has been taken so far. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ordinance relating to the operation of railway service was issued on December 1, 2021 by the president on the recommendation of the government. It was issued in accordance with the Article 114 (1) of the Constitution. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, an ordinance needs to be tabled at the Parliament session within 60 days of the first meeting of both the Houses. However, the government could not table the document relating to the railway service in the House due to continued obstructions by the main opposition CPN (UML). -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14683', 'image' => '20220316071651_Railwayy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 19:16:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14940', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow for Imports and Consumption Surge, Deepening Liquidity Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have aggressively released credit to unproductive sectors, saying there is no demand for credit in the productive sector. According to the NRB, banks have provided loans for imports and consumption by reducing the credit flow to the construction sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have increased their credit flow by a total of Rs 507.1 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. However, more loans have flown to the unproductive sector. Banks have increased consumer credit by reducing construction sector credit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow to the consumer sector has increased by Rs 676.40 billion in the review period. NRB informed that the credit to the construction sector has decreased by around Rs 200 billion during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks argue that the demand for credit in the production and infrastructure development sector has decreased, and the credit flow in the consumer sector has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Bankers' Association and Chief Executive Officer of Agriculture Development Bank, Anil Kumar Upadhyaya, says that the growth of consumer loans has been high due to the decline in demand for loans for industry and business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Banks and financial institutions have to lend in areas where the demand is high," he said, adding that the growth rate of consumer loans has been high due to declining demand for credit in the productive sector due to Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been giving consumer loans by accepting gold and silver, term receipts, and bonds as collateral. Similarly, they have been investing in credit cards as well. The highest term receipt collateral loan has increased by 102 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Wholesale and retail business comes second in terms of credit flow from banks at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, banks have invested Rs 115.79 billion in this sector. However, during this period, credit expansion of banks in manufacturing industries, agriculture, and service sector has been less than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deepening liquidity crisis</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions is increasing, as banks are aggressive in increasing investment in unproductive sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banker Upendra Poudyal says that the liquidity crisis is increasing due to excessive credit flow of banks for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If the loans had been invested in productive sectors, new deposits would have been created," he said, adding. “Loans invested in imports and consumption have flowed out of the country and therefore there is liquidity crisis. Although BFIs are profit-oriented companies, they should act responsibly during the current crisis.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bank's investment since mid-March has almost come to a standstill due to the lack of liquidity. Banks are borrowing from NRB to maintain the cash reserve ratio (CRR).</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14682', 'image' => '20220316052328_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 17:22:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Forms Core Team to Draft Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). The ministry has initiated the homework by forming a core team in order to bring the budget on May 29, 2022, as per the constitutional provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the finance minister’s secretariat, a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has formed a five-member budget drafting committee. Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral is the coordinator of the committee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Members of the committee include Chakra Bahadur Budha, chief of Budget and Program Division of the ministry; Ishwori Aryal, chief of International Financial Aid Coordination Division; Mahesh Acharya, chief of Economic Policy and Analysis Division; and Baburam Subedi, chief of Financial Federalism Coordination Division.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The committee has been mandated to draft the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill to be presented in Parliament and to submit a draft of the budget for the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The core team has been instructed to move ahead with the budget drafting work in coordination with Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, and Senior Economic Advisor Dr Surendra Kumar Upreti.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma has been holding discussions with various ministries and concerned authorities regarding the upcoming budget. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14681', 'image' => '20220316011556_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:15:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KOICA Hands Over Equipment for Waste Management of Hospitals', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The total budget of the program is said to be USD 42,100.</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"">KOICA said in a statement that it handed over the equipment to Nepal-Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital, Bhaktapur, amid a programme on Tuesday, March 15.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to KOICA, the hospitals were provided with Horizontal Cylindrical Triple Walled High Pressure Biomedical Waste Autoclave Machine for the purpose of health waste management.</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"">A handover program was organized at Nepal Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital on March 15 in the presence of Madan Sundar Shrestha, mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality and Yoonhee Chung, deputy country director of KOICA, added the statement.</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 autoclave machines in other two hospitals - Nuwakot District Hospital and Tikapur Hospital - have been already installed and handed over.</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"">KOICA Nepal Office said it has been promoting Green ODA in each of its development cooperation programs from the year 2021. </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"">KOICA expressed hope that the support to these hospitals will bring significant outcomes in the overall hospital waste management system. </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"">“It shall be useful in developing healthy and responsible habits in managing the health waste which is a minimum criterion being responsible towards the environment. Also, it can minimize the risk of infection in hospital,” the statement added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14680', 'image' => '20220316013949_20220315_112445.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home Minister Bats for Protection of Consumer Rights', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised jointly by the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection and Kathmandu Metropolitan City on the occasion of World Consumers Rights Day on Tuesday, Home Minister Khand said that all sides should be serious towards the welfare of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government would not hesitate to implement the provisions related to consumer rights mentioned in the constitution and laws, he urged the industrialists to become accountable to the people.</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"">"Entrepreneurs are also consumers in one way or the other. The government does not want to discourage industrialists. I believe that entrepreneurs will also be sensitive towards the interests of consumers," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government is aware of the consumers being affected by the rise in prices of daily essentials, the Home Minister said that the government is making maximum efforts to control the prices of consumer goods. </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 government has kept the prices of petroleum products under control as much as possible," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Committee on Industry and Commerce, Labor and Consumer Affairs of the House of Representatives Bimal Srivastava said that the government should pay attention to guarantee the rights of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum Jyoti Bania, representative of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Hari Prabha Khadgi and Chair of the National Consumer Rights Forum Prem Lal Maharjan also spoke about various aspects of consumer rights protection and promotion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14679', 'image' => '20220316081844_worl6228628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 08:16:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lowers PPA Rate of Energy Produced by Solar Plants', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 per unit.', '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"">March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NEA had fixed Rs 7.30 per unit for power purchase agreement with solar plants. Now, the base rate has been fixed at a maximum of Rs 5.94 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had already decided to sign PPA with the solar plants through open competition. However, the base rate of PPA was not specified. A task force formed for the same purpose has fixed the PPA 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is also the maximum base rate. The contractors participating in the open competition have to submit bids at rates lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai confirmed that the base rate for PPA with solar plants has been fixed at Rs 5.94. He said that the companies participating in the tender bids for PPA should submit bids equal to or lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NEA has set certain criteria for the companies participating in the PPA. </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 solar projects must set up plants in places where we say if they want to participate in PPA,” said Bhattarai.</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"">He said that such criteria have been set keeping in view the technical aspects including the transmission line of NEA and the areas where electricity is in demand.</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"">He said that the PPA rate of solar plants has been reduced in line with the international market rate. "It costs less to build a solar plant. On top of that, it will generate electricity only in the afternoon when NRs 3. Moreover, solar power is cheap in the international market,” said Bhattarai.</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"">Meanwhile, Krishna Prasad Acharya, chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN), said that they will study the base rate set by NEA and then only come up with an official view.</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"">NEA had decided to sign PPA with solar plants through open competition as per the policy of making electricity tariff universally accessible and in line with international norms.</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"">NEA is now preparing to invite tenders for PPA with solar plants by completing the required process. NEA will have to sign PPA in such a way that the contribution of solar plants to the national grid does not exceed 10 percent of the total capacity. The government has adopted a concept of energy mix under which the share of electricity generated by solar projects should be 10 percent of the total capacity of the national grid.</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"">At present, the installed capacity of electricity in the national grid is about 2200 MW. Accordingly, NEA will be able to purchase 220 MW of power from the solar projects immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14675', 'image' => '20220315024600_shutterstock_1126547147.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 14:45:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports 24,000 kg of Gold in 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years. This is the record of gold imported through legal channels. Gold is also smuggled into Nepal through various illegal channels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the last few years, the price of gold has been on a constant rise although the pattern of import has remained almost constant. This has raised questions about where all the gold is used in the country and for what purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Manik Ratna Shakya, president of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association said that 95 percent of the gold imported in Nepal is used by housewives as jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the records of the Department of Customs, the total value of gold imported from fiscal year 2074/75 to mid-February of the fiscal year 2078/79 amounts to Rs 132.38 billion. Economists say that the increase in transaction of gold should be considered as an increase in purchasing power of Nepali citizens. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the other hand, economist Jitendra Upadhyaya says that the more amount is spent on the purchase of gold, the more negative impact it will have on the economy of the country. Economists argue that investment in productive sector creates employment opportunities and such activities should be encouraged rather than the trend of decorating oneself with jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last few years, the purchasing power of Nepali citizens has increased due to an increase in the number of people going for foreign employment. But the money earned from foreign employment being spent on luxury items often results in shortage of money when needed in future. Experts suggest investing the money in businesses rather than spending on luxury items. However, the suggestion has neither been adopted by the general public nor the government has succeeded to formulate a plan for the utilization of remittance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), out of the total remittance entering the country, only 2 percent is utilized for investments. Experts express their concern stating that most of the remittance is returning back with the purchase of luxury items.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the statistics of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Rs 961 billion entered the country last year as remittance. This year, Rs 540 billion has already entered the country as remittance within just seven months. In Nepal, housewives consume most of the imported gold for making jewelry. Apart from this, gold is also used for making gold plated art pieces to attract tourists. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of NRB, Nar Bahadur Thapa says that although businessmen reap the profits from selling gold, it has a negative impact on the economy of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Since the government has not brought any policies to invest remittance into the productive sector, the expenditure of money earned from foreign employment is increasing towards the unproductive sector,” said Thapa, adding, “If such expenditures continue to grow, the banks will face scarcity of investible capital. Therefore, the government should pay proper attention to such issues.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the seven months of the current fiscal year, a total of 3,643 kg of gold worth Rs 252.1 billion has already been imported in Nepal. During last fiscal year, altogether 3,924 kg of gold worth Rs 273.4 billion was imported into the country.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14674', 'image' => '20220315123434_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 12:33:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari for Addressing Root Causes of Foreign Employment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the ‘Kathmandu Declaration’ issued after the 5th National Meeting of Victims of Trafficking to Combat Human Trafficking, the president said the state should create employment opportunities at home so that there will be no compulsion for the citizens to go for overseas job. