February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing.…
February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing.…
February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign…
February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal…
February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such…
February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade.…
February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for…
February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as…
February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal.…
February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance.…
February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute.…
February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural…
February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this…
February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal…
February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city.…
February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </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 of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last 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"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current 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"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </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 tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from 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"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </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 tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </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"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</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"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </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"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14810', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government has no Resources to Settle Covid-19 Insurance Claims: Ministry of Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.</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 insurance companies are unlikely to receive Rs 11 billion which the government is liable to pay the companies as per its commitment to fight against the pandemic.</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"">Ramesh Kumar KC, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Head of the Financial Sector Management and Corporation Co-ordination Division, informed that there is no immediate resource to settle the Covid-19 insurance claims.</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"">"It simply came to our notice then that there was no resource to meet the demand," 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"">As per the of Covid-19 Insurance Procedure, insurance companies will have to bear up to Rs 3.5 billion for compensating the policy holders while the government will be responsible to bear any additional cost.</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 procedure, the Insurance Board, reinsurance companies, and insurance pools will have to contribute Rs 1 billion each, and non-life insurance companies will have to pay Rs 500 million. Witnessing the rise of Covid-19, the insurance companies suspended the Covid-19 insurance scheme stating that they don't have sufficient budget to settle the claims. The companies resumed operations after the government pledged to provide more than Rs 3.5 billion in insurance claims.</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 government’s commitment, it will have to pay Rs 11.43 billion after deducting the amount of Rs 3.5 billion which the insurance companies are liable to pay.</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 settlement of Covid-19 insurance claims was suspended after the government failed to disburse the required amount. The insurance companies are adamant that the insurance claims will not be settled until the government releases the money. </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"">Chairman of the Insurance Board, Surya Prasad Silva, said that the insurance companies have not received any money from the Ministry of Finance.</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 board added that the Ministry of Finance has not come up with a clear idea in this regard.</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 Insurance Board had sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance a few months ago suggesting alternative means for raising the resources needed to settle the claims. The board had proposed that the insurance sector should pay 50 to 55 percent of the total amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14552', 'image' => '20220222040149_20200426022909_1587852673.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 16:01:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14809', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Authorities of India Instruct Service Providers to Avail Adequate Rail Rakes for Nepal-Bound Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India issued such order to the service provider companies after Nepal-bound containers arriving from third countries started piling up at the Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board issued the order in the name of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), Pristine Mega Logistic Park and International Cargo Terminal and Infrastructure last week. The board has instructed the companies to make the required rail rakes available for transporting goods to Nepal from the Indian ports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The transshipment cost of Nepal’s foreign trade was expected to be slashed down after the amendment to the Nepal India Railway Service Agreement, which allowed private companies to compete in the business. However, the Nepali importers are at the receiving end due to an unhealthy competition among the service providers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement was amended on June 29 last year. A private railway company from India transported goods to Birgunj Dry Port for the first time on September 15. Prior to that, CONCOR enjoyed monopoly in transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, there are four companies in India, including CONCOR, that have been providing transportation service for Nepal-bound goods. Due to the competition from private sector, India’s state-owned CONCOR had reduced the transportation fare as well as rail rakes significantly. This had caused problems for Nepal’s import business as the private companies of India did not have adequate number of rail rakes to transport containers to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CONCOR reduced the transportation fare by 30 to 35 percent. Other private companies were also forced to reduce the fare. However, CONCOR is still ahead of the private companies in terms of infrastructure and handles 90 percent of Nepal-bound shipments single-handedly taking advantage of the weak infrastructure of its competitors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age had published a news on February 6 regarding the piling up of containers at Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Subodh Kumar Gupta said that the containers have been stuck at the Indian ports since the last two to four months due to unavailability of adequate rakes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have done correspondence with Kolkata-based Nepali consulate regarding this problem. But the problem has not been resolved yet,” said Gupta.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on India’s ports in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, and Haldiya for foreign trade. However, Nepal-bound containers have been stuck at the ports due to unavailability of rail rakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The problems faced by importers in Kolkata has now surfaced in Visakhapatnam, said Ashish Lath, secretary of the chamber. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata Ishwar Raj Poudel said that the problem has been sorted out after holding talks with CONCOR officials. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal imports around 125,000 containers of goods in a year. Currently, 4000 containers have been stuck at Visakhapatnam Port. This port, which is twice as far as Kolkata, has now become the first choice among Nepali importers. Although the distance is more, the cost incurred and delivery time are both less because big ships ferry the containers to Visakhapatnam. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the situation is tense due to the fierce competition among the service providers, says importer Pradeep Kedia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> According to sources, CONCOR used to make a profit of IRS 12,000 for transportation of one container of goods. However, its profit has been reduced to IRs 5,000 per containers after adjusting the fare due to competition among the service providers. It has been learnt that CONCOR has been providing additional rail rakes for transportation of goods of Indian companies where it makes more profit than transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“Earlier, we were under compulsion to make the rakes available because it was our sole responsibility. But now, we are no longer responsible after the entry or private competitors. It is natural that we will provide rakes to those companies where we can make better profit,” said an official of CONCOR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, CONCOR used to provide 65 rakes per month for transporting goods to Nepal but that has dropped to 38 at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other companies are under pressure to increase rail rakes. According to B Mohan, executive director of Pristine Valley Dry Port, Pristine Mega Logistic Park has increased rail rakes to 13 per month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14551', 'image' => '20220222025427_20220206123218_1644103590.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 14:53:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14808', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector in Favor of MCC', 'sub_title' => 'Urges Government to Keep Politics Away from Development', 'summary' => 'February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.</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"">Amidst differing stances taken by the political parties, the private sector has requested the political leadership to keep politics away from development.</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 private sector was quick to welcome the MCC as soon as it got tabled in the parliament, stating that development should be devoid of politics. </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 Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), an umbrella body of business organizations and industrialists, the political parties should make commitment not to intervene in development matters. </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 CNI said that the government can reap benefit from timely implementation of development projects by taking the people into confidence.</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"">CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agarwal said that the MCC agreement is important for the development of electricity and road sector, which are of strategic importance to Nepal's economic development.</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"">“A hefty investment is needed for sustainable development and post-Covid-19 economic recovery,” said Agrawal, adding, “For this too, infrastructure support like MCC is necessary for 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"">According to Agarwal, after the implementation of this project, Nepal can make a qualitative leap in trade and other economic sectors.</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 president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pashupati Murarka was also in favor of approval of MCC. According to him, if the MCC is tabled and approved, the message of an investment-friendly environment will circulate around the world.</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"">Similarly, President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Rajendra Malla was also glad about the government’s decision to table the MCC in parliament.</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 him, MCC should be passed to maintain the trust that donors have on Nepal. According to the private sector stakeholders, the implementation of MCC will also contribute to foreign exchange earnings.</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 private sector emphasizes that more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa have enhanced their economies by implementing MCC-assisted projects and that Nepal should also implement this project in a timely manner and set a precedent in technology transfer, project implementation and development management.</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 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, which is directly linked to the transmission line and road infrastructure that will directly benefit 23 million citizens, was tabled in the House of Representatives on Sunday (February 20).</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"">While presenting the MCC agenda in parliament, Communication Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had said that about 5 million households would directly benefit from the project within five years of its implementation.</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 government expects the 312 km long 400 kV capacity double circuit transmission line starting from Nangle Bhare in Kathmandu to Butwal to be the backbone of Nepal's energy sector. This project will also be of strategic importance in bringing the electricity produced by the projects constructed in the corridors of Tamakoshi, Bhotekoshi, Trishuli, Budhigandaki and Kaligandaki to the national grid.</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"">All the former prime ministers are involved in this project that started during the tenure of former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and the then finance minister Surendra Pandey. MCC has allocated about Rs 55 billion grant assistance for the development of Nepal's energy and transport sectors. The Government of Nepal will invest around Rs 14 billion in this project.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14550', 'image' => '20220222123213_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 12:31:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14807', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deposit Collection of Banks not Encouraging Despite Increase in Interest Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although banks have raised interest rates on deposits to 11.03 percent since mid-February, the deposits of commercial banks have increased by only Rs 1 billion. According to the Nepal Bankers' Association, the total deposits of commercial banks was Rs 4311 billion as of mid-February which increased to Rs 4312 billion on February 18. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite opposition by some bankers that increasing interest rates would not increase deposits, the association had decided to raise interest rates in line with the interest rate limit set by the central bank. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the weak growth rate of deposit, credit expansion of banks has also started shrinking. According to the association, the credit of banks has increased by only Rs 4 billion in February. Commercial banks, which have been extending loans of Rs 10 billion in average in a week, started reducing credit flow since mid-December. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposit collection of banks was Rs 110 billion as of mid-January this year while the credit flow was Rs 434 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow has been much higher than deposit collection. Liquidity crisis is getting worse due to the loan flow to unproductive sectors such as import business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14549', 'image' => '20220222115324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 11:52:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14806', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Collects Rs 810 Million in Royalties from Casinos ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. The amount was collected following the instructions of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The license of Kathmandu-based Yak and Yeti Hotel to operate casino was scrapped for defaulting royalties. Minister Ale warned of similar action in case others fail to pay royalties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now casinos have been in rush to pay royalties. So far, Rs 810 million in royalties have been collected. Some other casinos are preparing documents to clear the dues," said Khem Raj Joshi, officer at the Department of Tourism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Department, so far, 17 casinos including Golden Finger Gaming Zone have paid royalties. It has been learnt that arrears amounting to over Rs 1.11 billion are yet to be paid in royalties. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14548', 'image' => '20220221071847_istockphoto-1188013341-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 19:17:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14805', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Constituency Strategic Road Project being Implemented without Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. The project has been launched to invest billions of rupees on the roads chosen by the elected representatives. Approximate, 2,200 kilometers of roads have been chosen by the elected representatives of 165 election constituencies. However, the study on its strategic importance is nowhere to be found.</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"">This project has already been passed by the council of ministers. Even the Ministry of Finance has accepted the proposal under the ‘Constituency Strategic Road Construction and Operation Criteria-2077’. After securing the resource, the project has been taken forward in the current fiscal year. Among the 165 roads, the tender of 25 roads have already been announced and their technical proposals have been accepted as well. If there are no legal obligations within three weeks, the Department of Roads will sign a contract for their construction.</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 criteria, each MP will have to identify a road for construction in their constituency. Such roads need to be identified on the basis of their proximity to the national highways and must support the economic, social, and industrial development within the constituency. Meanwhile, there have been no studies or tests on this subject matter yet. Shiva Prasad Nepal, the Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Department of Roads said that despite the roads being called the election constituency strategic roads, no one really knows how strategic the roads are.</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"">“These roads have been chosen by the elected representatives,” Nepal said adding, “While the strategic importance of such roads are yet to be ascertained. Even the studies on its strategic importance have not yet been conducted.”</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"">There is a provision to conduct a detailed project report (DPR) on the selected roads by the elected representatives. Also the environmental impact assessment is to be done if necessary. The Department of Roads has been working as per the responsibility given by the federal government.