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Kathmandu Declaration was jointly submitted to the president on Monday (March 14) by two civil society organisations named Shakti Samuha and AATWIN Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the president said, “A thorough study on women’s obligation for overseas migration should be conducted to identify the reasons and the state should address the causes of foreign employment for once and all.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president was of the view that women's migration is taking place most probably due to economic, social and educational issues and suggested that the government should unveil employment generating programmes in the districts with high rate of overseas migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating the poor implementation of Act and laws relating to foreign employment and trafficking in persons are also a problem, President Bhandari also assured to take initiatives to address the problems existing in the foreign employment sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president stated that the woes and sufferings of women migrant workers are of the entire country not merely of women migrants and pledged to address the issues of returnee women migrants through the ‘President Women Upliftment’ programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The two-day meeting concluded in Kathmandu on Monday by issuing a 29-point declaration. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14673', 'image' => '20220315124315_RS_KTM-3A9526.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:22:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14930', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Operate Regular Flights to Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has filed an application with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in order to conduct regular flights from May 22 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti Festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deputy Director General of CAAN, Dev Chandra Lal Karna, shared that the airways has filed application in order to operate one flight per day. It will operate direct flights between Kuwait and Bhairahawa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has now been operating regular flights at Tribhuvan International Airport. </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 Airlines Corporation would conduct test flights at Gautam Buddha Airport from April 14 and the airport would be opened for commercial flights from April 20, Karna added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All necessary preparations for commercial flights have been completed, he said. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14672', 'image' => '20220315081135_Jazeera-Airways.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘World Faces Food Crisis due to Russia-Ukraine War’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, several of Russia's richest businessmen have publicly called for peace since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Those include Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and Oleg Deripaska.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The United States and its European allies have cast Putin's invasion as an imperial-style land grab that has so far been poorly executed because Moscow under-estimated Ukrainian resistance and Western resolve to punish Russia, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The West has sanctioned Russian businessmen, including European Union sanctions on Melnichenko, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force defiant Putin to change course. Putin has called the war a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of dangerous nationalists and Nazis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The events in Ukraine are truly tragic. We urgently need peace," Reuters made public a statement emailed by Melnichenko, 50, who is Russian but was born in Belarus and has a Ukrainian mother.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"One of the victims of this crisis will be agriculture and food," said Melnichenko, who founded EuroChem, Russia's largest ammonium nitrate producer, which is based in Zug, Switzerland, and SUEK, Russia's top coal producer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million people, and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, the world's two biggest nuclear powers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">FOOD WAR?</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Putin reportedly warned on Thursday that food prices would rise globally due to soaring fertiliser prices if the West created problems for Russia's export of fertilisers - which account for 13 percent of world output.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Reuters, Russia is a major producer of potash, phosphate and nitrogen containing fertilisers - major crop and soil nutrients.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The war "has already led to soaring prices in fertilisers which are no longer affordable to farmers," Melnichenko said. He said food supply chains already disrupted by COVID-19 were now even more distressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now it will lead to even higher food inflation in Europe and likely food shortages in the world’s poorest countries," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's trade and industry ministry told the country's fertiliser producers to temporarily halt exports earlier this month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14671', 'image' => '20220314083303_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 20:31:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumer Groups Urge Government to Halt Export of Cooking Oil', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal had been importing a considerable amount of food items including mustard seeds, soybean and sunflower oil, wheat, corn and other food items from Ukraine. But the orders for all goods have been canceled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consumer-based organizations have demanded that the government should immediately coordinate with the industrialists and traders to ensure smooth supply of goods by changing the tax rates and to control inflation and price hike. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Public Forum, Uttam Dhungel said that crucial steps should be taken to increase the stock of such items and halt the exports to create an environment where the general consumers can easily buy food and other consumer goods at affordable prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The prices of edible oil have skyrocketed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the full effects are expected to surface only two months later,” Dhungel said. Dhungel suggested a curb on exports in order to remove the shortage of oil in Nepal due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Prasad Bhandari, the central chairman of Consumer Awareness Campaign, Nepal, said that the irresponsibility of the government has encouraged unethical approach of industrialists and businessmen in price hike of goods taking advantage of the current situation. He said that the devaluation of Nepali currency against the dollar and increase in the price of petroleum products have affected all sides but the general consumers have been affected more due to the government's silence in controlling the inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, refined oils worth Rs 12.34 billion prepared from palm, soybean and sunflower have been exported from July to March. In the corresponding period of last fiscal year, refined edible oil worth Rs 6.43 billion was exported. Biratnagar Customs Chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that he has not received any information from any state body about halting the export of oil. He also informed that refined oil is being exported under normal conditions at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the records kept by Morang Merchants’ Association and Morang Industries Association, refined oil worth Rs 12.36 billion has been exported from Jogbani customs point in the current fiscal year. Exports from Nepal have increased since last year due to the increased demand for refined oil in India. According to the concerned industrialists, their target is to extract refined oil worth Rs 20 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14670', 'image' => '20220314051708_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 17:16:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '90 percent of Nepali Migrant Workers opt for Gulf Region', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), inflow of remittance decreased by 4.9 percent to Rs 540.12 billion from July to January. Remittances had increased by 10.9 percent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the decline in remittance inflows, there is still no sign of improvement in the overall economy. Experts have cited declining remittance inflows as the main reason for the economy not moving in a positive direction. Economist Dr Poshraj Pandey says that remittances cannot be a permanent income of any country but unfortunately there is no alternative to remittances for Nepal at the moment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As inflow of remittance will not be the same all the time, the government should not delay in emphasizing other plans, including increasing domestic production," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Some experts argue that the number of Nepali nationals going for foreign employment has reached its peak at this time. Out of 500,000 people who enter the labor market every year, barely 50,000 can find employment in the country. Those who do not find employment at home go to different countries, including India, for foreign employment. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, around 500,000 young people used to go for foreign employment every year with new and renewable work permits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Department of Foreign Employment has informed that the number of people going for foreign employment has decreased after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the department, 352,427 youths have gone for foreign employment in the current fiscal year. Among them, the number of people going for work in four Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait is alone 320,533. This is about 90 percent of the total number of people going for foreign employment in 7 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During this period, most Nepalis have gone to Saudi Arabia in search of work. A total of 124,035 young people have gone to Saudi Arabia for work. Similarly, 116,153 Nepalis went to Qatar and 70,132 went to the UAE, and 10,213 to Kuwait, according to the department. Experts believe that one of the reasons why the inflow of remittances has not improved in recent times is due to youths choosing Gulf countries as their work destination.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of the Foreign Employment Board Raghuraj Kafle says it is too late to find employment options in the Gulf countries. He said that the remittance inflow has been affected as Nepalis going to the Gulf countries get low wages but 90 percent go to those countries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even though the government has opened 110 countries for employment, most of the demand has come from the Gulf countries. "If we can send Nepali workers to rich and developed countries, we will get more remittances than we are getting now," said Shesh Narayan Poudel, director-general of the department.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14669', 'image' => '20220314044317_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 16:41:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shares Gain as Oil Slips on Hopes for Ukraine Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported. The news agency further said that bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and the UK this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.5 percent, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.5 percent and FTSE futures 0.2 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.6 percent by losses in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chinese blue chips shed 1.7 percent after a jump in coronavirus cases saw the southern city of Shenzen locked down and stoked speculation about more policy easing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bonds elsewhere remained under pressure having taken a beating last week as surging commodity prices looked set to boost inflation further, with yields on 10-year Treasuries rising four basis points to 2.04 percent, Reuters further reported .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The euro was stuck at $1.0905 , and not far from its recent 22-month trough of $1.0804, while the dollar hit a fresh five-year peak on the yen at 117.87 .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gold lost some of its safe-haven charm on Monday, easing 0.5 percent to $1,975 an ounce and away for last week's peak at $2,069.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the chance of progress on Ukraine saw oil prices surrender a little of their recent gains, even as talks with producer Iran seemed to be stalled, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Brent was last quoted $2.13 lower at $110.54, while US crude fell $2.46 to $106.84.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14668', 'image' => '20220314022755_61108396_303.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 14:27:00', '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' => '14943', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Festival of Colours being Observed Today with much Fanfare', 'sub_title' => 'This Festival Marks the Beginning of Spring Season', 'summary' => 'March 17: Fagu Purnima, popularly known as the festival of Holi, is being observed with much fanfare in the capital and hill districts today (March 17 this year).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 17: <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu Purnima, popularly known as the festival of Holi, is being observed with much fanfare in the capital and hill districts today (March 17 this 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"">This festival is also known as the festival of colours as people smear vermillion power as well as different colours to each other to celebrate the arrival of the spring season.</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 festival begins on the eighth day of the new moon in the month of Falgun and ends on the full moon day today with burning of the 'Chir' or the pole, which is installed on the first day. Elderly people believe that premonitions can be avoided if "tika" made from the ashes of the 'Chir' is put on one's forehead or kept in the house. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Hindu mythology, demon king Hiranyakashyapu, who was unhappy with his son Prahlad for his wholehearted devotion to Lord Vishnu, ordered his sister Holika to kill Prahalad. Following her brother's instruction, Holika, who had a boon from the god that fire would not harm her, sat on a pyre with Prahlad on her lap. But she was herself burnt to death while Prahalad remained unhurt due to the blessing of Lord Vishnu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From then onwards, the festival is also known as Holi and is celebrated by smearing colours, especially vermillion powder, with enjoyment. It is believed that Lord Vishnu had warned Holika that the boon she had received would be meaningless if she misused it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year, revelers have been enjoying the festival in a grand manner as the government has lifted all kinds of restrictions issued to curb the spread of Covid-19.</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"">This festival is celebrated in the tarai region tomorrow.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14685', 'image' => '20220317081648_Holi-festival-750.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => 'Petrol to Cost a Staggering Rs 155 per Litre in the Capital', 'summary' => 'March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. A meeting of the NOC board of directors held on Wednesday decided to increase the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 5 per liter effective from March 17. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights has been increased by Rs 15 per liter and the price of ATF for international flights has been raised by US$ 200 per kiloliter. The state-owned oil monopoly has kept the price of cooking gas (LPG) unchanged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Along with the latest price hike, the price of petrol in Kathmandu Valley has reached Rs 155 per liter while diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 138 per liter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even with the new price hike, the NOC maintains that it will incur a loss of around Rs 4.66 billion in the next 15 days. The NOC decided to increase the price of petroleum products after receiving a revised list from the Indian Oil Corporation. </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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the price of petroleum products on March 3. This is the tenth time NOC has increased the price of fuel in the last eight months.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14684', 'image' => '20220317080731_6194595e531de_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inauguration of Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway Uncertain with Ordinance Turning Ineffective ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that preparations were underway to inaugurate the service virtually by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi but the ordinance has become ineffective with the prorogation of the winter session of parliament from Tuesday midnight. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Railway Company’s General Manager Niranjhan Jha, talks are underway for re-issue the ordinance to pave the way for the inauguration of the railway. However, no substantive decision has been taken so far. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ordinance relating to the operation of railway service was issued on December 1, 2021 by the president on the recommendation of the government. It was issued in accordance with the Article 114 (1) of the Constitution. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, an ordinance needs to be tabled at the Parliament session within 60 days of the first meeting of both the Houses. However, the government could not table the document relating to the railway service in the House due to continued obstructions by the main opposition CPN (UML). -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14683', 'image' => '20220316071651_Railwayy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 19:16:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14940', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow for Imports and Consumption Surge, Deepening Liquidity Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have aggressively released credit to unproductive sectors, saying there is no demand for credit in the productive sector. According to the NRB, banks have provided loans for imports and consumption by reducing the credit flow to the construction sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have increased their credit flow by a total of Rs 507.1 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. However, more loans have flown to the unproductive sector. Banks have increased consumer credit by reducing construction sector credit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow to the consumer sector has increased by Rs 676.40 billion in the review period. NRB informed that the credit to the construction sector has decreased by around Rs 200 billion during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks argue that the demand for credit in the production and infrastructure development sector has decreased, and the credit flow in the consumer sector has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Bankers' Association and Chief Executive Officer of Agriculture Development Bank, Anil Kumar Upadhyaya, says that the growth of consumer loans has been high due to the decline in demand for loans for industry and business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Banks and financial institutions have to lend in areas where the demand is high," he said, adding that the growth rate of consumer loans has been high due to declining demand for credit in the productive sector due to Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been giving consumer loans by accepting gold and silver, term receipts, and bonds as collateral. Similarly, they have been investing in credit cards as well. The highest term receipt collateral loan has increased by 102 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Wholesale and retail business comes second in terms of credit flow from banks at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, banks have invested Rs 115.79 billion in this sector. However, during this period, credit expansion of banks in manufacturing industries, agriculture, and service sector has been less than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deepening liquidity crisis</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions is increasing, as banks are aggressive in increasing investment in unproductive sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banker Upendra Poudyal says that the liquidity crisis is increasing due to excessive credit flow of banks for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If the loans had been invested in productive sectors, new deposits would have been created," he said, adding. “Loans invested in imports and consumption have flowed out of the country and therefore there is liquidity crisis. Although BFIs are profit-oriented companies, they should act responsibly during the current crisis.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bank's investment since mid-March has almost come to a standstill due to the lack of liquidity. Banks are borrowing from NRB to maintain the cash reserve ratio (CRR).</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14682', 'image' => '20220316052328_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 17:22:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Forms Core Team to Draft Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). The ministry has initiated the homework by forming a core team in order to bring the budget on May 29, 2022, as per the constitutional provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the finance minister’s secretariat, a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has formed a five-member budget drafting committee. Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral is the coordinator of the committee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Members of the committee include Chakra Bahadur Budha, chief of Budget and Program Division of the ministry; Ishwori Aryal, chief of International Financial Aid Coordination Division; Mahesh Acharya, chief of Economic Policy and Analysis Division; and Baburam Subedi, chief of Financial Federalism Coordination Division.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The committee has been mandated to draft the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill to be presented in Parliament and to submit a draft of the budget for the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The core team has been instructed to move ahead with the budget drafting work in coordination with Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, and Senior Economic Advisor Dr Surendra Kumar Upreti.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma has been holding discussions with various ministries and concerned authorities regarding the upcoming budget. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14681', 'image' => '20220316011556_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:15:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KOICA Hands Over Equipment for Waste Management of Hospitals', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The total budget of the program is said to be USD 42,100.</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"">KOICA said in a statement that it handed over the equipment to Nepal-Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital, Bhaktapur, amid a programme on Tuesday, March 15.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to KOICA, the hospitals were provided with Horizontal Cylindrical Triple Walled High Pressure Biomedical Waste Autoclave Machine for the purpose of health waste management.</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"">A handover program was organized at Nepal Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital on March 15 in the presence of Madan Sundar Shrestha, mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality and Yoonhee Chung, deputy country director of KOICA, added the statement.</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 autoclave machines in other two hospitals - Nuwakot District Hospital and Tikapur Hospital - have been already installed and handed over.</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"">KOICA Nepal Office said it has been promoting Green ODA in each of its development cooperation programs from the year 2021. </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"">KOICA expressed hope that the support to these hospitals will bring significant outcomes in the overall hospital waste management system. </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"">“It shall be useful in developing healthy and responsible habits in managing the health waste which is a minimum criterion being responsible towards the environment. Also, it can minimize the risk of infection in hospital,” the statement added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14680', 'image' => '20220316013949_20220315_112445.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home Minister Bats for Protection of Consumer Rights', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised jointly by the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection and Kathmandu Metropolitan City on the occasion of World Consumers Rights Day on Tuesday, Home Minister Khand said that all sides should be serious towards the welfare of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government would not hesitate to implement the provisions related to consumer rights mentioned in the constitution and laws, he urged the industrialists to become accountable to the people.</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"">"Entrepreneurs are also consumers in one way or the other. The government does not want to discourage industrialists. I believe that entrepreneurs will also be sensitive towards the interests of consumers," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government is aware of the consumers being affected by the rise in prices of daily essentials, the Home Minister said that the government is making maximum efforts to control the prices of consumer goods. </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 government has kept the prices of petroleum products under control as much as possible," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Committee on Industry and Commerce, Labor and Consumer Affairs of the House of Representatives Bimal Srivastava said that the government should pay attention to guarantee the rights of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum Jyoti Bania, representative of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Hari Prabha Khadgi and Chair of the National Consumer Rights Forum Prem Lal Maharjan also spoke about various aspects of consumer rights protection and promotion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14679', 'image' => '20220316081844_worl6228628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 08:16:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lowers PPA Rate of Energy Produced by Solar Plants', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 per unit.', '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"">March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NEA had fixed Rs 7.30 per unit for power purchase agreement with solar plants. Now, the base rate has been fixed at a maximum of Rs 5.94 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had already decided to sign PPA with the solar plants through open competition. However, the base rate of PPA was not specified. A task force formed for the same purpose has fixed the PPA 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is also the maximum base rate. The contractors participating in the open competition have to submit bids at rates lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai confirmed that the base rate for PPA with solar plants has been fixed at Rs 5.94. He said that the companies participating in the tender bids for PPA should submit bids equal to or lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NEA has set certain criteria for the companies participating in the PPA. </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 solar projects must set up plants in places where we say if they want to participate in PPA,” said Bhattarai.</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"">He said that such criteria have been set keeping in view the technical aspects including the transmission line of NEA and the areas where electricity is in demand.</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"">He said that the PPA rate of solar plants has been reduced in line with the international market rate. "It costs less to build a solar plant. On top of that, it will generate electricity only in the afternoon when NRs 3. Moreover, solar power is cheap in the international market,” said Bhattarai.</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"">Meanwhile, Krishna Prasad Acharya, chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN), said that they will study the base rate set by NEA and then only come up with an official view.</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"">NEA had decided to sign PPA with solar plants through open competition as per the policy of making electricity tariff universally accessible and in line with international norms.</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"">NEA is now preparing to invite tenders for PPA with solar plants by completing the required process. NEA will have to sign PPA in such a way that the contribution of solar plants to the national grid does not exceed 10 percent of the total capacity. The government has adopted a concept of energy mix under which the share of electricity generated by solar projects should be 10 percent of the total capacity of the national grid.</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"">At present, the installed capacity of electricity in the national grid is about 2200 MW. Accordingly, NEA will be able to purchase 220 MW of power from the solar projects immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14675', 'image' => '20220315024600_shutterstock_1126547147.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 14:45:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports 24,000 kg of Gold in 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years. This is the record of gold imported through legal channels. Gold is also smuggled into Nepal through various illegal channels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the last few years, the price of gold has been on a constant rise although the pattern of import has remained almost constant. This has raised questions about where all the gold is used in the country and for what purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Manik Ratna Shakya, president of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association said that 95 percent of the gold imported in Nepal is used by housewives as jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the records of the Department of Customs, the total value of gold imported from fiscal year 2074/75 to mid-February of the fiscal year 2078/79 amounts to Rs 132.38 billion. Economists say that the increase in transaction of gold should be considered as an increase in purchasing power of Nepali citizens. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the other hand, economist Jitendra Upadhyaya says that the more amount is spent on the purchase of gold, the more negative impact it will have on the economy of the country. Economists argue that investment in productive sector creates employment opportunities and such activities should be encouraged rather than the trend of decorating oneself with jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last few years, the purchasing power of Nepali citizens has increased due to an increase in the number of people going for foreign employment. But the money earned from foreign employment being spent on luxury items often results in shortage of money when needed in future. Experts suggest investing the money in businesses rather than spending on luxury items. However, the suggestion has neither been adopted by the general public nor the government has succeeded to formulate a plan for the utilization of remittance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), out of the total remittance entering the country, only 2 percent is utilized for investments. Experts express their concern stating that most of the remittance is returning back with the purchase of luxury items.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the statistics of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Rs 961 billion entered the country last year as remittance. This year, Rs 540 billion has already entered the country as remittance within just seven months. In Nepal, housewives consume most of the imported gold for making jewelry. Apart from this, gold is also used for making gold plated art pieces to attract tourists. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of NRB, Nar Bahadur Thapa says that although businessmen reap the profits from selling gold, it has a negative impact on the economy of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Since the government has not brought any policies to invest remittance into the productive sector, the expenditure of money earned from foreign employment is increasing towards the unproductive sector,” said Thapa, adding, “If such expenditures continue to grow, the banks will face scarcity of investible capital. Therefore, the government should pay proper attention to such issues.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the seven months of the current fiscal year, a total of 3,643 kg of gold worth Rs 252.1 billion has already been imported in Nepal. During last fiscal year, altogether 3,924 kg of gold worth Rs 273.4 billion was imported into the country.