</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 has stated that a budget of Rs 57.10 billion is required for the construction of these roads. However, no study has been done on the strategic importance of the road to be built with such a large investment and how much it will be financially viable. These roads are targeted to be completed within the next three years. However, in some places there are problems with land acquisition and some fall in forest areas. Therefore, Nepal said that it would take time for DPR and environmental impact assessment.</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"">DPR and EIA take more than a year to complete. Similarly, it takes 6 months to complete the procurement process. One and a half years will pass in this process. “There is no basis to build 165 roads in the remaining year and a half and mobilize resources,” said Nepal adding, “There will be no delay in road construction in areas where DPR has been done. EIA is not required where curring of trees is not necessary and land is not required to be acquired.” The technical proposal of the tender for 25 roads has already been approved.</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"">For the construction of constituency strategic roads, the government has set a minimum of Rs 200 million to a maximum of Rs 600 million investment limit. It is likely that it will take around 5 years to complete these roads.</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 government has allocated Rs. 2.32 billion budget for this project. The construction of this road was announced by the outgoing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April, 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14547', 'image' => '20220221044115_road-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 16:40:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14804', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliament to Decide the Fate of MCC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki presented the MCC agenda in parliament meeting on Sunday (February 20) amid protest in the streets as well as the parliament itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki himself had signed the MCC grant agreement with the US representatives on September 14, 2017 in the capacity of the then finance minister of Nepal. The MCC grant agreement was registered in parliament on July 15, 2019 by former Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during the tenure of KP Sharma Oli-led government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As soon as the MCC agenda was tabled in parliament on Sunday, CPN UML lawmakers picketed the rostrum and started obstructing the house proceedings. Speaker of the House of Representatives then allowed CPN Maoist Centre lawmaker Dev Gurung to express his views followed by UML leader Bhim Rawal, Nepal Workers and Peasant Party MP Prem Suwal and Jastriya Janamorcha’s Durga Poudel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All of them were unanimous in saying that the MCC should not have been tabled in parliament. On the other hand, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota argued that the MCC grant was of national interest and therefore it should be discussed in parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While the MCC agreement was being presented in parliament, New Baneshwar area turned tense due to protest called by the leaders and activists of the ruling parties. Police had to fire dozens of tear-gas shells and water canyon to quell the protest. Police also resorted to firing rubber bullets after the protest went out of control.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Some leaders of the ruling coalition accused the government of tabling the MCC agreement without reaching an understanding among the ruling parties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of the ruling CPN Unified Socialist Madhav Kumar Nepal said that his party is not in favour of endorsing the MCC agreement in its current form. Likewise, chairman of another coalition partner CPN Maoist Centre’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed concern that the government tabled the MCC agenda amid protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government has tabled the MCC in parliament despite protests. Our party has already made its stance clear that we will stand against it,” Dahal said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the tabling of MCC agreement in parliament, it is now in the process of endorsement. The parliament must pass the MCC with majority votes in order to implement the agreement. MPs will hold discussions regarding the MCC in the upcoming house meeting. The lawmakers can demand amendment to some provisions in the agreement. The speaker can send the MCC agreement to parliamentary committee for clause-wise discussion. But if it is presented directly in the House meeting, the process will become shorter. The government is likely to press for the short-cut as the deadline for endorsing the agreement is approaching near. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14546', 'image' => '20220221031536_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 15:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14803', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Unable to Disburse Agricultural Loans as per the Target set by NRB ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector. However, the banks are facing difficulty to meet the target. </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 monetary policy of the last fiscal year (FY), the NRB had made provision for the commercial banks to disburse 15 percent of their total credit to the agricultural sector. NRB has set a calendar to meet the target. However, banks have not been able to disburse loans as per the target. </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"">NRB has given the deadline of mid-July 2023 for the banks to increase the loan flow to agricultural sector to 15 percent. NRB has instructed the banks to increase the loan flow to 11 percent by mid-July 2021 and 13 percent by mid-July 2022. As of mid-January 2022, credit flow to agricultural sector of only five banks have exceeded 13 percent of the total loans. </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 banks have to increase the agricultural loan to 11 percent by mid-July 2021, 10 banks have not been able to make the required investment as of mid-January 2022. </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"">Nepal Rastra Bank has arranged subsidy on interest for agricultural loans to increase investment in the agricultural sector. Under this facility, 51,756 customers have availed loan facilities from banks as of mid-January. They have borrowed Rs 136 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14545', 'image' => '20220221024957_Agriculture-Loan_55.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 14:49:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14802', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-India Energy Secretary Level meeting scheduled for Wednesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week.', '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"">February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week. The delegation from Nepal and India will meet in Kathmandu as per the request of India.</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 representatives of the two nations had previously held a meeting in Bangalore, India, two years ago. The two countries had agreed to hold the meeting every six months. However, the meeting had been postponed after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.</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"">Despite the pandemic, Nepal had repeatedly urged India to convene the meeting. However, India had been reluctant to hold the meeting, citing the reason of Covid-19. India proposed resuming the meeting amid declining risk of Covid-19. </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"">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal confirmed that the Energy Secretary-level meeting will take place on February 23 and 24.</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"">Although the date of the meeting is close, the proposal of the meeting has not been decided yet. An official of the ministry said that they are yet to prepare the proposal to be presented in the meeting.</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 agenda of the meeting will be decided through consensus among both the countries. We have sent some proposals on our behalf. The decision on the proposal is likely to be taken during Monday's meeting,” said Bhetwal. The ministry is planning to hold discussions with the Ministry of Law; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the concerned ministries of India on Monday.</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"">During the joint meeting, Nepal is planning to discuss electricity trade, power exchange, and inter-country transmission lines with India. According to a source at the ministry, Nepal has sent its proposal to India focusing on those issues.</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"">Nepal has been wasting 500 MW of electricity during the rainy season. However, India has not confirmed it will buy the surplus electricity from Nepal. Therefore, Nepal is trying to discuss the issue of electricity exchange along with electricity trade with top priority. According to the source, the issue of inter-country transmission lines will also be discussed.</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"">India, on the other hand, wants to discuss joint investment and development of hydropower projects at the meeting. On the first day of the meeting, a joint group meeting of joint secretaries of Nepal and India will be held. On the second day, there will be a meeting of energy secretaries of both the countries where Nepal's Energy Secretary Devendra Karki and Indian Energy Secretary Alok Kumar will join their respective delegations. It will finalize the issues decided by the joint secretary-level meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14544', 'image' => '20220221010206_Flag-Pins-Nepal-India.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 13:01:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14800', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Profit Climbs to Rs 12 Billion in Six Months of Current FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial details issued by the NEA, the state-owned utility had made a profit of Rs 6.18 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA is the public institution which earns the maximum profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA, which was facing loss in Fiscal Year 2072/73, has been making profit every year since then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA Executive Director Kul Man Ghising said that the NEA was able to maximize profit by controlling electricity leakage, increasing export of electricity to India, limiting import of electricity, increasing sale of electricity among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Reduction in operational cost and steps taken to bring administrative and financial reforms also helped in increasing profit,” said Ghising, adding, “The electricity tariff for customers have been revised from mid-December. This will cause a slight reduction in income of NEA but we have taken effective measures to curb electricity leakage and to maintain financial discipline. We are expecting to generate profit of Rs 15 billion.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the six months of the current FY, electricity leakage has dropped to 14.45 percent from 17.18 percent in the corresponding period of previous FY. The NEA aims to limit electricity leakage to 15.5 percent in the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review period, NEA made an income of Rs 47.98 billion while its expenses were Rs 35.86 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA’s long-term debt to the donors is Rs 114 billion. Similarly, the NEA is liable to pay a long-term loan of Rs 81.81 billion to the Government of Nepal and its financial obligation to the staffers is worth Rs 36.84 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Electricity export up </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA informed that the export of electricity has increased and import decreased in the six months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the fiscal year, 2020/21, power worth Rs 316 million was exported to India. The figure increased to Rs 805 million in the first six months of the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, electricity import had increased to Rs 21.8 billion in the FY, 2020/21 from Rs 13.4 billion in the FY, 2019/20. But, the country imported power worth Rs 2.5 billion till date in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Executive Director of NEA Ghising, electricity demand within the country has increased by approximately 200 megawatts as compared to the previous year. Approximately 660 megawatts electricity has been added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14543', 'image' => '20220221110635_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:05:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14801', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Massive Hailstorm Affects daily life in Pokhara, Crops Damaged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This photo taken from social media shows Pokhara city covered in a blanket of hailstones resembling snowfall on Sunday.</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. Most of the roads in Pokhara were covered with hailstones that occurred from 1 pm and continued till 4:30 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, vehicles and pedestrians were left struggling on the roads of Pokhara, the state-owned RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals of Pokhara said that they had never witnessed such a massive scale of hailstorm before. Social media were abuzz with videos of hailstorm throughout the day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the District Traffic Police Office, the hailstones have been removed with the help of excavators in the main market areas of Pokhara including Mahendrapul, Chipledhunga, New Road, Nayabazar, Sirjanachowk and Ranipauwa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Metropolitan Agriculture Development Division informed that the hailstorm damaged winter crops and vegetables in the city a nd nearby areas. Farmers of ward number 18, 20, 16, 25, 22 and 14 of the metropolis have been affected by the hail. However, the exact data on the extent of damage was not available immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> <br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14542', 'image' => '20220221115902_IMG_20220221_115426.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14798', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Manang Ahead in terms of Access to Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.</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"">Data up to mid-January 2022 shows that the access of finance of the people of Manang is better than those of the well-facilitated people in Kathmandu. According to the data released by Nepal Rastra Bank, there is one branch of bank for 571 people in Manang district as of December this year. There are altogether 11 branches in this district.</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"">Meanwhile, in Kathmandu district, there is one branch for 2,247 people. So far, 1,024 branch offices of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies have been established in Kathmandu. In terms of population, the people of Manang district have better access to banks than Kathmandu. However, there are more branches in Kathmandu than in Manang.</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"">Similarly, there is one branch for 661 people in Mustang. There are 16 branches of commercial banks and one branch of development bank in this district.</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 a small population makes use of a branch office, the service seekers often face difficulty in receiving service. In some areas, the bank’s customers are obliged to stay overnight to get banking services.</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"">There are only six branches in Chame, the district headquarters of Manang district. According to Laxman Gauli, the acting chief administrative officer of Chame rural municipality, the six branch offices have been set up by Mega Bank, Nepal Bank, NMB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Citizens Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank in Chame. The other five branch offices are in Narpa Bhumi Municipality, Manang Ngisyang Municipality and Nason Municipality. </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"">Service seekers have not been able to benefit much from these branches. The reason is that the banks have opened branches only in accessible places of villages.</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 Bishwamani Poudel, the branch manager of Nepal Bank in Chame, the bank has been providing services to the customers in this area conveniently. </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"">“Business is good in Chame branch as there are government offices here,” he said. However, it is difficult to operate the branch opened in Narfa. Only one or two service seekers come to this branch in 2/3 days. “As it snows a lot here. The human settlement is also dependent on the weather,” said Poudel. However, the Nepal Bankers Association has said that the business of the bank has increased with the expansion of branch offices at the local levels.</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"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank, Gunakar Bhatta said that access to finance has reached the rural areas easily as the banks have followed the policy of the government.</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"">Similarly, although most of the branches of the banks have reached the local level, the branch offices of the banks are less in some districts on the basis of population. According to NRB, Jajarkot and Baitadi have the lowest number of branches in terms of population as of December last year. There are only 19 branches in Baitadi where one branch serves 14,102 customers. Similarly, there are just 14 branches in Jajarkot. Based on the population of the district, 14,422 people receive banking services from one branch here.</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 Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, a branch office is shared by 2,000 people. According to the statistics, Kathmandu has the largest number of branches. The total number of branches in Kathmandu is 1,024, while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have 252 and 135 branches respectively.</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"">Three villages are out of banking reach</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 of January this year, three of the local levels are still devoid of branches of banks. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, there are no branches yet in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading, Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Saipal Municipality of Bajhang. The government had set a target of introducing branches of commercial banks to all the 753 local units in the budget of fiscal year 2074/75.</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"">Bank of Kathmandu has been directed to expand its branch office in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading. Similarly, Agricultural Development Bank has been asked to expand its branch in Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Everest Bank in Saipal Municipality, Bajhang. Anil Sharma, CEO of Nepal Bankers' Association said that the expansion of the branches was delayed due to lack of population in these three local levels and legal matters in the courts.