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14674', 'image' => '20220315123434_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 12:33:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari for Addressing Root Causes of Foreign Employment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the ‘Kathmandu Declaration’ issued after the 5th National Meeting of Victims of Trafficking to Combat Human Trafficking, the president said the state should create employment opportunities at home so that there will be no compulsion for the citizens to go for overseas job. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Kathmandu Declaration was jointly submitted to the president on Monday (March 14) by two civil society organisations named Shakti Samuha and AATWIN Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the president said, “A thorough study on women’s obligation for overseas migration should be conducted to identify the reasons and the state should address the causes of foreign employment for once and all.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president was of the view that women's migration is taking place most probably due to economic, social and educational issues and suggested that the government should unveil employment generating programmes in the districts with high rate of overseas migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating the poor implementation of Act and laws relating to foreign employment and trafficking in persons are also a problem, President Bhandari also assured to take initiatives to address the problems existing in the foreign employment sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president stated that the woes and sufferings of women migrant workers are of the entire country not merely of women migrants and pledged to address the issues of returnee women migrants through the ‘President Women Upliftment’ programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The two-day meeting concluded in Kathmandu on Monday by issuing a 29-point declaration. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14673', 'image' => '20220315124315_RS_KTM-3A9526.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:22:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14930', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Operate Regular Flights to Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has filed an application with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in order to conduct regular flights from May 22 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti Festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deputy Director General of CAAN, Dev Chandra Lal Karna, shared that the airways has filed application in order to operate one flight per day. It will operate direct flights between Kuwait and Bhairahawa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has now been operating regular flights at Tribhuvan International Airport. </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 Airlines Corporation would conduct test flights at Gautam Buddha Airport from April 14 and the airport would be opened for commercial flights from April 20, Karna added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All necessary preparations for commercial flights have been completed, he said. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14672', 'image' => '20220315081135_Jazeera-Airways.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘World Faces Food Crisis due to Russia-Ukraine War’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, several of Russia's richest businessmen have publicly called for peace since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Those include Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and Oleg Deripaska.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The United States and its European allies have cast Putin's invasion as an imperial-style land grab that has so far been poorly executed because Moscow under-estimated Ukrainian resistance and Western resolve to punish Russia, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The West has sanctioned Russian businessmen, including European Union sanctions on Melnichenko, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force defiant Putin to change course. Putin has called the war a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of dangerous nationalists and Nazis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The events in Ukraine are truly tragic. We urgently need peace," Reuters made public a statement emailed by Melnichenko, 50, who is Russian but was born in Belarus and has a Ukrainian mother.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"One of the victims of this crisis will be agriculture and food," said Melnichenko, who founded EuroChem, Russia's largest ammonium nitrate producer, which is based in Zug, Switzerland, and SUEK, Russia's top coal producer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million people, and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, the world's two biggest nuclear powers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">FOOD WAR?</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Putin reportedly warned on Thursday that food prices would rise globally due to soaring fertiliser prices if the West created problems for Russia's export of fertilisers - which account for 13 percent of world output.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Reuters, Russia is a major producer of potash, phosphate and nitrogen containing fertilisers - major crop and soil nutrients.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The war "has already led to soaring prices in fertilisers which are no longer affordable to farmers," Melnichenko said. He said food supply chains already disrupted by COVID-19 were now even more distressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now it will lead to even higher food inflation in Europe and likely food shortages in the world’s poorest countries," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's trade and industry ministry told the country's fertiliser producers to temporarily halt exports earlier this month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14671', 'image' => '20220314083303_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 20:31:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumer Groups Urge Government to Halt Export of Cooking Oil', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal had been importing a considerable amount of food items including mustard seeds, soybean and sunflower oil, wheat, corn and other food items from Ukraine. But the orders for all goods have been canceled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consumer-based organizations have demanded that the government should immediately coordinate with the industrialists and traders to ensure smooth supply of goods by changing the tax rates and to control inflation and price hike. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Public Forum, Uttam Dhungel said that crucial steps should be taken to increase the stock of such items and halt the exports to create an environment where the general consumers can easily buy food and other consumer goods at affordable prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The prices of edible oil have skyrocketed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the full effects are expected to surface only two months later,” Dhungel said. Dhungel suggested a curb on exports in order to remove the shortage of oil in Nepal due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Prasad Bhandari, the central chairman of Consumer Awareness Campaign, Nepal, said that the irresponsibility of the government has encouraged unethical approach of industrialists and businessmen in price hike of goods taking advantage of the current situation. He said that the devaluation of Nepali currency against the dollar and increase in the price of petroleum products have affected all sides but the general consumers have been affected more due to the government's silence in controlling the inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, refined oils worth Rs 12.34 billion prepared from palm, soybean and sunflower have been exported from July to March. In the corresponding period of last fiscal year, refined edible oil worth Rs 6.43 billion was exported. Biratnagar Customs Chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that he has not received any information from any state body about halting the export of oil. He also informed that refined oil is being exported under normal conditions at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the records kept by Morang Merchants’ Association and Morang Industries Association, refined oil worth Rs 12.36 billion has been exported from Jogbani customs point in the current fiscal year. Exports from Nepal have increased since last year due to the increased demand for refined oil in India. According to the concerned industrialists, their target is to extract refined oil worth Rs 20 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14670', 'image' => '20220314051708_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 17:16:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '90 percent of Nepali Migrant Workers opt for Gulf Region', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), inflow of remittance decreased by 4.9 percent to Rs 540.12 billion from July to January. Remittances had increased by 10.9 percent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the decline in remittance inflows, there is still no sign of improvement in the overall economy. Experts have cited declining remittance inflows as the main reason for the economy not moving in a positive direction. Economist Dr Poshraj Pandey says that remittances cannot be a permanent income of any country but unfortunately there is no alternative to remittances for Nepal at the moment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As inflow of remittance will not be the same all the time, the government should not delay in emphasizing other plans, including increasing domestic production," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Some experts argue that the number of Nepali nationals going for foreign employment has reached its peak at this time. Out of 500,000 people who enter the labor market every year, barely 50,000 can find employment in the country. Those who do not find employment at home go to different countries, including India, for foreign employment. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, around 500,000 young people used to go for foreign employment every year with new and renewable work permits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Department of Foreign Employment has informed that the number of people going for foreign employment has decreased after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the department, 352,427 youths have gone for foreign employment in the current fiscal year. Among them, the number of people going for work in four Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait is alone 320,533. This is about 90 percent of the total number of people going for foreign employment in 7 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During this period, most Nepalis have gone to Saudi Arabia in search of work. A total of 124,035 young people have gone to Saudi Arabia for work. Similarly, 116,153 Nepalis went to Qatar and 70,132 went to the UAE, and 10,213 to Kuwait, according to the department. Experts believe that one of the reasons why the inflow of remittances has not improved in recent times is due to youths choosing Gulf countries as their work destination.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of the Foreign Employment Board Raghuraj Kafle says it is too late to find employment options in the Gulf countries. He said that the remittance inflow has been affected as Nepalis going to the Gulf countries get low wages but 90 percent go to those countries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even though the government has opened 110 countries for employment, most of the demand has come from the Gulf countries. "If we can send Nepali workers to rich and developed countries, we will get more remittances than we are getting now," said Shesh Narayan Poudel, director-general of the department.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14669', 'image' => '20220314044317_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 16:41:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shares Gain as Oil Slips on Hopes for Ukraine Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported. The news agency further said that bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and the UK this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.5 percent, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.5 percent and FTSE futures 0.2 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.6 percent by losses in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chinese blue chips shed 1.7 percent after a jump in coronavirus cases saw the southern city of Shenzen locked down and stoked speculation about more policy easing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bonds elsewhere remained under pressure having taken a beating last week as surging commodity prices looked set to boost inflation further, with yields on 10-year Treasuries rising four basis points to 2.04 percent, Reuters further reported .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The euro was stuck at $1.0905 , and not far from its recent 22-month trough of $1.0804, while the dollar hit a fresh five-year peak on the yen at 117.87 .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gold lost some of its safe-haven charm on Monday, easing 0.5 percent to $1,975 an ounce and away for last week's peak at $2,069.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the chance of progress on Ukraine saw oil prices surrender a little of their recent gains, even as talks with producer Iran seemed to be stalled, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Brent was last quoted $2.13 lower at $110.54, while US crude fell $2.46 to $106.84.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14668', 'image' => '20220314022755_61108396_303.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 14:27:00', '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' => '14943', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Festival of Colours being Observed Today with much Fanfare', 'sub_title' => 'This Festival Marks the Beginning of Spring Season', 'summary' => 'March 17: Fagu Purnima, popularly known as the festival of Holi, is being observed with much fanfare in the capital and hill districts today (March 17 this year).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 17: <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Fagu Purnima, popularly known as the festival of Holi, is being observed with much fanfare in the capital and hill districts today (March 17 this 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"">This festival is also known as the festival of colours as people smear vermillion power as well as different colours to each other to celebrate the arrival of the spring season.</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 festival begins on the eighth day of the new moon in the month of Falgun and ends on the full moon day today with burning of the 'Chir' or the pole, which is installed on the first day. Elderly people believe that premonitions can be avoided if "tika" made from the ashes of the 'Chir' is put on one's forehead or kept in the house. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Hindu mythology, demon king Hiranyakashyapu, who was unhappy with his son Prahlad for his wholehearted devotion to Lord Vishnu, ordered his sister Holika to kill Prahalad. Following her brother's instruction, Holika, who had a boon from the god that fire would not harm her, sat on a pyre with Prahlad on her lap. But she was herself burnt to death while Prahalad remained unhurt due to the blessing of Lord Vishnu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From then onwards, the festival is also known as Holi and is celebrated by smearing colours, especially vermillion powder, with enjoyment. It is believed that Lord Vishnu had warned Holika that the boon she had received would be meaningless if she misused it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year, revelers have been enjoying the festival in a grand manner as the government has lifted all kinds of restrictions issued to curb the spread of Covid-19.</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"">This festival is celebrated in the tarai region tomorrow.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14685', 'image' => '20220317081648_Holi-festival-750.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => 'Petrol to Cost a Staggering Rs 155 per Litre in the Capital', 'summary' => 'March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. A meeting of the NOC board of directors held on Wednesday decided to increase the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 5 per liter effective from March 17. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights has been increased by Rs 15 per liter and the price of ATF for international flights has been raised by US$ 200 per kiloliter. The state-owned oil monopoly has kept the price of cooking gas (LPG) unchanged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Along with the latest price hike, the price of petrol in Kathmandu Valley has reached Rs 155 per liter while diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 138 per liter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even with the new price hike, the NOC maintains that it will incur a loss of around Rs 4.66 billion in the next 15 days. The NOC decided to increase the price of petroleum products after receiving a revised list from the Indian Oil Corporation. </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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the price of petroleum products on March 3. This is the tenth time NOC has increased the price of fuel in the last eight months.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14684', 'image' => '20220317080731_6194595e531de_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inauguration of Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway Uncertain with Ordinance Turning Ineffective ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that preparations were underway to inaugurate the service virtually by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi but the ordinance has become ineffective with the prorogation of the winter session of parliament from Tuesday midnight. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Railway Company’s General Manager Niranjhan Jha, talks are underway for re-issue the ordinance to pave the way for the inauguration of the railway. However, no substantive decision has been taken so far. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ordinance relating to the operation of railway service was issued on December 1, 2021 by the president on the recommendation of the government. It was issued in accordance with the Article 114 (1) of the Constitution. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, an ordinance needs to be tabled at the Parliament session within 60 days of the first meeting of both the Houses. However, the government could not table the document relating to the railway service in the House due to continued obstructions by the main opposition CPN (UML). -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14683', 'image' => '20220316071651_Railwayy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 19:16:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14940', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow for Imports and Consumption Surge, Deepening Liquidity Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have aggressively released credit to unproductive sectors, saying there is no demand for credit in the productive sector. According to the NRB, banks have provided loans for imports and consumption by reducing the credit flow to the construction sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have increased their credit flow by a total of Rs 507.1 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. However, more loans have flown to the unproductive sector. Banks have increased consumer credit by reducing construction sector credit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow to the consumer sector has increased by Rs 676.40 billion in the review period. NRB informed that the credit to the construction sector has decreased by around Rs 200 billion during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks argue that the demand for credit in the production and infrastructure development sector has decreased, and the credit flow in the consumer sector has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Bankers' Association and Chief Executive Officer of Agriculture Development Bank, Anil Kumar Upadhyaya, says that the growth of consumer loans has been high due to the decline in demand for loans for industry and business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Banks and financial institutions have to lend in areas where the demand is high," he said, adding that the growth rate of consumer loans has been high due to declining demand for credit in the productive sector due to Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been giving consumer loans by accepting gold and silver, term receipts, and bonds as collateral. Similarly, they have been investing in credit cards as well. The highest term receipt collateral loan has increased by 102 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Wholesale and retail business comes second in terms of credit flow from banks at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, banks have invested Rs 115.79 billion in this sector. However, during this period, credit expansion of banks in manufacturing industries, agriculture, and service sector has been less than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deepening liquidity crisis</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions is increasing, as banks are aggressive in increasing investment in unproductive sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banker Upendra Poudyal says that the liquidity crisis is increasing due to excessive credit flow of banks for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If the loans had been invested in productive sectors, new deposits would have been created," he said, adding. “Loans invested in imports and consumption have flowed out of the country and therefore there is liquidity crisis. Although BFIs are profit-oriented companies, they should act responsibly during the current crisis.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bank's investment since mid-March has almost come to a standstill due to the lack of liquidity. Banks are borrowing from NRB to maintain the cash reserve ratio (CRR).</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14682', 'image' => '20220316052328_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 17:22:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Forms Core Team to Draft Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). The ministry has initiated the homework by forming a core team in order to bring the budget on May 29, 2022, as per the constitutional provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the finance minister’s secretariat, a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has formed a five-member budget drafting committee. Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral is the coordinator of the committee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Members of the committee include Chakra Bahadur Budha, chief of Budget and Program Division of the ministry; Ishwori Aryal, chief of International Financial Aid Coordination Division; Mahesh Acharya, chief of Economic Policy and Analysis Division; and Baburam Subedi, chief of Financial Federalism Coordination Division.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The committee has been mandated to draft the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill to be presented in Parliament and to submit a draft of the budget for the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The core team has been instructed to move ahead with the budget drafting work in coordination with Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, and Senior Economic Advisor Dr Surendra Kumar Upreti.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma has been holding discussions with various ministries and concerned authorities regarding the upcoming budget. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14681', 'image' => '20220316011556_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:15:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KOICA Hands Over Equipment for Waste Management of Hospitals', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The total budget of the program is said to be USD 42,100.</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"">KOICA said in a statement that it handed over the equipment to Nepal-Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital, Bhaktapur, amid a programme on Tuesday, March 15.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to KOICA, the hospitals were provided with Horizontal Cylindrical Triple Walled High Pressure Biomedical Waste Autoclave Machine for the purpose of health waste management.</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"">A handover program was organized at Nepal Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital on March 15 in the presence of Madan Sundar Shrestha, mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality and Yoonhee Chung, deputy country director of KOICA, added the statement.</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 autoclave machines in other two hospitals - Nuwakot District Hospital and Tikapur Hospital - have been already installed and handed over.</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"">KOICA Nepal Office said it has been promoting Green ODA in each of its development cooperation programs from the year 2021. </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"">KOICA expressed hope that the support to these hospitals will bring significant outcomes in the overall hospital waste management system. </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"">“It shall be useful in developing healthy and responsible habits in managing the health waste which is a minimum criterion being responsible towards the environment. Also, it can minimize the risk of infection in hospital,” the statement added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14680', 'image' => '20220316013949_20220315_112445.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home Minister Bats for Protection of Consumer Rights', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised jointly by the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection and Kathmandu Metropolitan City on the occasion of World Consumers Rights Day on Tuesday, Home Minister Khand said that all sides should be serious towards the welfare of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government would not hesitate to implement the provisions related to consumer rights mentioned in the constitution and laws, he urged the industrialists to become accountable to the people.</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"">"Entrepreneurs are also consumers in one way or the other. The government does not want to discourage industrialists. I believe that entrepreneurs will also be sensitive towards the interests of consumers," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government is aware of the consumers being affected by the rise in prices of daily essentials, the Home Minister said that the government is making maximum efforts to control the prices of consumer goods. </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 government has kept the prices of petroleum products under control as much as possible," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Committee on Industry and Commerce, Labor and Consumer Affairs of the House of Representatives Bimal Srivastava said that the government should pay attention to guarantee the rights of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum Jyoti Bania, representative of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Hari Prabha Khadgi and Chair of the National Consumer Rights Forum Prem Lal Maharjan also spoke about various aspects of consumer rights protection and promotion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14679', 'image' => '20220316081844_worl6228628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 08:16:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lowers PPA Rate of Energy Produced by Solar Plants', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 per unit.', '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"">March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NEA had fixed Rs 7.30 per unit for power purchase agreement with solar plants. Now, the base rate has been fixed at a maximum of Rs 5.94 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had already decided to sign PPA with the solar plants through open competition. However, the base rate of PPA was not specified. A task force formed for the same purpose has fixed the PPA 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is also the maximum base rate. The contractors participating in the open competition have to submit bids at rates lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai confirmed that the base rate for PPA with solar plants has been fixed at Rs 5.94. He said that the companies participating in the tender bids for PPA should submit bids equal to or lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NEA has set certain criteria for the companies participating in the PPA. </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 solar projects must set up plants in places where we say if they want to participate in PPA,” said Bhattarai.</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"">He said that such criteria have been set keeping in view the technical aspects including the transmission line of NEA and the areas where electricity is in demand.</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"">He said that the PPA rate of solar plants has been reduced in line with the international market rate. "It costs less to build a solar plant. On top of that, it will generate electricity only in the afternoon when NRs 3. Moreover, solar power is cheap in the international market,” said Bhattarai.</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"">Meanwhile, Krishna Prasad Acharya, chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN), said that they will study the base rate set by NEA and then only come up with an official view.</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"">NEA had decided to sign PPA with solar plants through open competition as per the policy of making electricity tariff universally accessible and in line with international norms.</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"">NEA is now preparing to invite tenders for PPA with solar plants by completing the required process. NEA will have to sign PPA in such a way that the contribution of solar plants to the national grid does not exceed 10 percent of the total capacity. The government has adopted a concept of energy mix under which the share of electricity generated by solar projects should be 10 percent of the total capacity of the national grid.</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"">At present, the installed capacity of electricity in the national grid is about 2200 MW. Accordingly, NEA will be able to purchase 220 MW of power from the solar projects immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14675', 'image' => '20220315024600_shutterstock_1126547147.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 14:45:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports 24,000 kg of Gold in 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years. This is the record of gold imported through legal channels. Gold is also smuggled into Nepal through various illegal channels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the last few years, the price of gold has been on a constant rise although the pattern of import has remained almost constant. This has raised questions about where all the gold is used in the country and for what purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Manik Ratna Shakya, president of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association said that 95 percent of the gold imported in Nepal is used by housewives as jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the records of the Department of Customs, the total value of gold imported from fiscal year 2074/75 to mid-February of the fiscal year 2078/79 amounts to Rs 132.38 billion. Economists say that the increase in transaction of gold should be considered as an increase in purchasing power of Nepali citizens. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the other hand, economist Jitendra Upadhyaya says that the more amount is spent on the purchase of gold, the more negative impact it will have on the economy of the country. Economists argue that investment in productive sector creates employment opportunities and such activities should be encouraged rather than the trend of decorating oneself with jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last few years, the purchasing power of Nepali citizens has increased due to an increase in the number of people going for foreign employment. But the money earned from foreign employment being spent on luxury items often results in shortage of money when needed in future. Experts suggest investing the money in businesses rather than spending on luxury items. However, the suggestion has neither been adopted by the general public nor the government has succeeded to formulate a plan for the utilization of remittance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), out of the total remittance entering the country, only 2 percent is utilized for investments. Experts express their concern stating that most of the remittance is returning back with the purchase of luxury items.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the statistics of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Rs 961 billion entered the country last year as remittance. This year, Rs 540 billion has already entered the country as remittance within just seven months. In Nepal, housewives consume most of the imported gold for making jewelry. Apart from this, gold is also used for making gold plated art pieces to attract tourists. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of NRB, Nar Bahadur Thapa says that although businessmen reap the profits from selling gold, it has a negative impact on the economy of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Since the government has not brought any policies to invest remittance into the productive sector, the expenditure of money earned from foreign employment is increasing towards the unproductive sector,” said Thapa, adding, “If such expenditures continue to grow, the banks will face scarcity of investible capital. Therefore, the government should pay proper attention to such issues.