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14541', 'image' => '20220220062340_Manang_Annapurna3_Gangapurna.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 18:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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' => '14816', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cases of Bad Loans Rising', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </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 of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last 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"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current 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"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </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 tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from 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"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </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 tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </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"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</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"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </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"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14810', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government has no Resources to Settle Covid-19 Insurance Claims: Ministry of Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.</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 insurance companies are unlikely to receive Rs 11 billion which the government is liable to pay the companies as per its commitment to fight against the pandemic.</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"">Ramesh Kumar KC, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Head of the Financial Sector Management and Corporation Co-ordination Division, informed that there is no immediate resource to settle the Covid-19 insurance claims.</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"">"It simply came to our notice then that there was no resource to meet the demand," 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"">As per the of Covid-19 Insurance Procedure, insurance companies will have to bear up to Rs 3.5 billion for compensating the policy holders while the government will be responsible to bear any additional cost.</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 procedure, the Insurance Board, reinsurance companies, and insurance pools will have to contribute Rs 1 billion each, and non-life insurance companies will have to pay Rs 500 million. Witnessing the rise of Covid-19, the insurance companies suspended the Covid-19 insurance scheme stating that they don't have sufficient budget to settle the claims. The companies resumed operations after the government pledged to provide more than Rs 3.5 billion in insurance claims.</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 government’s commitment, it will have to pay Rs 11.43 billion after deducting the amount of Rs 3.5 billion which the insurance companies are liable to pay.</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 settlement of Covid-19 insurance claims was suspended after the government failed to disburse the required amount. The insurance companies are adamant that the insurance claims will not be settled until the government releases the money. </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"">Chairman of the Insurance Board, Surya Prasad Silva, said that the insurance companies have not received any money from the Ministry of Finance.</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 board added that the Ministry of Finance has not come up with a clear idea in this regard.</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 Insurance Board had sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance a few months ago suggesting alternative means for raising the resources needed to settle the claims. The board had proposed that the insurance sector should pay 50 to 55 percent of the total amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14552', 'image' => '20220222040149_20200426022909_1587852673.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 16:01:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14809', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Authorities of India Instruct Service Providers to Avail Adequate Rail Rakes for Nepal-Bound Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India issued such order to the service provider companies after Nepal-bound containers arriving from third countries started piling up at the Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board issued the order in the name of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), Pristine Mega Logistic Park and International Cargo Terminal and Infrastructure last week. The board has instructed the companies to make the required rail rakes available for transporting goods to Nepal from the Indian ports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The transshipment cost of Nepal’s foreign trade was expected to be slashed down after the amendment to the Nepal India Railway Service Agreement, which allowed private companies to compete in the business. However, the Nepali importers are at the receiving end due to an unhealthy competition among the service providers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement was amended on June 29 last year. A private railway company from India transported goods to Birgunj Dry Port for the first time on September 15. Prior to that, CONCOR enjoyed monopoly in transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, there are four companies in India, including CONCOR, that have been providing transportation service for Nepal-bound goods. Due to the competition from private sector, India’s state-owned CONCOR had reduced the transportation fare as well as rail rakes significantly. This had caused problems for Nepal’s import business as the private companies of India did not have adequate number of rail rakes to transport containers to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CONCOR reduced the transportation fare by 30 to 35 percent. Other private companies were also forced to reduce the fare. However, CONCOR is still ahead of the private companies in terms of infrastructure and handles 90 percent of Nepal-bound shipments single-handedly taking advantage of the weak infrastructure of its competitors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age had published a news on February 6 regarding the piling up of containers at Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Subodh Kumar Gupta said that the containers have been stuck at the Indian ports since the last two to four months due to unavailability of adequate rakes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have done correspondence with Kolkata-based Nepali consulate regarding this problem. But the problem has not been resolved yet,” said Gupta.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on India’s ports in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, and Haldiya for foreign trade. However, Nepal-bound containers have been stuck at the ports due to unavailability of rail rakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The problems faced by importers in Kolkata has now surfaced in Visakhapatnam, said Ashish Lath, secretary of the chamber. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata Ishwar Raj Poudel said that the problem has been sorted out after holding talks with CONCOR officials. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal imports around 125,000 containers of goods in a year. Currently, 4000 containers have been stuck at Visakhapatnam Port. This port, which is twice as far as Kolkata, has now become the first choice among Nepali importers. Although the distance is more, the cost incurred and delivery time are both less because big ships ferry the containers to Visakhapatnam. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the situation is tense due to the fierce competition among the service providers, says importer Pradeep Kedia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> According to sources, CONCOR used to make a profit of IRS 12,000 for transportation of one container of goods. However, its profit has been reduced to IRs 5,000 per containers after adjusting the fare due to competition among the service providers. It has been learnt that CONCOR has been providing additional rail rakes for transportation of goods of Indian companies where it makes more profit than transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“Earlier, we were under compulsion to make the rakes available because it was our sole responsibility. But now, we are no longer responsible after the entry or private competitors. It is natural that we will provide rakes to those companies where we can make better profit,” said an official of CONCOR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, CONCOR used to provide 65 rakes per month for transporting goods to Nepal but that has dropped to 38 at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other companies are under pressure to increase rail rakes. According to B Mohan, executive director of Pristine Valley Dry Port, Pristine Mega Logistic Park has increased rail rakes to 13 per month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14551', 'image' => '20220222025427_20220206123218_1644103590.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 14:53:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14808', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector in Favor of MCC', 'sub_title' => 'Urges Government to Keep Politics Away from Development', 'summary' => 'February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.</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"">Amidst differing stances taken by the political parties, the private sector has requested the political leadership to keep politics away from development.</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 private sector was quick to welcome the MCC as soon as it got tabled in the parliament, stating that development should be devoid of politics. </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 Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), an umbrella body of business organizations and industrialists, the political parties should make commitment not to intervene in development matters. </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 CNI said that the government can reap benefit from timely implementation of development projects by taking the people into confidence.</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"">CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agarwal said that the MCC agreement is important for the development of electricity and road sector, which are of strategic importance to Nepal's economic development.</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"">“A hefty investment is needed for sustainable development and post-Covid-19 economic recovery,” said Agrawal, adding, “For this too, infrastructure support like MCC is necessary for 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"">According to Agarwal, after the implementation of this project, Nepal can make a qualitative leap in trade and other economic sectors.</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 president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pashupati Murarka was also in favor of approval of MCC. According to him, if the MCC is tabled and approved, the message of an investment-friendly environment will circulate around the world.</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"">Similarly, President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Rajendra Malla was also glad about the government’s decision to table the MCC in parliament.</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 him, MCC should be passed to maintain the trust that donors have on Nepal. According to the private sector stakeholders, the implementation of MCC will also contribute to foreign exchange earnings.</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 private sector emphasizes that more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa have enhanced their economies by implementing MCC-assisted projects and that Nepal should also implement this project in a timely manner and set a precedent in technology transfer, project implementation and development management.</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 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, which is directly linked to the transmission line and road infrastructure that will directly benefit 23 million citizens, was tabled in the House of Representatives on Sunday (February 20).</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"">While presenting the MCC agenda in parliament, Communication Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had said that about 5 million households would directly benefit from the project within five years of its implementation.</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 government expects the 312 km long 400 kV capacity double circuit transmission line starting from Nangle Bhare in Kathmandu to Butwal to be the backbone of Nepal's energy sector. This project will also be of strategic importance in bringing the electricity produced by the projects constructed in the corridors of Tamakoshi, Bhotekoshi, Trishuli, Budhigandaki and Kaligandaki to the national grid.</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"">All the former prime ministers are involved in this project that started during the tenure of former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and the then finance minister Surendra Pandey. MCC has allocated about Rs 55 billion grant assistance for the development of Nepal's energy and transport sectors. The Government of Nepal will invest around Rs 14 billion in this project.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14550', 'image' => '20220222123213_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 12:31:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14807', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deposit Collection of Banks not Encouraging Despite Increase in Interest Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although banks have raised interest rates on deposits to 11.03 percent since mid-February, the deposits of commercial banks have increased by only Rs 1 billion. According to the Nepal Bankers' Association, the total deposits of commercial banks was Rs 4311 billion as of mid-February which increased to Rs 4312 billion on February 18. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite opposition by some bankers that increasing interest rates would not increase deposits, the association had decided to raise interest rates in line with the interest rate limit set by the central bank. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the weak growth rate of deposit, credit expansion of banks has also started shrinking. According to the association, the credit of banks has increased by only Rs 4 billion in February. Commercial banks, which have been extending loans of Rs 10 billion in average in a week, started reducing credit flow since mid-December. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposit collection of banks was Rs 110 billion as of mid-January this year while the credit flow was Rs 434 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow has been much higher than deposit collection. Liquidity crisis is getting worse due to the loan flow to unproductive sectors such as import business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14549', 'image' => '20220222115324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 11:52:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14806', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Collects Rs 810 Million in Royalties from Casinos ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. The amount was collected following the instructions of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The license of Kathmandu-based Yak and Yeti Hotel to operate casino was scrapped for defaulting royalties. Minister Ale warned of similar action in case others fail to pay royalties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now casinos have been in rush to pay royalties. So far, Rs 810 million in royalties have been collected. Some other casinos are preparing documents to clear the dues," said Khem Raj Joshi, officer at the Department of Tourism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Department, so far, 17 casinos including Golden Finger Gaming Zone have paid royalties. It has been learnt that arrears amounting to over Rs 1.11 billion are yet to be paid in royalties. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14548', 'image' => '20220221071847_istockphoto-1188013341-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 19:17:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14805', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Constituency Strategic Road Project being Implemented without Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. The project has been launched to invest billions of rupees on the roads chosen by the elected representatives. Approximate, 2,200 kilometers of roads have been chosen by the elected representatives of 165 election constituencies. However, the study on its strategic importance is nowhere to be found.</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"">This project has already been passed by the council of ministers. Even the Ministry of Finance has accepted the proposal under the ‘Constituency Strategic Road Construction and Operation Criteria-2077’. After securing the resource, the project has been taken forward in the current fiscal year. Among the 165 roads, the tender of 25 roads have already been announced and their technical proposals have been accepted as well. If there are no legal obligations within three weeks, the Department of Roads will sign a contract for their construction.</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 criteria, each MP will have to identify a road for construction in their constituency. Such roads need to be identified on the basis of their proximity to the national highways and must support the economic, social, and industrial development within the constituency. Meanwhile, there have been no studies or tests on this subject matter yet. Shiva Prasad Nepal, the Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Department of Roads said that despite the roads being called the election constituency strategic roads, no one really knows how strategic the roads are.</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"">“These roads have been chosen by the elected representatives,” Nepal said adding, “While the strategic importance of such roads are yet to be ascertained. Even the studies on its strategic importance have not yet been conducted.”</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"">There is a provision to conduct a detailed project report (DPR) on the selected roads by the elected representatives. Also the environmental impact assessment is to be done if necessary. The Department of Roads has been working as per the responsibility given by the federal government.</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 has stated that a budget of Rs 57.10 billion is required for the construction of these roads. However, no study has been done on the strategic importance of the road to be built with such a large investment and how much it will be financially viable. These roads are targeted to be completed within the next three years. However, in some places there are problems with land acquisition and some fall in forest areas. Therefore, Nepal said that it would take time for DPR and environmental impact assessment.