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the seven months of the current fiscal year, a total of 3,643 kg of gold worth Rs 252.1 billion has already been imported in Nepal. During last fiscal year, altogether 3,924 kg of gold worth Rs 273.4 billion was imported into the country.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14674', 'image' => '20220315123434_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 12:33:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari for Addressing Root Causes of Foreign Employment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the ‘Kathmandu Declaration’ issued after the 5th National Meeting of Victims of Trafficking to Combat Human Trafficking, the president said the state should create employment opportunities at home so that there will be no compulsion for the citizens to go for overseas job. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Kathmandu Declaration was jointly submitted to the president on Monday (March 14) by two civil society organisations named Shakti Samuha and AATWIN Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the president said, “A thorough study on women’s obligation for overseas migration should be conducted to identify the reasons and the state should address the causes of foreign employment for once and all.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president was of the view that women's migration is taking place most probably due to economic, social and educational issues and suggested that the government should unveil employment generating programmes in the districts with high rate of overseas migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating the poor implementation of Act and laws relating to foreign employment and trafficking in persons are also a problem, President Bhandari also assured to take initiatives to address the problems existing in the foreign employment sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president stated that the woes and sufferings of women migrant workers are of the entire country not merely of women migrants and pledged to address the issues of returnee women migrants through the ‘President Women Upliftment’ programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The two-day meeting concluded in Kathmandu on Monday by issuing a 29-point declaration. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14673', 'image' => '20220315124315_RS_KTM-3A9526.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:22:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14930', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Operate Regular Flights to Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has filed an application with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in order to conduct regular flights from May 22 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti Festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deputy Director General of CAAN, Dev Chandra Lal Karna, shared that the airways has filed application in order to operate one flight per day. It will operate direct flights between Kuwait and Bhairahawa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has now been operating regular flights at Tribhuvan International Airport. </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 Airlines Corporation would conduct test flights at Gautam Buddha Airport from April 14 and the airport would be opened for commercial flights from April 20, Karna added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All necessary preparations for commercial flights have been completed, he said. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14672', 'image' => '20220315081135_Jazeera-Airways.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘World Faces Food Crisis due to Russia-Ukraine War’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, several of Russia's richest businessmen have publicly called for peace since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Those include Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and Oleg Deripaska.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The United States and its European allies have cast Putin's invasion as an imperial-style land grab that has so far been poorly executed because Moscow under-estimated Ukrainian resistance and Western resolve to punish Russia, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The West has sanctioned Russian businessmen, including European Union sanctions on Melnichenko, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force defiant Putin to change course. Putin has called the war a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of dangerous nationalists and Nazis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The events in Ukraine are truly tragic. We urgently need peace," Reuters made public a statement emailed by Melnichenko, 50, who is Russian but was born in Belarus and has a Ukrainian mother.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"One of the victims of this crisis will be agriculture and food," said Melnichenko, who founded EuroChem, Russia's largest ammonium nitrate producer, which is based in Zug, Switzerland, and SUEK, Russia's top coal producer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million people, and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, the world's two biggest nuclear powers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">FOOD WAR?</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Putin reportedly warned on Thursday that food prices would rise globally due to soaring fertiliser prices if the West created problems for Russia's export of fertilisers - which account for 13 percent of world output.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Reuters, Russia is a major producer of potash, phosphate and nitrogen containing fertilisers - major crop and soil nutrients.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The war "has already led to soaring prices in fertilisers which are no longer affordable to farmers," Melnichenko said. He said food supply chains already disrupted by COVID-19 were now even more distressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now it will lead to even higher food inflation in Europe and likely food shortages in the world’s poorest countries," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's trade and industry ministry told the country's fertiliser producers to temporarily halt exports earlier this month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14671', 'image' => '20220314083303_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 20:31:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumer Groups Urge Government to Halt Export of Cooking Oil', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal had been importing a considerable amount of food items including mustard seeds, soybean and sunflower oil, wheat, corn and other food items from Ukraine. But the orders for all goods have been canceled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consumer-based organizations have demanded that the government should immediately coordinate with the industrialists and traders to ensure smooth supply of goods by changing the tax rates and to control inflation and price hike. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Public Forum, Uttam Dhungel said that crucial steps should be taken to increase the stock of such items and halt the exports to create an environment where the general consumers can easily buy food and other consumer goods at affordable prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The prices of edible oil have skyrocketed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the full effects are expected to surface only two months later,” Dhungel said. Dhungel suggested a curb on exports in order to remove the shortage of oil in Nepal due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Prasad Bhandari, the central chairman of Consumer Awareness Campaign, Nepal, said that the irresponsibility of the government has encouraged unethical approach of industrialists and businessmen in price hike of goods taking advantage of the current situation. He said that the devaluation of Nepali currency against the dollar and increase in the price of petroleum products have affected all sides but the general consumers have been affected more due to the government's silence in controlling the inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, refined oils worth Rs 12.34 billion prepared from palm, soybean and sunflower have been exported from July to March. In the corresponding period of last fiscal year, refined edible oil worth Rs 6.43 billion was exported. Biratnagar Customs Chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that he has not received any information from any state body about halting the export of oil. He also informed that refined oil is being exported under normal conditions at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the records kept by Morang Merchants’ Association and Morang Industries Association, refined oil worth Rs 12.36 billion has been exported from Jogbani customs point in the current fiscal year. Exports from Nepal have increased since last year due to the increased demand for refined oil in India. According to the concerned industrialists, their target is to extract refined oil worth Rs 20 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14670', 'image' => '20220314051708_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 17:16:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '90 percent of Nepali Migrant Workers opt for Gulf Region', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), inflow of remittance decreased by 4.9 percent to Rs 540.12 billion from July to January. Remittances had increased by 10.9 percent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the decline in remittance inflows, there is still no sign of improvement in the overall economy. Experts have cited declining remittance inflows as the main reason for the economy not moving in a positive direction. Economist Dr Poshraj Pandey says that remittances cannot be a permanent income of any country but unfortunately there is no alternative to remittances for Nepal at the moment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As inflow of remittance will not be the same all the time, the government should not delay in emphasizing other plans, including increasing domestic production," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Some experts argue that the number of Nepali nationals going for foreign employment has reached its peak at this time. Out of 500,000 people who enter the labor market every year, barely 50,000 can find employment in the country. Those who do not find employment at home go to different countries, including India, for foreign employment. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, around 500,000 young people used to go for foreign employment every year with new and renewable work permits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Department of Foreign Employment has informed that the number of people going for foreign employment has decreased after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the department, 352,427 youths have gone for foreign employment in the current fiscal year. Among them, the number of people going for work in four Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait is alone 320,533. This is about 90 percent of the total number of people going for foreign employment in 7 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During this period, most Nepalis have gone to Saudi Arabia in search of work. A total of 124,035 young people have gone to Saudi Arabia for work. Similarly, 116,153 Nepalis went to Qatar and 70,132 went to the UAE, and 10,213 to Kuwait, according to the department. Experts believe that one of the reasons why the inflow of remittances has not improved in recent times is due to youths choosing Gulf countries as their work destination.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of the Foreign Employment Board Raghuraj Kafle says it is too late to find employment options in the Gulf countries. He said that the remittance inflow has been affected as Nepalis going to the Gulf countries get low wages but 90 percent go to those countries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even though the government has opened 110 countries for employment, most of the demand has come from the Gulf countries. "If we can send Nepali workers to rich and developed countries, we will get more remittances than we are getting now," said Shesh Narayan Poudel, director-general of the department.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14669', 'image' => '20220314044317_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 16:41:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shares Gain as Oil Slips on Hopes for Ukraine Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported. The news agency further said that bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and the UK this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.5 percent, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.5 percent and FTSE futures 0.2 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.6 percent by losses in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chinese blue chips shed 1.7 percent after a jump in coronavirus cases saw the southern city of Shenzen locked down and stoked speculation about more policy easing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bonds elsewhere remained under pressure having taken a beating last week as surging commodity prices looked set to boost inflation further, with yields on 10-year Treasuries rising four basis points to 2.04 percent, Reuters further reported .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The euro was stuck at $1.0905 , and not far from its recent 22-month trough of $1.0804, while the dollar hit a fresh five-year peak on the yen at 117.87 .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gold lost some of its safe-haven charm on Monday, easing 0.5 percent to $1,975 an ounce and away for last week's peak at $2,069.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the chance of progress on Ukraine saw oil prices surrender a little of their recent gains, even as talks with producer Iran seemed to be stalled, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Brent was last quoted $2.13 lower at $110.54, while US crude fell $2.46 to $106.84.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14668', 'image' => '20220314022755_61108396_303.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 14:27:00', '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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Elderly people believe that premonitions can be avoided if "tika" made from the ashes of the 'Chir' is put on one's forehead or kept in the house. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Hindu mythology, demon king Hiranyakashyapu, who was unhappy with his son Prahlad for his wholehearted devotion to Lord Vishnu, ordered his sister Holika to kill Prahalad. Following her brother's instruction, Holika, who had a boon from the god that fire would not harm her, sat on a pyre with Prahlad on her lap. But she was herself burnt to death while Prahalad remained unhurt due to the blessing of Lord Vishnu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">From then onwards, the festival is also known as Holi and is celebrated by smearing colours, especially vermillion powder, with enjoyment. It is believed that Lord Vishnu had warned Holika that the boon she had received would be meaningless if she misused it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This year, revelers have been enjoying the festival in a grand manner as the government has lifted all kinds of restrictions issued to curb the spread of Covid-19.</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"">This festival is celebrated in the tarai region tomorrow.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14685', 'image' => '20220317081648_Holi-festival-750.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:11:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Fuel Prices Again', 'sub_title' => 'Petrol to Cost a Staggering Rs 155 per Litre in the Capital', 'summary' => 'March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the price of fuel once again. A meeting of the NOC board of directors held on Wednesday decided to increase the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 5 per liter effective from March 17. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights has been increased by Rs 15 per liter and the price of ATF for international flights has been raised by US$ 200 per kiloliter. The state-owned oil monopoly has kept the price of cooking gas (LPG) unchanged. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Along with the latest price hike, the price of petrol in Kathmandu Valley has reached Rs 155 per liter while diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 138 per liter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Even with the new price hike, the NOC maintains that it will incur a loss of around Rs 4.66 billion in the next 15 days. The NOC decided to increase the price of petroleum products after receiving a revised list from the Indian Oil Corporation. </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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the price of petroleum products on March 3. This is the tenth time NOC has increased the price of fuel in the last eight months.