</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"">DPR and EIA take more than a year to complete. Similarly, it takes 6 months to complete the procurement process. One and a half years will pass in this process. “There is no basis to build 165 roads in the remaining year and a half and mobilize resources,” said Nepal adding, “There will be no delay in road construction in areas where DPR has been done. EIA is not required where curring of trees is not necessary and land is not required to be acquired.” The technical proposal of the tender for 25 roads has already been approved.</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"">For the construction of constituency strategic roads, the government has set a minimum of Rs 200 million to a maximum of Rs 600 million investment limit. It is likely that it will take around 5 years to complete these roads.</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 government has allocated Rs. 2.32 billion budget for this project. The construction of this road was announced by the outgoing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April, 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14547', 'image' => '20220221044115_road-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 16:40:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14804', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliament to Decide the Fate of MCC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki presented the MCC agenda in parliament meeting on Sunday (February 20) amid protest in the streets as well as the parliament itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki himself had signed the MCC grant agreement with the US representatives on September 14, 2017 in the capacity of the then finance minister of Nepal. The MCC grant agreement was registered in parliament on July 15, 2019 by former Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during the tenure of KP Sharma Oli-led government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As soon as the MCC agenda was tabled in parliament on Sunday, CPN UML lawmakers picketed the rostrum and started obstructing the house proceedings. Speaker of the House of Representatives then allowed CPN Maoist Centre lawmaker Dev Gurung to express his views followed by UML leader Bhim Rawal, Nepal Workers and Peasant Party MP Prem Suwal and Jastriya Janamorcha’s Durga Poudel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All of them were unanimous in saying that the MCC should not have been tabled in parliament. On the other hand, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota argued that the MCC grant was of national interest and therefore it should be discussed in parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While the MCC agreement was being presented in parliament, New Baneshwar area turned tense due to protest called by the leaders and activists of the ruling parties. Police had to fire dozens of tear-gas shells and water canyon to quell the protest. Police also resorted to firing rubber bullets after the protest went out of control.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Some leaders of the ruling coalition accused the government of tabling the MCC agreement without reaching an understanding among the ruling parties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of the ruling CPN Unified Socialist Madhav Kumar Nepal said that his party is not in favour of endorsing the MCC agreement in its current form. Likewise, chairman of another coalition partner CPN Maoist Centre’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed concern that the government tabled the MCC agenda amid protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government has tabled the MCC in parliament despite protests. Our party has already made its stance clear that we will stand against it,” Dahal said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the tabling of MCC agreement in parliament, it is now in the process of endorsement. The parliament must pass the MCC with majority votes in order to implement the agreement. MPs will hold discussions regarding the MCC in the upcoming house meeting. The lawmakers can demand amendment to some provisions in the agreement. The speaker can send the MCC agreement to parliamentary committee for clause-wise discussion. But if it is presented directly in the House meeting, the process will become shorter. The government is likely to press for the short-cut as the deadline for endorsing the agreement is approaching near. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14546', 'image' => '20220221031536_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 15:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14803', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Unable to Disburse Agricultural Loans as per the Target set by NRB ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector. However, the banks are facing difficulty to meet the target. </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 monetary policy of the last fiscal year (FY), the NRB had made provision for the commercial banks to disburse 15 percent of their total credit to the agricultural sector. NRB has set a calendar to meet the target. However, banks have not been able to disburse loans as per the target. </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"">NRB has given the deadline of mid-July 2023 for the banks to increase the loan flow to agricultural sector to 15 percent. NRB has instructed the banks to increase the loan flow to 11 percent by mid-July 2021 and 13 percent by mid-July 2022. As of mid-January 2022, credit flow to agricultural sector of only five banks have exceeded 13 percent of the total loans. </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 banks have to increase the agricultural loan to 11 percent by mid-July 2021, 10 banks have not been able to make the required investment as of mid-January 2022. </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"">Nepal Rastra Bank has arranged subsidy on interest for agricultural loans to increase investment in the agricultural sector. Under this facility, 51,756 customers have availed loan facilities from banks as of mid-January. They have borrowed Rs 136 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14545', 'image' => '20220221024957_Agriculture-Loan_55.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 14:49:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14802', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-India Energy Secretary Level meeting scheduled for Wednesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week.', '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"">February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week. The delegation from Nepal and India will meet in Kathmandu as per the request of India.</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 representatives of the two nations had previously held a meeting in Bangalore, India, two years ago. The two countries had agreed to hold the meeting every six months. However, the meeting had been postponed after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.</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"">Despite the pandemic, Nepal had repeatedly urged India to convene the meeting. However, India had been reluctant to hold the meeting, citing the reason of Covid-19. India proposed resuming the meeting amid declining risk of Covid-19. </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"">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal confirmed that the Energy Secretary-level meeting will take place on February 23 and 24.</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"">Although the date of the meeting is close, the proposal of the meeting has not been decided yet. An official of the ministry said that they are yet to prepare the proposal to be presented in the meeting.</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 agenda of the meeting will be decided through consensus among both the countries. We have sent some proposals on our behalf. The decision on the proposal is likely to be taken during Monday's meeting,” said Bhetwal. The ministry is planning to hold discussions with the Ministry of Law; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the concerned ministries of India on Monday.</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"">During the joint meeting, Nepal is planning to discuss electricity trade, power exchange, and inter-country transmission lines with India. According to a source at the ministry, Nepal has sent its proposal to India focusing on those issues.</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"">Nepal has been wasting 500 MW of electricity during the rainy season. However, India has not confirmed it will buy the surplus electricity from Nepal. Therefore, Nepal is trying to discuss the issue of electricity exchange along with electricity trade with top priority. According to the source, the issue of inter-country transmission lines will also be discussed.</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"">India, on the other hand, wants to discuss joint investment and development of hydropower projects at the meeting. On the first day of the meeting, a joint group meeting of joint secretaries of Nepal and India will be held. On the second day, there will be a meeting of energy secretaries of both the countries where Nepal's Energy Secretary Devendra Karki and Indian Energy Secretary Alok Kumar will join their respective delegations. It will finalize the issues decided by the joint secretary-level meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14544', 'image' => '20220221010206_Flag-Pins-Nepal-India.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 13:01:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14800', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Profit Climbs to Rs 12 Billion in Six Months of Current FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial details issued by the NEA, the state-owned utility had made a profit of Rs 6.18 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA is the public institution which earns the maximum profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA, which was facing loss in Fiscal Year 2072/73, has been making profit every year since then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA Executive Director Kul Man Ghising said that the NEA was able to maximize profit by controlling electricity leakage, increasing export of electricity to India, limiting import of electricity, increasing sale of electricity among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Reduction in operational cost and steps taken to bring administrative and financial reforms also helped in increasing profit,” said Ghising, adding, “The electricity tariff for customers have been revised from mid-December. This will cause a slight reduction in income of NEA but we have taken effective measures to curb electricity leakage and to maintain financial discipline. We are expecting to generate profit of Rs 15 billion.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the six months of the current FY, electricity leakage has dropped to 14.45 percent from 17.18 percent in the corresponding period of previous FY. The NEA aims to limit electricity leakage to 15.5 percent in the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review period, NEA made an income of Rs 47.98 billion while its expenses were Rs 35.86 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA’s long-term debt to the donors is Rs 114 billion. Similarly, the NEA is liable to pay a long-term loan of Rs 81.81 billion to the Government of Nepal and its financial obligation to the staffers is worth Rs 36.84 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Electricity export up </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA informed that the export of electricity has increased and import decreased in the six months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the fiscal year, 2020/21, power worth Rs 316 million was exported to India. The figure increased to Rs 805 million in the first six months of the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, electricity import had increased to Rs 21.8 billion in the FY, 2020/21 from Rs 13.4 billion in the FY, 2019/20. But, the country imported power worth Rs 2.5 billion till date in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Executive Director of NEA Ghising, electricity demand within the country has increased by approximately 200 megawatts as compared to the previous year. Approximately 660 megawatts electricity has been added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14543', 'image' => '20220221110635_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:05:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14801', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Massive Hailstorm Affects daily life in Pokhara, Crops Damaged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This photo taken from social media shows Pokhara city covered in a blanket of hailstones resembling snowfall on Sunday.</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. Most of the roads in Pokhara were covered with hailstones that occurred from 1 pm and continued till 4:30 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, vehicles and pedestrians were left struggling on the roads of Pokhara, the state-owned RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals of Pokhara said that they had never witnessed such a massive scale of hailstorm before. Social media were abuzz with videos of hailstorm throughout the day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the District Traffic Police Office, the hailstones have been removed with the help of excavators in the main market areas of Pokhara including Mahendrapul, Chipledhunga, New Road, Nayabazar, Sirjanachowk and Ranipauwa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Metropolitan Agriculture Development Division informed that the hailstorm damaged winter crops and vegetables in the city a nd nearby areas. Farmers of ward number 18, 20, 16, 25, 22 and 14 of the metropolis have been affected by the hail. However, the exact data on the extent of damage was not available immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> <br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14542', 'image' => '20220221115902_IMG_20220221_115426.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14798', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Manang Ahead in terms of Access to Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.</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"">Data up to mid-January 2022 shows that the access of finance of the people of Manang is better than those of the well-facilitated people in Kathmandu. According to the data released by Nepal Rastra Bank, there is one branch of bank for 571 people in Manang district as of December this year. There are altogether 11 branches in this district.</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"">Meanwhile, in Kathmandu district, there is one branch for 2,247 people. So far, 1,024 branch offices of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies have been established in Kathmandu. In terms of population, the people of Manang district have better access to banks than Kathmandu. However, there are more branches in Kathmandu than in Manang.</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"">Similarly, there is one branch for 661 people in Mustang. There are 16 branches of commercial banks and one branch of development bank in this district.</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 a small population makes use of a branch office, the service seekers often face difficulty in receiving service. In some areas, the bank’s customers are obliged to stay overnight to get banking services.</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"">There are only six branches in Chame, the district headquarters of Manang district. According to Laxman Gauli, the acting chief administrative officer of Chame rural municipality, the six branch offices have been set up by Mega Bank, Nepal Bank, NMB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Citizens Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank in Chame. The other five branch offices are in Narpa Bhumi Municipality, Manang Ngisyang Municipality and Nason Municipality. </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"">Service seekers have not been able to benefit much from these branches. The reason is that the banks have opened branches only in accessible places of villages.</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 Bishwamani Poudel, the branch manager of Nepal Bank in Chame, the bank has been providing services to the customers in this area conveniently. </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"">“Business is good in Chame branch as there are government offices here,” he said. However, it is difficult to operate the branch opened in Narfa. Only one or two service seekers come to this branch in 2/3 days. “As it snows a lot here. The human settlement is also dependent on the weather,” said Poudel. However, the Nepal Bankers Association has said that the business of the bank has increased with the expansion of branch offices at the local levels.</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"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank, Gunakar Bhatta said that access to finance has reached the rural areas easily as the banks have followed the policy of the government.</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"">Similarly, although most of the branches of the banks have reached the local level, the branch offices of the banks are less in some districts on the basis of population. According to NRB, Jajarkot and Baitadi have the lowest number of branches in terms of population as of December last year. There are only 19 branches in Baitadi where one branch serves 14,102 customers. Similarly, there are just 14 branches in Jajarkot. Based on the population of the district, 14,422 people receive banking services from one branch here.</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 Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, a branch office is shared by 2,000 people. According to the statistics, Kathmandu has the largest number of branches. The total number of branches in Kathmandu is 1,024, while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have 252 and 135 branches respectively.</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"">Three villages are out of banking reach</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 of January this year, three of the local levels are still devoid of branches of banks. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, there are no branches yet in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading, Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Saipal Municipality of Bajhang. The government had set a target of introducing branches of commercial banks to all the 753 local units in the budget of fiscal year 2074/75.</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"">Bank of Kathmandu has been directed to expand its branch office in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading. Similarly, Agricultural Development Bank has been asked to expand its branch in Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Everest Bank in Saipal Municipality, Bajhang. Anil Sharma, CEO of Nepal Bankers' Association said that the expansion of the branches was delayed due to lack of population in these three local levels and legal matters in the courts.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14541', 'image' => '20220220062340_Manang_Annapurna3_Gangapurna.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 18:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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' => '14816', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cases of Bad Loans Rising', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </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 of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last 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"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current 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"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </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 tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from 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"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </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 tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </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"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</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"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </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"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14810', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government has no Resources to Settle Covid-19 Insurance Claims: Ministry of Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.</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 insurance companies are unlikely to receive Rs 11 billion which the government is liable to pay the companies as per its commitment to fight against the pandemic.</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"">Ramesh Kumar KC, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Head of the Financial Sector Management and Corporation Co-ordination Division, informed that there is no immediate resource to settle the Covid-19 insurance claims.</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"">"It simply came to our notice then that there was no resource to meet the demand," 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"">As per the of Covid-19 Insurance Procedure, insurance companies will have to bear up to Rs 3.5 billion for compensating the policy holders while the government will be responsible to bear any additional cost.</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 procedure, the Insurance Board, reinsurance companies, and insurance pools will have to contribute Rs 1 billion each, and non-life insurance companies will have to pay Rs 500 million. Witnessing the rise of Covid-19, the insurance companies suspended the Covid-19 insurance scheme stating that they don't have sufficient budget to settle the claims. The companies resumed operations after the government pledged to provide more than Rs 3.5 billion in insurance claims.</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 government’s commitment, it will have to pay Rs 11.43 billion after deducting the amount of Rs 3.5 billion which the insurance companies are liable to pay.</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 settlement of Covid-19 insurance claims was suspended after the government failed to disburse the required amount. The insurance companies are adamant that the insurance claims will not be settled until the government releases the money. </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"">Chairman of the Insurance Board, Surya Prasad Silva, said that the insurance companies have not received any money from the Ministry of Finance.</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 board added that the Ministry of Finance has not come up with a clear idea in this regard.</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 Insurance Board had sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance a few months ago suggesting alternative means for raising the resources needed to settle the claims. The board had proposed that the insurance sector should pay 50 to 55 percent of the total amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14552', 'image' => '20220222040149_20200426022909_1587852673.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 16:01:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14809', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Authorities of India Instruct Service Providers to Avail Adequate Rail Rakes for Nepal-Bound Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India issued such order to the service provider companies after Nepal-bound containers arriving from third countries started piling up at the Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board issued the order in the name of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), Pristine Mega Logistic Park and International Cargo Terminal and Infrastructure last week. The board has instructed the companies to make the required rail rakes available for transporting goods to Nepal from the Indian ports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The transshipment cost of Nepal’s foreign trade was expected to be slashed down after the amendment to the Nepal India Railway Service Agreement, which allowed private companies to compete in the business. However, the Nepali importers are at the receiving end due to an unhealthy competition among the service providers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement was amended on June 29 last year. A private railway company from India transported goods to Birgunj Dry Port for the first time on September 15. Prior to that, CONCOR enjoyed monopoly in transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, there are four companies in India, including CONCOR, that have been providing transportation service for Nepal-bound goods. Due to the competition from private sector, India’s state-owned CONCOR had reduced the transportation fare as well as rail rakes significantly. This had caused problems for Nepal’s import business as the private companies of India did not have adequate number of rail rakes to transport containers to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CONCOR reduced the transportation fare by 30 to 35 percent. Other private companies were also forced to reduce the fare. However, CONCOR is still ahead of the private companies in terms of infrastructure and handles 90 percent of Nepal-bound shipments single-handedly taking advantage of the weak infrastructure of its competitors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age had published a news on February 6 regarding the piling up of containers at Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Subodh Kumar Gupta said that the containers have been stuck at the Indian ports since the last two to four months due to unavailability of adequate rakes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have done correspondence with Kolkata-based Nepali consulate regarding this problem. But the problem has not been resolved yet,” said Gupta.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on India’s ports in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, and Haldiya for foreign trade. However, Nepal-bound containers have been stuck at the ports due to unavailability of rail rakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The problems faced by importers in Kolkata has now surfaced in Visakhapatnam, said Ashish Lath, secretary of the chamber. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata Ishwar Raj Poudel said that the problem has been sorted out after holding talks with CONCOR officials. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal imports around 125,000 containers of goods in a year. Currently, 4000 containers have been stuck at Visakhapatnam Port. This port, which is twice as far as Kolkata, has now become the first choice among Nepali importers. Although the distance is more, the cost incurred and delivery time are both less because big ships ferry the containers to Visakhapatnam. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the situation is tense due to the fierce competition among the service providers, says importer Pradeep Kedia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> According to sources, CONCOR used to make a profit of IRS 12,000 for transportation of one container of goods. However, its profit has been reduced to IRs 5,000 per containers after adjusting the fare due to competition among the service providers. It has been learnt that CONCOR has been providing additional rail rakes for transportation of goods of Indian companies where it makes more profit than transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“Earlier, we were under compulsion to make the rakes available because it was our sole responsibility. But now, we are no longer responsible after the entry or private competitors. It is natural that we will provide rakes to those companies where we can make better profit,” said an official of CONCOR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, CONCOR used to provide 65 rakes per month for transporting goods to Nepal but that has dropped to 38 at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other companies are under pressure to increase rail rakes. According to B Mohan, executive director of Pristine Valley Dry Port, Pristine Mega Logistic Park has increased rail rakes to 13 per month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14551', 'image' => '20220222025427_20220206123218_1644103590.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 14:53:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14808', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector in Favor of MCC', 'sub_title' => 'Urges Government to Keep Politics Away from Development', 'summary' => 'February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.</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"">Amidst differing stances taken by the political parties, the private sector has requested the political leadership to keep politics away from development.</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 private sector was quick to welcome the MCC as soon as it got tabled in the parliament, stating that development should be devoid of politics. </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 Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), an umbrella body of business organizations and industrialists, the political parties should make commitment not to intervene in development matters. </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 CNI said that the government can reap benefit from timely implementation of development projects by taking the people into confidence.</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"">CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agarwal said that the MCC agreement is important for the development of electricity and road sector, which are of strategic importance to Nepal's economic development.</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"">“A hefty investment is needed for sustainable development and post-Covid-19 economic recovery,” said Agrawal, adding, “For this too, infrastructure support like MCC is necessary for 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"">According to Agarwal, after the implementation of this project, Nepal can make a qualitative leap in trade and other economic sectors.</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 president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pashupati Murarka was also in favor of approval of MCC. According to him, if the MCC is tabled and approved, the message of an investment-friendly environment will circulate around the world.</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"">Similarly, President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Rajendra Malla was also glad about the government’s decision to table the MCC in parliament.</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 him, MCC should be passed to maintain the trust that donors have on Nepal. According to the private sector stakeholders, the implementation of MCC will also contribute to foreign exchange earnings.</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 private sector emphasizes that more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa have enhanced their economies by implementing MCC-assisted projects and that Nepal should also implement this project in a timely manner and set a precedent in technology transfer, project implementation and development management.</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 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, which is directly linked to the transmission line and road infrastructure that will directly benefit 23 million citizens, was tabled in the House of Representatives on Sunday (February 20).</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"">While presenting the MCC agenda in parliament, Communication Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had said that about 5 million households would directly benefit from the project within five years of its implementation.</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 government expects the 312 km long 400 kV capacity double circuit transmission line starting from Nangle Bhare in Kathmandu to Butwal to be the backbone of Nepal's energy sector. This project will also be of strategic importance in bringing the electricity produced by the projects constructed in the corridors of Tamakoshi, Bhotekoshi, Trishuli, Budhigandaki and Kaligandaki to the national grid.</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"">All the former prime ministers are involved in this project that started during the tenure of former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and the then finance minister Surendra Pandey. MCC has allocated about Rs 55 billion grant assistance for the development of Nepal's energy and transport sectors. The Government of Nepal will invest around Rs 14 billion in this project.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14550', 'image' => '20220222123213_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 12:31:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14807', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deposit Collection of Banks not Encouraging Despite Increase in Interest Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although banks have raised interest rates on deposits to 11.03 percent since mid-February, the deposits of commercial banks have increased by only Rs 1 billion. According to the Nepal Bankers' Association, the total deposits of commercial banks was Rs 4311 billion as of mid-February which increased to Rs 4312 billion on February 18. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite opposition by some bankers that increasing interest rates would not increase deposits, the association had decided to raise interest rates in line with the interest rate limit set by the central bank. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the weak growth rate of deposit, credit expansion of banks has also started shrinking. According to the association, the credit of banks has increased by only Rs 4 billion in February. Commercial banks, which have been extending loans of Rs 10 billion in average in a week, started reducing credit flow since mid-December. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposit collection of banks was Rs 110 billion as of mid-January this year while the credit flow was Rs 434 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow has been much higher than deposit collection. Liquidity crisis is getting worse due to the loan flow to unproductive sectors such as import business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14549', 'image' => '20220222115324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 11:52:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14806', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Collects Rs 810 Million in Royalties from Casinos ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. The amount was collected following the instructions of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The license of Kathmandu-based Yak and Yeti Hotel to operate casino was scrapped for defaulting royalties. Minister Ale warned of similar action in case others fail to pay royalties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now casinos have been in rush to pay royalties. So far, Rs 810 million in royalties have been collected. Some other casinos are preparing documents to clear the dues," said Khem Raj Joshi, officer at the Department of Tourism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Department, so far, 17 casinos including Golden Finger Gaming Zone have paid royalties. It has been learnt that arrears amounting to over Rs 1.11 billion are yet to be paid in royalties. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14548', 'image' => '20220221071847_istockphoto-1188013341-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 19:17:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14805', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Constituency Strategic Road Project being Implemented without Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. The project has been launched to invest billions of rupees on the roads chosen by the elected representatives. Approximate, 2,200 kilometers of roads have been chosen by the elected representatives of 165 election constituencies. However, the study on its strategic importance is nowhere to be found.</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"">This project has already been passed by the council of ministers. Even the Ministry of Finance has accepted the proposal under the ‘Constituency Strategic Road Construction and Operation Criteria-2077’. After securing the resource, the project has been taken forward in the current fiscal year. Among the 165 roads, the tender of 25 roads have already been announced and their technical proposals have been accepted as well. If there are no legal obligations within three weeks, the Department of Roads will sign a contract for their construction.</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 criteria, each MP will have to identify a road for construction in their constituency. Such roads need to be identified on the basis of their proximity to the national highways and must support the economic, social, and industrial development within the constituency. Meanwhile, there have been no studies or tests on this subject matter yet. Shiva Prasad Nepal, the Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Department of Roads said that despite the roads being called the election constituency strategic roads, no one really knows how strategic the roads are.</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"">“These roads have been chosen by the elected representatives,” Nepal said adding, “While the strategic importance of such roads are yet to be ascertained. Even the studies on its strategic importance have not yet been conducted.”</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"">There is a provision to conduct a detailed project report (DPR) on the selected roads by the elected representatives. Also the environmental impact assessment is to be done if necessary. The Department of Roads has been working as per the responsibility given by the federal government.</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 has stated that a budget of Rs 57.10 billion is required for the construction of these roads. However, no study has been done on the strategic importance of the road to be built with such a large investment and how much it will be financially viable. These roads are targeted to be completed within the next three years. However, in some places there are problems with land acquisition and some fall in forest areas. Therefore, Nepal said that it would take time for DPR and environmental impact assessment.</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"">DPR and EIA take more than a year to complete. Similarly, it takes 6 months to complete the procurement process. One and a half years will pass in this process. “There is no basis to build 165 roads in the remaining year and a half and mobilize resources,” said Nepal adding, “There will be no delay in road construction in areas where DPR has been done. EIA is not required where curring of trees is not necessary and land is not required to be acquired.” The technical proposal of the tender for 25 roads has already been approved.</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"">For the construction of constituency strategic roads, the government has set a minimum of Rs 200 million to a maximum of Rs 600 million investment limit. It is likely that it will take around 5 years to complete these roads.