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-17', 'modified' => '2022-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14684', 'image' => '20220317080731_6194595e531de_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-17 08:05:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inauguration of Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway Uncertain with Ordinance Turning Ineffective ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Inauguration of the Jayanagar-Janakpur Railway service has become uncertain as the ordinance related to the operation of the railway service has become inactive. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It may be noted that preparations were underway to inaugurate the service virtually by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi but the ordinance has become ineffective with the prorogation of the winter session of parliament from Tuesday midnight. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Railway Company’s General Manager Niranjhan Jha, talks are underway for re-issue the ordinance to pave the way for the inauguration of the railway. However, no substantive decision has been taken so far. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ordinance relating to the operation of railway service was issued on December 1, 2021 by the president on the recommendation of the government. It was issued in accordance with the Article 114 (1) of the Constitution. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the constitutional provision, an ordinance needs to be tabled at the Parliament session within 60 days of the first meeting of both the Houses. However, the government could not table the document relating to the railway service in the House due to continued obstructions by the main opposition CPN (UML). -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14683', 'image' => '20220316071651_Railwayy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 19:16:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14940', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow for Imports and Consumption Surge, Deepening Liquidity Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Despite the policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to increase investment in the productive sector, most of the banks and financial institutions have provided loans for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks have aggressively released credit to unproductive sectors, saying there is no demand for credit in the productive sector. According to the NRB, banks have provided loans for imports and consumption by reducing the credit flow to the construction sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have increased their credit flow by a total of Rs 507.1 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. However, more loans have flown to the unproductive sector. Banks have increased consumer credit by reducing construction sector credit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow to the consumer sector has increased by Rs 676.40 billion in the review period. NRB informed that the credit to the construction sector has decreased by around Rs 200 billion during this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks argue that the demand for credit in the production and infrastructure development sector has decreased, and the credit flow in the consumer sector has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Bankers' Association and Chief Executive Officer of Agriculture Development Bank, Anil Kumar Upadhyaya, says that the growth of consumer loans has been high due to the decline in demand for loans for industry and business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Banks and financial institutions have to lend in areas where the demand is high," he said, adding that the growth rate of consumer loans has been high due to declining demand for credit in the productive sector due to Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been giving consumer loans by accepting gold and silver, term receipts, and bonds as collateral. Similarly, they have been investing in credit cards as well. The highest term receipt collateral loan has increased by 102 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Wholesale and retail business comes second in terms of credit flow from banks at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, banks have invested Rs 115.79 billion in this sector. However, during this period, credit expansion of banks in manufacturing industries, agriculture, and service sector has been less than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deepening liquidity crisis</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions is increasing, as banks are aggressive in increasing investment in unproductive sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banker Upendra Poudyal says that the liquidity crisis is increasing due to excessive credit flow of banks for imports and consumption.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If the loans had been invested in productive sectors, new deposits would have been created," he said, adding. “Loans invested in imports and consumption have flowed out of the country and therefore there is liquidity crisis. Although BFIs are profit-oriented companies, they should act responsibly during the current crisis.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bank's investment since mid-March has almost come to a standstill due to the lack of liquidity. Banks are borrowing from NRB to maintain the cash reserve ratio (CRR).</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14682', 'image' => '20220316052328_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 17:22:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Forms Core Team to Draft Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: The Ministry of Finance has started its homework to prepare the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2079/80). The ministry has initiated the homework by forming a core team in order to bring the budget on May 29, 2022, as per the constitutional provision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the finance minister’s secretariat, a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has formed a five-member budget drafting committee. Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral is the coordinator of the committee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Members of the committee include Chakra Bahadur Budha, chief of Budget and Program Division of the ministry; Ishwori Aryal, chief of International Financial Aid Coordination Division; Mahesh Acharya, chief of Economic Policy and Analysis Division; and Baburam Subedi, chief of Financial Federalism Coordination Division.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The committee has been mandated to draft the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill to be presented in Parliament and to submit a draft of the budget for the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The core team has been instructed to move ahead with the budget drafting work in coordination with Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, and Senior Economic Advisor Dr Surendra Kumar Upreti.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Sharma has been holding discussions with various ministries and concerned authorities regarding the upcoming budget. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14681', 'image' => '20220316011556_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:15:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'KOICA Hands Over Equipment for Waste Management of Hospitals', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Government of South Korea has provided equipment worth US$ 42,100 to three hospitals under the hospital waste management programme of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The total budget of the program is said to be USD 42,100.</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"">KOICA said in a statement that it handed over the equipment to Nepal-Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital, Bhaktapur, amid a programme on Tuesday, March 15.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to KOICA, the hospitals were provided with Horizontal Cylindrical Triple Walled High Pressure Biomedical Waste Autoclave Machine for the purpose of health waste management.</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"">A handover program was organized at Nepal Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital on March 15 in the presence of Madan Sundar Shrestha, mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality and Yoonhee Chung, deputy country director of KOICA, added the statement.</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 autoclave machines in other two hospitals - Nuwakot District Hospital and Tikapur Hospital - have been already installed and handed over.</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"">KOICA Nepal Office said it has been promoting Green ODA in each of its development cooperation programs from the year 2021. </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"">KOICA expressed hope that the support to these hospitals will bring significant outcomes in the overall hospital waste management system. </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"">“It shall be useful in developing healthy and responsible habits in managing the health waste which is a minimum criterion being responsible towards the environment. Also, it can minimize the risk of infection in hospital,” the statement added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14680', 'image' => '20220316013949_20220315_112445.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 13:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home Minister Bats for Protection of Consumer Rights', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has said that industrialists and entrepreneurs should be sensitive towards consumers' welfare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised jointly by the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection and Kathmandu Metropolitan City on the occasion of World Consumers Rights Day on Tuesday, Home Minister Khand said that all sides should be serious towards the welfare of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government would not hesitate to implement the provisions related to consumer rights mentioned in the constitution and laws, he urged the industrialists to become accountable to the people.</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"">"Entrepreneurs are also consumers in one way or the other. The government does not want to discourage industrialists. I believe that entrepreneurs will also be sensitive towards the interests of consumers," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the government is aware of the consumers being affected by the rise in prices of daily essentials, the Home Minister said that the government is making maximum efforts to control the prices of consumer goods. </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 government has kept the prices of petroleum products under control as much as possible," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Committee on Industry and Commerce, Labor and Consumer Affairs of the House of Representatives Bimal Srivastava said that the government should pay attention to guarantee the rights of consumers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum Jyoti Bania, representative of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Hari Prabha Khadgi and Chair of the National Consumer Rights Forum Prem Lal Maharjan also spoke about various aspects of consumer rights protection and promotion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-16', 'modified' => '2022-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14679', 'image' => '20220316081844_worl6228628.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-16 08:16:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14933', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lowers PPA Rate of Energy Produced by Solar Plants', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 per unit.', '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"">March 15: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the power purchase agreement (PPA) rate for solar power projects by Rs 1.36 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NEA had fixed Rs 7.30 per unit for power purchase agreement with solar plants. Now, the base rate has been fixed at a maximum of Rs 5.94 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had already decided to sign PPA with the solar plants through open competition. However, the base rate of PPA was not specified. A task force formed for the same purpose has fixed the PPA 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is also the maximum base rate. The contractors participating in the open competition have to submit bids at rates lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai confirmed that the base rate for PPA with solar plants has been fixed at Rs 5.94. He said that the companies participating in the tender bids for PPA should submit bids equal to or lower than the base 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:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, NEA has set certain criteria for the companies participating in the PPA. </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 solar projects must set up plants in places where we say if they want to participate in PPA,” said Bhattarai.</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"">He said that such criteria have been set keeping in view the technical aspects including the transmission line of NEA and the areas where electricity is in demand.</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"">He said that the PPA rate of solar plants has been reduced in line with the international market rate. "It costs less to build a solar plant. On top of that, it will generate electricity only in the afternoon when NRs 3. Moreover, solar power is cheap in the international market,” said Bhattarai.</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"">Meanwhile, Krishna Prasad Acharya, chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN), said that they will study the base rate set by NEA and then only come up with an official view.</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"">NEA had decided to sign PPA with solar plants through open competition as per the policy of making electricity tariff universally accessible and in line with international norms.</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"">NEA is now preparing to invite tenders for PPA with solar plants by completing the required process. NEA will have to sign PPA in such a way that the contribution of solar plants to the national grid does not exceed 10 percent of the total capacity. The government has adopted a concept of energy mix under which the share of electricity generated by solar projects should be 10 percent of the total capacity of the national grid.</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"">At present, the installed capacity of electricity in the national grid is about 2200 MW. Accordingly, NEA will be able to purchase 220 MW of power from the solar projects immediately. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14675', 'image' => '20220315024600_shutterstock_1126547147.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 14:45:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14932', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports 24,000 kg of Gold in 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 15: Around 24,693 kilograms of gold have been imported into Nepal in the last five years. This is the record of gold imported through legal channels. Gold is also smuggled into Nepal through various illegal channels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since the last few years, the price of gold has been on a constant rise although the pattern of import has remained almost constant. This has raised questions about where all the gold is used in the country and for what purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Manik Ratna Shakya, president of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association said that 95 percent of the gold imported in Nepal is used by housewives as jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the records of the Department of Customs, the total value of gold imported from fiscal year 2074/75 to mid-February of the fiscal year 2078/79 amounts to Rs 132.38 billion. Economists say that the increase in transaction of gold should be considered as an increase in purchasing power of Nepali citizens. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the other hand, economist Jitendra Upadhyaya says that the more amount is spent on the purchase of gold, the more negative impact it will have on the economy of the country. Economists argue that investment in productive sector creates employment opportunities and such activities should be encouraged rather than the trend of decorating oneself with jewelry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last few years, the purchasing power of Nepali citizens has increased due to an increase in the number of people going for foreign employment. But the money earned from foreign employment being spent on luxury items often results in shortage of money when needed in future. Experts suggest investing the money in businesses rather than spending on luxury items. However, the suggestion has neither been adopted by the general public nor the government has succeeded to formulate a plan for the utilization of remittance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), out of the total remittance entering the country, only 2 percent is utilized for investments. Experts express their concern stating that most of the remittance is returning back with the purchase of luxury items.