</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 government has allocated Rs. 2.32 billion budget for this project. The construction of this road was announced by the outgoing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April, 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14547', 'image' => '20220221044115_road-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 16:40:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14804', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliament to Decide the Fate of MCC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki presented the MCC agenda in parliament meeting on Sunday (February 20) amid protest in the streets as well as the parliament itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki himself had signed the MCC grant agreement with the US representatives on September 14, 2017 in the capacity of the then finance minister of Nepal. The MCC grant agreement was registered in parliament on July 15, 2019 by former Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during the tenure of KP Sharma Oli-led government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As soon as the MCC agenda was tabled in parliament on Sunday, CPN UML lawmakers picketed the rostrum and started obstructing the house proceedings. Speaker of the House of Representatives then allowed CPN Maoist Centre lawmaker Dev Gurung to express his views followed by UML leader Bhim Rawal, Nepal Workers and Peasant Party MP Prem Suwal and Jastriya Janamorcha’s Durga Poudel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All of them were unanimous in saying that the MCC should not have been tabled in parliament. On the other hand, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota argued that the MCC grant was of national interest and therefore it should be discussed in parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While the MCC agreement was being presented in parliament, New Baneshwar area turned tense due to protest called by the leaders and activists of the ruling parties. Police had to fire dozens of tear-gas shells and water canyon to quell the protest. Police also resorted to firing rubber bullets after the protest went out of control.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Some leaders of the ruling coalition accused the government of tabling the MCC agreement without reaching an understanding among the ruling parties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of the ruling CPN Unified Socialist Madhav Kumar Nepal said that his party is not in favour of endorsing the MCC agreement in its current form. Likewise, chairman of another coalition partner CPN Maoist Centre’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed concern that the government tabled the MCC agenda amid protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government has tabled the MCC in parliament despite protests. Our party has already made its stance clear that we will stand against it,” Dahal said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the tabling of MCC agreement in parliament, it is now in the process of endorsement. The parliament must pass the MCC with majority votes in order to implement the agreement. MPs will hold discussions regarding the MCC in the upcoming house meeting. The lawmakers can demand amendment to some provisions in the agreement. The speaker can send the MCC agreement to parliamentary committee for clause-wise discussion. But if it is presented directly in the House meeting, the process will become shorter. The government is likely to press for the short-cut as the deadline for endorsing the agreement is approaching near. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14546', 'image' => '20220221031536_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 15:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14803', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Unable to Disburse Agricultural Loans as per the Target set by NRB ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector. However, the banks are facing difficulty to meet the target. </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 monetary policy of the last fiscal year (FY), the NRB had made provision for the commercial banks to disburse 15 percent of their total credit to the agricultural sector. NRB has set a calendar to meet the target. However, banks have not been able to disburse loans as per the target. </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"">NRB has given the deadline of mid-July 2023 for the banks to increase the loan flow to agricultural sector to 15 percent. NRB has instructed the banks to increase the loan flow to 11 percent by mid-July 2021 and 13 percent by mid-July 2022. As of mid-January 2022, credit flow to agricultural sector of only five banks have exceeded 13 percent of the total loans. </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 banks have to increase the agricultural loan to 11 percent by mid-July 2021, 10 banks have not been able to make the required investment as of mid-January 2022. </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"">Nepal Rastra Bank has arranged subsidy on interest for agricultural loans to increase investment in the agricultural sector. Under this facility, 51,756 customers have availed loan facilities from banks as of mid-January. They have borrowed Rs 136 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14545', 'image' => '20220221024957_Agriculture-Loan_55.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 14:49:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14802', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-India Energy Secretary Level meeting scheduled for Wednesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week.', '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"">February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week. The delegation from Nepal and India will meet in Kathmandu as per the request of India.</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 representatives of the two nations had previously held a meeting in Bangalore, India, two years ago. The two countries had agreed to hold the meeting every six months. However, the meeting had been postponed after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.</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"">Despite the pandemic, Nepal had repeatedly urged India to convene the meeting. However, India had been reluctant to hold the meeting, citing the reason of Covid-19. India proposed resuming the meeting amid declining risk of Covid-19. </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"">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal confirmed that the Energy Secretary-level meeting will take place on February 23 and 24.</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"">Although the date of the meeting is close, the proposal of the meeting has not been decided yet. An official of the ministry said that they are yet to prepare the proposal to be presented in the meeting.</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 agenda of the meeting will be decided through consensus among both the countries. We have sent some proposals on our behalf. The decision on the proposal is likely to be taken during Monday's meeting,” said Bhetwal. The ministry is planning to hold discussions with the Ministry of Law; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the concerned ministries of India on Monday.</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"">During the joint meeting, Nepal is planning to discuss electricity trade, power exchange, and inter-country transmission lines with India. According to a source at the ministry, Nepal has sent its proposal to India focusing on those issues.</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"">Nepal has been wasting 500 MW of electricity during the rainy season. However, India has not confirmed it will buy the surplus electricity from Nepal. Therefore, Nepal is trying to discuss the issue of electricity exchange along with electricity trade with top priority. According to the source, the issue of inter-country transmission lines will also be discussed.</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"">India, on the other hand, wants to discuss joint investment and development of hydropower projects at the meeting. On the first day of the meeting, a joint group meeting of joint secretaries of Nepal and India will be held. On the second day, there will be a meeting of energy secretaries of both the countries where Nepal's Energy Secretary Devendra Karki and Indian Energy Secretary Alok Kumar will join their respective delegations. It will finalize the issues decided by the joint secretary-level meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14544', 'image' => '20220221010206_Flag-Pins-Nepal-India.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 13:01:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14800', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Profit Climbs to Rs 12 Billion in Six Months of Current FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial details issued by the NEA, the state-owned utility had made a profit of Rs 6.18 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA is the public institution which earns the maximum profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA, which was facing loss in Fiscal Year 2072/73, has been making profit every year since then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA Executive Director Kul Man Ghising said that the NEA was able to maximize profit by controlling electricity leakage, increasing export of electricity to India, limiting import of electricity, increasing sale of electricity among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Reduction in operational cost and steps taken to bring administrative and financial reforms also helped in increasing profit,” said Ghising, adding, “The electricity tariff for customers have been revised from mid-December. This will cause a slight reduction in income of NEA but we have taken effective measures to curb electricity leakage and to maintain financial discipline. We are expecting to generate profit of Rs 15 billion.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the six months of the current FY, electricity leakage has dropped to 14.45 percent from 17.18 percent in the corresponding period of previous FY. The NEA aims to limit electricity leakage to 15.5 percent in the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review period, NEA made an income of Rs 47.98 billion while its expenses were Rs 35.86 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA’s long-term debt to the donors is Rs 114 billion. Similarly, the NEA is liable to pay a long-term loan of Rs 81.81 billion to the Government of Nepal and its financial obligation to the staffers is worth Rs 36.84 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Electricity export up </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA informed that the export of electricity has increased and import decreased in the six months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the fiscal year, 2020/21, power worth Rs 316 million was exported to India. The figure increased to Rs 805 million in the first six months of the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, electricity import had increased to Rs 21.8 billion in the FY, 2020/21 from Rs 13.4 billion in the FY, 2019/20. But, the country imported power worth Rs 2.5 billion till date in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Executive Director of NEA Ghising, electricity demand within the country has increased by approximately 200 megawatts as compared to the previous year. Approximately 660 megawatts electricity has been added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14543', 'image' => '20220221110635_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:05:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14801', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Massive Hailstorm Affects daily life in Pokhara, Crops Damaged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This photo taken from social media shows Pokhara city covered in a blanket of hailstones resembling snowfall on Sunday.</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. Most of the roads in Pokhara were covered with hailstones that occurred from 1 pm and continued till 4:30 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, vehicles and pedestrians were left struggling on the roads of Pokhara, the state-owned RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals of Pokhara said that they had never witnessed such a massive scale of hailstorm before. Social media were abuzz with videos of hailstorm throughout the day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the District Traffic Police Office, the hailstones have been removed with the help of excavators in the main market areas of Pokhara including Mahendrapul, Chipledhunga, New Road, Nayabazar, Sirjanachowk and Ranipauwa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Metropolitan Agriculture Development Division informed that the hailstorm damaged winter crops and vegetables in the city a nd nearby areas. Farmers of ward number 18, 20, 16, 25, 22 and 14 of the metropolis have been affected by the hail. However, the exact data on the extent of damage was not available immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> <br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14542', 'image' => '20220221115902_IMG_20220221_115426.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14798', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Manang Ahead in terms of Access to Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.</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"">Data up to mid-January 2022 shows that the access of finance of the people of Manang is better than those of the well-facilitated people in Kathmandu. According to the data released by Nepal Rastra Bank, there is one branch of bank for 571 people in Manang district as of December this year. There are altogether 11 branches in this district.</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"">Meanwhile, in Kathmandu district, there is one branch for 2,247 people. So far, 1,024 branch offices of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies have been established in Kathmandu. In terms of population, the people of Manang district have better access to banks than Kathmandu. However, there are more branches in Kathmandu than in Manang.</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"">Similarly, there is one branch for 661 people in Mustang. There are 16 branches of commercial banks and one branch of development bank in this district.</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 a small population makes use of a branch office, the service seekers often face difficulty in receiving service. In some areas, the bank’s customers are obliged to stay overnight to get banking services.</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"">There are only six branches in Chame, the district headquarters of Manang district. According to Laxman Gauli, the acting chief administrative officer of Chame rural municipality, the six branch offices have been set up by Mega Bank, Nepal Bank, NMB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Citizens Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank in Chame. The other five branch offices are in Narpa Bhumi Municipality, Manang Ngisyang Municipality and Nason Municipality. </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"">Service seekers have not been able to benefit much from these branches. The reason is that the banks have opened branches only in accessible places of villages.</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 Bishwamani Poudel, the branch manager of Nepal Bank in Chame, the bank has been providing services to the customers in this area conveniently. </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"">“Business is good in Chame branch as there are government offices here,” he said. However, it is difficult to operate the branch opened in Narfa. Only one or two service seekers come to this branch in 2/3 days. “As it snows a lot here. The human settlement is also dependent on the weather,” said Poudel. However, the Nepal Bankers Association has said that the business of the bank has increased with the expansion of branch offices at the local levels.</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"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank, Gunakar Bhatta said that access to finance has reached the rural areas easily as the banks have followed the policy of the government.</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"">Similarly, although most of the branches of the banks have reached the local level, the branch offices of the banks are less in some districts on the basis of population. According to NRB, Jajarkot and Baitadi have the lowest number of branches in terms of population as of December last year. There are only 19 branches in Baitadi where one branch serves 14,102 customers. Similarly, there are just 14 branches in Jajarkot. Based on the population of the district, 14,422 people receive banking services from one branch here.</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 Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, a branch office is shared by 2,000 people. According to the statistics, Kathmandu has the largest number of branches. The total number of branches in Kathmandu is 1,024, while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have 252 and 135 branches respectively.</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"">Three villages are out of banking reach</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 of January this year, three of the local levels are still devoid of branches of banks. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, there are no branches yet in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading, Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Saipal Municipality of Bajhang. The government had set a target of introducing branches of commercial banks to all the 753 local units in the budget of fiscal year 2074/75.</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"">Bank of Kathmandu has been directed to expand its branch office in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading. Similarly, Agricultural Development Bank has been asked to expand its branch in Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Everest Bank in Saipal Municipality, Bajhang. Anil Sharma, CEO of Nepal Bankers' Association said that the expansion of the branches was delayed due to lack of population in these three local levels and legal matters in the courts.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14541', 'image' => '20220220062340_Manang_Annapurna3_Gangapurna.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 18:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </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 of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last 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"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current 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"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </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 tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from 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"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </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 tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </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"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</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"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </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"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14810', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government has no Resources to Settle Covid-19 Insurance Claims: Ministry of Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: At a time when the insurance policy holders are complaining the delay in settlement of claims related to Covid-19 insurance, the Ministry of Finance has claimed that the government does not have resources (budget) to provide such compensation.</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 insurance companies are unlikely to receive Rs 11 billion which the government is liable to pay the companies as per its commitment to fight against the pandemic.</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"">Ramesh Kumar KC, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Head of the Financial Sector Management and Corporation Co-ordination Division, informed that there is no immediate resource to settle the Covid-19 insurance claims.</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"">"It simply came to our notice then that there was no resource to meet the demand," 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"">As per the of Covid-19 Insurance Procedure, insurance companies will have to bear up to Rs 3.5 billion for compensating the policy holders while the government will be responsible to bear any additional cost.</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 procedure, the Insurance Board, reinsurance companies, and insurance pools will have to contribute Rs 1 billion each, and non-life insurance companies will have to pay Rs 500 million. Witnessing the rise of Covid-19, the insurance companies suspended the Covid-19 insurance scheme stating that they don't have sufficient budget to settle the claims. The companies resumed operations after the government pledged to provide more than Rs 3.5 billion in insurance claims.</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 government’s commitment, it will have to pay Rs 11.43 billion after deducting the amount of Rs 3.5 billion which the insurance companies are liable to pay.</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 settlement of Covid-19 insurance claims was suspended after the government failed to disburse the required amount. The insurance companies are adamant that the insurance claims will not be settled until the government releases the money. </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"">Chairman of the Insurance Board, Surya Prasad Silva, said that the insurance companies have not received any money from the Ministry of Finance.</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 board added that the Ministry of Finance has not come up with a clear idea in this regard.</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 Insurance Board had sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance a few months ago suggesting alternative means for raising the resources needed to settle the claims. The board had proposed that the insurance sector should pay 50 to 55 percent of the total amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14552', 'image' => '20220222040149_20200426022909_1587852673.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 16:01:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14809', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Authorities of India Instruct Service Providers to Avail Adequate Rail Rakes for Nepal-Bound Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Om Prakash Khanal</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 22: Government authorities of India have instructed the stakeholders to facilitate Nepal’s foreign trade. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India issued such order to the service provider companies after Nepal-bound containers arriving from third countries started piling up at the Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board issued the order in the name of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), Pristine Mega Logistic Park and International Cargo Terminal and Infrastructure last week. The board has instructed the companies to make the required rail rakes available for transporting goods to Nepal from the Indian ports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The transshipment cost of Nepal’s foreign trade was expected to be slashed down after the amendment to the Nepal India Railway Service Agreement, which allowed private companies to compete in the business. However, the Nepali importers are at the receiving end due to an unhealthy competition among the service providers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement was amended on June 29 last year. A private railway company from India transported goods to Birgunj Dry Port for the first time on September 15. Prior to that, CONCOR enjoyed monopoly in transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, there are four companies in India, including CONCOR, that have been providing transportation service for Nepal-bound goods. Due to the competition from private sector, India’s state-owned CONCOR had reduced the transportation fare as well as rail rakes significantly. This had caused problems for Nepal’s import business as the private companies of India did not have adequate number of rail rakes to transport containers to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">CONCOR reduced the transportation fare by 30 to 35 percent. Other private companies were also forced to reduce the fare. However, CONCOR is still ahead of the private companies in terms of infrastructure and handles 90 percent of Nepal-bound shipments single-handedly taking advantage of the weak infrastructure of its competitors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">New Business Age had published a news on February 6 regarding the piling up of containers at Indian ports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Subodh Kumar Gupta said that the containers have been stuck at the Indian ports since the last two to four months due to unavailability of adequate rakes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have done correspondence with Kolkata-based Nepali consulate regarding this problem. But the problem has not been resolved yet,” said Gupta.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on India’s ports in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, and Haldiya for foreign trade. However, Nepal-bound containers have been stuck at the ports due to unavailability of rail rakes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The problems faced by importers in Kolkata has now surfaced in Visakhapatnam, said Ashish Lath, secretary of the chamber. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata Ishwar Raj Poudel said that the problem has been sorted out after holding talks with CONCOR officials. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal imports around 125,000 containers of goods in a year. Currently, 4000 containers have been stuck at Visakhapatnam Port. This port, which is twice as far as Kolkata, has now become the first choice among Nepali importers. Although the distance is more, the cost incurred and delivery time are both less because big ships ferry the containers to Visakhapatnam. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the situation is tense due to the fierce competition among the service providers, says importer Pradeep Kedia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> According to sources, CONCOR used to make a profit of IRS 12,000 for transportation of one container of goods. However, its profit has been reduced to IRs 5,000 per containers after adjusting the fare due to competition among the service providers. It has been learnt that CONCOR has been providing additional rail rakes for transportation of goods of Indian companies where it makes more profit than transporting goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“Earlier, we were under compulsion to make the rakes available because it was our sole responsibility. But now, we are no longer responsible after the entry or private competitors. It is natural that we will provide rakes to those companies where we can make better profit,” said an official of CONCOR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, CONCOR used to provide 65 rakes per month for transporting goods to Nepal but that has dropped to 38 at present.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other companies are under pressure to increase rail rakes. According to B Mohan, executive director of Pristine Valley Dry Port, Pristine Mega Logistic Park has increased rail rakes to 13 per month.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14551', 'image' => '20220222025427_20220206123218_1644103590.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 14:53:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14808', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector in Favor of MCC', 'sub_title' => 'Urges Government to Keep Politics Away from Development', 'summary' => 'February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Political parties are deeply polarized over the MCC grant assistance worth Rs 55 billion from the USA, which has been tabled in parliament for endorsement.</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"">Amidst differing stances taken by the political parties, the private sector has requested the political leadership to keep politics away from development.</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 private sector was quick to welcome the MCC as soon as it got tabled in the parliament, stating that development should be devoid of politics. </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 Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), an umbrella body of business organizations and industrialists, the political parties should make commitment not to intervene in development matters. </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 CNI said that the government can reap benefit from timely implementation of development projects by taking the people into confidence.</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"">CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agarwal said that the MCC agreement is important for the development of electricity and road sector, which are of strategic importance to Nepal's economic development.</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"">“A hefty investment is needed for sustainable development and post-Covid-19 economic recovery,” said Agrawal, adding, “For this too, infrastructure support like MCC is necessary for 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"">According to Agarwal, after the implementation of this project, Nepal can make a qualitative leap in trade and other economic sectors.</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 president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pashupati Murarka was also in favor of approval of MCC. According to him, if the MCC is tabled and approved, the message of an investment-friendly environment will circulate around the world.</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"">Similarly, President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Rajendra Malla was also glad about the government’s decision to table the MCC in parliament.</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 him, MCC should be passed to maintain the trust that donors have on Nepal. According to the private sector stakeholders, the implementation of MCC will also contribute to foreign exchange earnings.</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 private sector emphasizes that more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa have enhanced their economies by implementing MCC-assisted projects and that Nepal should also implement this project in a timely manner and set a precedent in technology transfer, project implementation and development management.</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 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, which is directly linked to the transmission line and road infrastructure that will directly benefit 23 million citizens, was tabled in the House of Representatives on Sunday (February 20).</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"">While presenting the MCC agenda in parliament, Communication Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had said that about 5 million households would directly benefit from the project within five years of its implementation.</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 government expects the 312 km long 400 kV capacity double circuit transmission line starting from Nangle Bhare in Kathmandu to Butwal to be the backbone of Nepal's energy sector. This project will also be of strategic importance in bringing the electricity produced by the projects constructed in the corridors of Tamakoshi, Bhotekoshi, Trishuli, Budhigandaki and Kaligandaki to the national grid.</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"">All the former prime ministers are involved in this project that started during the tenure of former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and the then finance minister Surendra Pandey. MCC has allocated about Rs 55 billion grant assistance for the development of Nepal's energy and transport sectors. The Government of Nepal will invest around Rs 14 billion in this project.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14550', 'image' => '20220222123213_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 12:31:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14807', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Deposit Collection of Banks not Encouraging Despite Increase in Interest Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 22: Although banks and financial institutions have increased interest rates on deposits citing liquidity crisis, deposit collection has not increased as expected.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although banks have raised interest rates on deposits to 11.03 percent since mid-February, the deposits of commercial banks have increased by only Rs 1 billion. According to the Nepal Bankers' Association, the total deposits of commercial banks was Rs 4311 billion as of mid-February which increased to Rs 4312 billion on February 18. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite opposition by some bankers that increasing interest rates would not increase deposits, the association had decided to raise interest rates in line with the interest rate limit set by the central bank. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the weak growth rate of deposit, credit expansion of banks has also started shrinking. According to the association, the credit of banks has increased by only Rs 4 billion in February. Commercial banks, which have been extending loans of Rs 10 billion in average in a week, started reducing credit flow since mid-December. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposit collection of banks was Rs 110 billion as of mid-January this year while the credit flow was Rs 434 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow has been much higher than deposit collection. Liquidity crisis is getting worse due to the loan flow to unproductive sectors such as import business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14549', 'image' => '20220222115324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 11:52:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14806', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Collects Rs 810 Million in Royalties from Casinos ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The government has collected Rs 810 million in royalties from various casinos operating in Nepal. The amount was collected following the instructions of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The license of Kathmandu-based Yak and Yeti Hotel to operate casino was scrapped for defaulting royalties. Minister Ale warned of similar action in case others fail to pay royalties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Now casinos have been in rush to pay royalties. So far, Rs 810 million in royalties have been collected. Some other casinos are preparing documents to clear the dues," said Khem Raj Joshi, officer at the Department of Tourism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Department, so far, 17 casinos including Golden Finger Gaming Zone have paid royalties. It has been learnt that arrears amounting to over Rs 1.11 billion are yet to be paid in royalties. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14548', 'image' => '20220221071847_istockphoto-1188013341-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 19:17:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14805', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Constituency Strategic Road Project being Implemented without Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: The government has introduced the election constituency strategic road project but has not conducted any study on its strategic importance. The project has been launched to invest billions of rupees on the roads chosen by the elected representatives. Approximate, 2,200 kilometers of roads have been chosen by the elected representatives of 165 election constituencies. However, the study on its strategic importance is nowhere to be found.</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"">This project has already been passed by the council of ministers. Even the Ministry of Finance has accepted the proposal under the ‘Constituency Strategic Road Construction and Operation Criteria-2077’. After securing the resource, the project has been taken forward in the current fiscal year. Among the 165 roads, the tender of 25 roads have already been announced and their technical proposals have been accepted as well. If there are no legal obligations within three weeks, the Department of Roads will sign a contract for their construction.</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 criteria, each MP will have to identify a road for construction in their constituency. Such roads need to be identified on the basis of their proximity to the national highways and must support the economic, social, and industrial development within the constituency. Meanwhile, there have been no studies or tests on this subject matter yet. Shiva Prasad Nepal, the Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Department of Roads said that despite the roads being called the election constituency strategic roads, no one really knows how strategic the roads are.</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"">“These roads have been chosen by the elected representatives,” Nepal said adding, “While the strategic importance of such roads are yet to be ascertained. Even the studies on its strategic importance have not yet been conducted.”</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"">There is a provision to conduct a detailed project report (DPR) on the selected roads by the elected representatives. Also the environmental impact assessment is to be done if necessary. The Department of Roads has been working as per the responsibility given by the federal government.</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 has stated that a budget of Rs 57.10 billion is required for the construction of these roads. However, no study has been done on the strategic importance of the road to be built with such a large investment and how much it will be financially viable. These roads are targeted to be completed within the next three years. However, in some places there are problems with land acquisition and some fall in forest areas. Therefore, Nepal said that it would take time for DPR and environmental impact assessment.</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"">DPR and EIA take more than a year to complete. Similarly, it takes 6 months to complete the procurement process. One and a half years will pass in this process. “There is no basis to build 165 roads in the remaining year and a half and mobilize resources,” said Nepal adding, “There will be no delay in road construction in areas where DPR has been done. EIA is not required where curring of trees is not necessary and land is not required to be acquired.” The technical proposal of the tender for 25 roads has already been approved.