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the statistics of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Rs 961 billion entered the country last year as remittance. This year, Rs 540 billion has already entered the country as remittance within just seven months. In Nepal, housewives consume most of the imported gold for making jewelry. Apart from this, gold is also used for making gold plated art pieces to attract tourists. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of NRB, Nar Bahadur Thapa says that although businessmen reap the profits from selling gold, it has a negative impact on the economy of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Since the government has not brought any policies to invest remittance into the productive sector, the expenditure of money earned from foreign employment is increasing towards the unproductive sector,” said Thapa, adding, “If such expenditures continue to grow, the banks will face scarcity of investible capital. Therefore, the government should pay proper attention to such issues.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the seven months of the current fiscal year, a total of 3,643 kg of gold worth Rs 252.1 billion has already been imported in Nepal. During last fiscal year, altogether 3,924 kg of gold worth Rs 273.4 billion was imported into the country.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14674', 'image' => '20220315123434_goldee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 12:33:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14931', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari for Addressing Root Causes of Foreign Employment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has said the root causes of foreign employment should be addressed for its sustainable solution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Receiving the ‘Kathmandu Declaration’ issued after the 5th National Meeting of Victims of Trafficking to Combat Human Trafficking, the president said the state should create employment opportunities at home so that there will be no compulsion for the citizens to go for overseas job. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Kathmandu Declaration was jointly submitted to the president on Monday (March 14) by two civil society organisations named Shakti Samuha and AATWIN Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the president said, “A thorough study on women’s obligation for overseas migration should be conducted to identify the reasons and the state should address the causes of foreign employment for once and all.” </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president was of the view that women's migration is taking place most probably due to economic, social and educational issues and suggested that the government should unveil employment generating programmes in the districts with high rate of overseas migration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating the poor implementation of Act and laws relating to foreign employment and trafficking in persons are also a problem, President Bhandari also assured to take initiatives to address the problems existing in the foreign employment sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The president stated that the woes and sufferings of women migrant workers are of the entire country not merely of women migrants and pledged to address the issues of returnee women migrants through the ‘President Women Upliftment’ programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The two-day meeting concluded in Kathmandu on Monday by issuing a 29-point declaration. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14673', 'image' => '20220315124315_RS_KTM-3A9526.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:22:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14930', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Operate Regular Flights to Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: Jazeera Airways of Kuwait is all set to make first commercial flight at Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has filed an application with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in order to conduct regular flights from May 22 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti Festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deputy Director General of CAAN, Dev Chandra Lal Karna, shared that the airways has filed application in order to operate one flight per day. It will operate direct flights between Kuwait and Bhairahawa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The airways has now been operating regular flights at Tribhuvan International Airport. </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 Airlines Corporation would conduct test flights at Gautam Buddha Airport from April 14 and the airport would be opened for commercial flights from April 20, Karna added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All necessary preparations for commercial flights have been completed, he said. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-15', 'modified' => '2022-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14672', 'image' => '20220315081135_Jazeera-Airways.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-15 08:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14929', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘World Faces Food Crisis due to Russia-Ukraine War’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertiliser prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Reuters quoted Russia's coal and fertiliser king Andrei Melnichenko as saying on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, several of Russia's richest businessmen have publicly called for peace since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Those include Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and Oleg Deripaska.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The United States and its European allies have cast Putin's invasion as an imperial-style land grab that has so far been poorly executed because Moscow under-estimated Ukrainian resistance and Western resolve to punish Russia, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The West has sanctioned Russian businessmen, including European Union sanctions on Melnichenko, frozen state assets and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy in an attempt to force defiant Putin to change course. Putin has called the war a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of dangerous nationalists and Nazis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The events in Ukraine are truly tragic. We urgently need peace," Reuters made public a statement emailed by Melnichenko, 50, who is Russian but was born in Belarus and has a Ukrainian mother.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"One of the victims of this crisis will be agriculture and food," said Melnichenko, who founded EuroChem, Russia's largest ammonium nitrate producer, which is based in Zug, Switzerland, and SUEK, Russia's top coal producer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million people, and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, the world's two biggest nuclear powers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">FOOD WAR?</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Putin reportedly warned on Thursday that food prices would rise globally due to soaring fertiliser prices if the West created problems for Russia's export of fertilisers - which account for 13 percent of world output.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Reuters, Russia is a major producer of potash, phosphate and nitrogen containing fertilisers - major crop and soil nutrients.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The war "has already led to soaring prices in fertilisers which are no longer affordable to farmers," Melnichenko said. He said food supply chains already disrupted by COVID-19 were now even more distressed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now it will lead to even higher food inflation in Europe and likely food shortages in the world’s poorest countries," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia's trade and industry ministry told the country's fertiliser producers to temporarily halt exports earlier this month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14671', 'image' => '20220314083303_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 20:31:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14928', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumer Groups Urge Government to Halt Export of Cooking Oil', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: Consumer-based organisations have urged the government to limit exports of processed food items from the country after facing problems in importing raw materials required for the food industry in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal had been importing a considerable amount of food items including mustard seeds, soybean and sunflower oil, wheat, corn and other food items from Ukraine. But the orders for all goods have been canceled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consumer-based organizations have demanded that the government should immediately coordinate with the industrialists and traders to ensure smooth supply of goods by changing the tax rates and to control inflation and price hike. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Public Forum, Uttam Dhungel said that crucial steps should be taken to increase the stock of such items and halt the exports to create an environment where the general consumers can easily buy food and other consumer goods at affordable prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The prices of edible oil have skyrocketed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the full effects are expected to surface only two months later,” Dhungel said. Dhungel suggested a curb on exports in order to remove the shortage of oil in Nepal due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Prasad Bhandari, the central chairman of Consumer Awareness Campaign, Nepal, said that the irresponsibility of the government has encouraged unethical approach of industrialists and businessmen in price hike of goods taking advantage of the current situation. He said that the devaluation of Nepali currency against the dollar and increase in the price of petroleum products have affected all sides but the general consumers have been affected more due to the government's silence in controlling the inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, refined oils worth Rs 12.34 billion prepared from palm, soybean and sunflower have been exported from July to March. In the corresponding period of last fiscal year, refined edible oil worth Rs 6.43 billion was exported. Biratnagar Customs Chief Tara Prasad Sapkota said that he has not received any information from any state body about halting the export of oil. He also informed that refined oil is being exported under normal conditions at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the records kept by Morang Merchants’ Association and Morang Industries Association, refined oil worth Rs 12.36 billion has been exported from Jogbani customs point in the current fiscal year. Exports from Nepal have increased since last year due to the increased demand for refined oil in India. According to the concerned industrialists, their target is to extract refined oil worth Rs 20 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14670', 'image' => '20220314051708_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 17:16:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14927', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '90 percent of Nepali Migrant Workers opt for Gulf Region', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 14: The remittance inflow, which has been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY), has not improved even in the seventh month.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), inflow of remittance decreased by 4.9 percent to Rs 540.12 billion from July to January. Remittances had increased by 10.9 percent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the decline in remittance inflows, there is still no sign of improvement in the overall economy. Experts have cited declining remittance inflows as the main reason for the economy not moving in a positive direction. Economist Dr Poshraj Pandey says that remittances cannot be a permanent income of any country but unfortunately there is no alternative to remittances for Nepal at the moment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As inflow of remittance will not be the same all the time, the government should not delay in emphasizing other plans, including increasing domestic production," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Some experts argue that the number of Nepali nationals going for foreign employment has reached its peak at this time. Out of 500,000 people who enter the labor market every year, barely 50,000 can find employment in the country. Those who do not find employment at home go to different countries, including India, for foreign employment. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, around 500,000 young people used to go for foreign employment every year with new and renewable work permits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Department of Foreign Employment has informed that the number of people going for foreign employment has decreased after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the department, 352,427 youths have gone for foreign employment in the current fiscal year. Among them, the number of people going for work in four Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait is alone 320,533. This is about 90 percent of the total number of people going for foreign employment in 7 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During this period, most Nepalis have gone to Saudi Arabia in search of work. A total of 124,035 young people have gone to Saudi Arabia for work. Similarly, 116,153 Nepalis went to Qatar and 70,132 went to the UAE, and 10,213 to Kuwait, according to the department. Experts believe that one of the reasons why the inflow of remittances has not improved in recent times is due to youths choosing Gulf countries as their work destination.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Executive Director of the Foreign Employment Board Raghuraj Kafle says it is too late to find employment options in the Gulf countries. He said that the remittance inflow has been affected as Nepalis going to the Gulf countries get low wages but 90 percent go to those countries.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even though the government has opened 110 countries for employment, most of the demand has come from the Gulf countries. "If we can send Nepali workers to rich and developed countries, we will get more remittances than we are getting now," said Shesh Narayan Poudel, director-general of the department.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14669', 'image' => '20220314044317_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 16:41:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14926', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shares Gain as Oil Slips on Hopes for Ukraine Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported. The news agency further said that bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and the UK this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.5 percent, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.5 percent and FTSE futures 0.2 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.6 percent by losses in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chinese blue chips shed 1.7 percent after a jump in coronavirus cases saw the southern city of Shenzen locked down and stoked speculation about more policy easing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bonds elsewhere remained under pressure having taken a beating last week as surging commodity prices looked set to boost inflation further, with yields on 10-year Treasuries rising four basis points to 2.04 percent, Reuters further reported .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The euro was stuck at $1.0905 , and not far from its recent 22-month trough of $1.0804, while the dollar hit a fresh five-year peak on the yen at 117.87 .</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Gold lost some of its safe-haven charm on Monday, easing 0.5 percent to $1,975 an ounce and away for last week's peak at $2,069.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the chance of progress on Ukraine saw oil prices surrender a little of their recent gains, even as talks with producer Iran seemed to be stalled, Reuters further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Brent was last quoted $2.13 lower at $110.54, while US crude fell $2.46 to $106.84.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-14', 'modified' => '2022-03-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14668', 'image' => '20220314022755_61108396_303.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-14 14:27:00', '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