</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"">For the construction of constituency strategic roads, the government has set a minimum of Rs 200 million to a maximum of Rs 600 million investment limit. It is likely that it will take around 5 years to complete these roads.</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 government has allocated Rs. 2.32 billion budget for this project. The construction of this road was announced by the outgoing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April, 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14547', 'image' => '20220221044115_road-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 16:40:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14804', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliament to Decide the Fate of MCC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: The US-funded project – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – has been tabled in parliament after a prolonged dispute. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki presented the MCC agenda in parliament meeting on Sunday (February 20) amid protest in the streets as well as the parliament itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki himself had signed the MCC grant agreement with the US representatives on September 14, 2017 in the capacity of the then finance minister of Nepal. The MCC grant agreement was registered in parliament on July 15, 2019 by former Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during the tenure of KP Sharma Oli-led government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As soon as the MCC agenda was tabled in parliament on Sunday, CPN UML lawmakers picketed the rostrum and started obstructing the house proceedings. Speaker of the House of Representatives then allowed CPN Maoist Centre lawmaker Dev Gurung to express his views followed by UML leader Bhim Rawal, Nepal Workers and Peasant Party MP Prem Suwal and Jastriya Janamorcha’s Durga Poudel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All of them were unanimous in saying that the MCC should not have been tabled in parliament. On the other hand, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota argued that the MCC grant was of national interest and therefore it should be discussed in parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">While the MCC agreement was being presented in parliament, New Baneshwar area turned tense due to protest called by the leaders and activists of the ruling parties. Police had to fire dozens of tear-gas shells and water canyon to quell the protest. Police also resorted to firing rubber bullets after the protest went out of control.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Some leaders of the ruling coalition accused the government of tabling the MCC agreement without reaching an understanding among the ruling parties. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman of the ruling CPN Unified Socialist Madhav Kumar Nepal said that his party is not in favour of endorsing the MCC agreement in its current form. Likewise, chairman of another coalition partner CPN Maoist Centre’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed concern that the government tabled the MCC agenda amid protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The government has tabled the MCC in parliament despite protests. Our party has already made its stance clear that we will stand against it,” Dahal said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the tabling of MCC agreement in parliament, it is now in the process of endorsement. The parliament must pass the MCC with majority votes in order to implement the agreement. MPs will hold discussions regarding the MCC in the upcoming house meeting. The lawmakers can demand amendment to some provisions in the agreement. The speaker can send the MCC agreement to parliamentary committee for clause-wise discussion. But if it is presented directly in the House meeting, the process will become shorter. The government is likely to press for the short-cut as the deadline for endorsing the agreement is approaching near. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14546', 'image' => '20220221031536_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 15:14:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14803', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Unable to Disburse Agricultural Loans as per the Target set by NRB ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made it mandatory for commercial banks to invest a certain percentage of their total loan in agriculture in order to increase the investment in the agricultural sector. However, the banks are facing difficulty to meet the target. </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 monetary policy of the last fiscal year (FY), the NRB had made provision for the commercial banks to disburse 15 percent of their total credit to the agricultural sector. NRB has set a calendar to meet the target. However, banks have not been able to disburse loans as per the target. </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"">NRB has given the deadline of mid-July 2023 for the banks to increase the loan flow to agricultural sector to 15 percent. NRB has instructed the banks to increase the loan flow to 11 percent by mid-July 2021 and 13 percent by mid-July 2022. As of mid-January 2022, credit flow to agricultural sector of only five banks have exceeded 13 percent of the total loans. </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 banks have to increase the agricultural loan to 11 percent by mid-July 2021, 10 banks have not been able to make the required investment as of mid-January 2022. </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"">Nepal Rastra Bank has arranged subsidy on interest for agricultural loans to increase investment in the agricultural sector. Under this facility, 51,756 customers have availed loan facilities from banks as of mid-January. They have borrowed Rs 136 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14545', 'image' => '20220221024957_Agriculture-Loan_55.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 14:49:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14802', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal-India Energy Secretary Level meeting scheduled for Wednesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week.', '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"">February 21: Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting postponed since last two years will now be held on February 23 and 24 (Wednesday and Thursday) later this week. The delegation from Nepal and India will meet in Kathmandu as per the request of India.</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 representatives of the two nations had previously held a meeting in Bangalore, India, two years ago. The two countries had agreed to hold the meeting every six months. However, the meeting had been postponed after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.</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"">Despite the pandemic, Nepal had repeatedly urged India to convene the meeting. However, India had been reluctant to hold the meeting, citing the reason of Covid-19. India proposed resuming the meeting amid declining risk of Covid-19. </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"">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal confirmed that the Energy Secretary-level meeting will take place on February 23 and 24.</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"">Although the date of the meeting is close, the proposal of the meeting has not been decided yet. An official of the ministry said that they are yet to prepare the proposal to be presented in the meeting.</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 agenda of the meeting will be decided through consensus among both the countries. We have sent some proposals on our behalf. The decision on the proposal is likely to be taken during Monday's meeting,” said Bhetwal. The ministry is planning to hold discussions with the Ministry of Law; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the concerned ministries of India on Monday.</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"">During the joint meeting, Nepal is planning to discuss electricity trade, power exchange, and inter-country transmission lines with India. According to a source at the ministry, Nepal has sent its proposal to India focusing on those issues.</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"">Nepal has been wasting 500 MW of electricity during the rainy season. However, India has not confirmed it will buy the surplus electricity from Nepal. Therefore, Nepal is trying to discuss the issue of electricity exchange along with electricity trade with top priority. According to the source, the issue of inter-country transmission lines will also be discussed.</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"">India, on the other hand, wants to discuss joint investment and development of hydropower projects at the meeting. On the first day of the meeting, a joint group meeting of joint secretaries of Nepal and India will be held. On the second day, there will be a meeting of energy secretaries of both the countries where Nepal's Energy Secretary Devendra Karki and Indian Energy Secretary Alok Kumar will join their respective delegations. It will finalize the issues decided by the joint secretary-level meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14544', 'image' => '20220221010206_Flag-Pins-Nepal-India.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 13:01:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14800', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Profit Climbs to Rs 12 Billion in Six Months of Current FY', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has made a profit of Rs 12.12 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the financial details issued by the NEA, the state-owned utility had made a profit of Rs 6.18 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA is the public institution which earns the maximum profit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA, which was facing loss in Fiscal Year 2072/73, has been making profit every year since then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NEA Executive Director Kul Man Ghising said that the NEA was able to maximize profit by controlling electricity leakage, increasing export of electricity to India, limiting import of electricity, increasing sale of electricity among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Reduction in operational cost and steps taken to bring administrative and financial reforms also helped in increasing profit,” said Ghising, adding, “The electricity tariff for customers have been revised from mid-December. This will cause a slight reduction in income of NEA but we have taken effective measures to curb electricity leakage and to maintain financial discipline. We are expecting to generate profit of Rs 15 billion.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the six months of the current FY, electricity leakage has dropped to 14.45 percent from 17.18 percent in the corresponding period of previous FY. The NEA aims to limit electricity leakage to 15.5 percent in the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review period, NEA made an income of Rs 47.98 billion while its expenses were Rs 35.86 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA’s long-term debt to the donors is Rs 114 billion. Similarly, the NEA is liable to pay a long-term loan of Rs 81.81 billion to the Government of Nepal and its financial obligation to the staffers is worth Rs 36.84 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>Electricity export up </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The NEA informed that the export of electricity has increased and import decreased in the six months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the fiscal year, 2020/21, power worth Rs 316 million was exported to India. The figure increased to Rs 805 million in the first six months of the current FY. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, electricity import had increased to Rs 21.8 billion in the FY, 2020/21 from Rs 13.4 billion in the FY, 2019/20. But, the country imported power worth Rs 2.5 billion till date in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Executive Director of NEA Ghising, electricity demand within the country has increased by approximately 200 megawatts as compared to the previous year. Approximately 660 megawatts electricity has been added to the national grid. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14543', 'image' => '20220221110635_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:05:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14801', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Massive Hailstorm Affects daily life in Pokhara, Crops Damaged ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This photo taken from social media shows Pokhara city covered in a blanket of hailstones resembling snowfall on Sunday.</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 21: Heavy hailstorm on Sunday afternoon affected normal life in Pokhara and also damaged winter crops in the lake city. Most of the roads in Pokhara were covered with hailstones that occurred from 1 pm and continued till 4:30 pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, vehicles and pedestrians were left struggling on the roads of Pokhara, the state-owned RSS reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals of Pokhara said that they had never witnessed such a massive scale of hailstorm before. Social media were abuzz with videos of hailstorm throughout the day.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the District Traffic Police Office, the hailstones have been removed with the help of excavators in the main market areas of Pokhara including Mahendrapul, Chipledhunga, New Road, Nayabazar, Sirjanachowk and Ranipauwa. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Metropolitan Agriculture Development Division informed that the hailstorm damaged winter crops and vegetables in the city a nd nearby areas. Farmers of ward number 18, 20, 16, 25, 22 and 14 of the metropolis have been affected by the hail. However, the exact data on the extent of damage was not available immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> <br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-21', 'modified' => '2022-02-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14542', 'image' => '20220221115902_IMG_20220221_115426.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-21 11:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14798', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Manang Ahead in terms of Access to Finance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.</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"">Data up to mid-January 2022 shows that the access of finance of the people of Manang is better than those of the well-facilitated people in Kathmandu. According to the data released by Nepal Rastra Bank, there is one branch of bank for 571 people in Manang district as of December this year. There are altogether 11 branches in this district.</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"">Meanwhile, in Kathmandu district, there is one branch for 2,247 people. So far, 1,024 branch offices of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies have been established in Kathmandu. In terms of population, the people of Manang district have better access to banks than Kathmandu. However, there are more branches in Kathmandu than in Manang.</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"">Similarly, there is one branch for 661 people in Mustang. There are 16 branches of commercial banks and one branch of development bank in this district.</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 a small population makes use of a branch office, the service seekers often face difficulty in receiving service. In some areas, the bank’s customers are obliged to stay overnight to get banking services.</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"">There are only six branches in Chame, the district headquarters of Manang district. According to Laxman Gauli, the acting chief administrative officer of Chame rural municipality, the six branch offices have been set up by Mega Bank, Nepal Bank, NMB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Citizens Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank in Chame. The other five branch offices are in Narpa Bhumi Municipality, Manang Ngisyang Municipality and Nason Municipality. </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"">Service seekers have not been able to benefit much from these branches. The reason is that the banks have opened branches only in accessible places of villages.</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 Bishwamani Poudel, the branch manager of Nepal Bank in Chame, the bank has been providing services to the customers in this area conveniently. </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"">“Business is good in Chame branch as there are government offices here,” he said. However, it is difficult to operate the branch opened in Narfa. Only one or two service seekers come to this branch in 2/3 days. “As it snows a lot here. The human settlement is also dependent on the weather,” said Poudel. However, the Nepal Bankers Association has said that the business of the bank has increased with the expansion of branch offices at the local levels.</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"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank, Gunakar Bhatta said that access to finance has reached the rural areas easily as the banks have followed the policy of the government.</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"">Similarly, although most of the branches of the banks have reached the local level, the branch offices of the banks are less in some districts on the basis of population. According to NRB, Jajarkot and Baitadi have the lowest number of branches in terms of population as of December last year. There are only 19 branches in Baitadi where one branch serves 14,102 customers. Similarly, there are just 14 branches in Jajarkot. Based on the population of the district, 14,422 people receive banking services from one branch here.</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 Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, a branch office is shared by 2,000 people. According to the statistics, Kathmandu has the largest number of branches. The total number of branches in Kathmandu is 1,024, while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have 252 and 135 branches respectively.</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"">Three villages are out of banking reach</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 of January this year, three of the local levels are still devoid of branches of banks. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, there are no branches yet in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading, Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Saipal Municipality of Bajhang. The government had set a target of introducing branches of commercial banks to all the 753 local units in the budget of fiscal year 2074/75.</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"">Bank of Kathmandu has been directed to expand its branch office in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading. Similarly, Agricultural Development Bank has been asked to expand its branch in Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Everest Bank in Saipal Municipality, Bajhang. Anil Sharma, CEO of Nepal Bankers' Association said that the expansion of the branches was delayed due to lack of population in these three local levels and legal matters in the courts.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14541', 'image' => '20220220062340_Manang_Annapurna3_Gangapurna.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 18:22:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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
