August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or…
August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or…
August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal.…
August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation…
August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank…
August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by…
August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme.…
August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been…
August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two…
August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty…
August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. …
August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent…
August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university…
August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker…
August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level…
August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent…
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With the gradual development in the field of information and technology, banks and financial institutions have been promoting electronic transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Electronic transaction, which used to be an alternative system before the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, has now become an essential service to the general public. Nepal Rastra Bank has systematically promoted electronic payments and transactions while systems like Mobile Wallet, Connect IPS, Real Gross Time Settlement (RGTS) have been brought into operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It has also added ease and reliability to the business for the general public. With the increase in e-transactions, the responsibility of the regulatory body regarding security has been added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As per the data of the Fiscal Year 2077/78 made public by Nepal Rastra Bank, both the number and volume of electronic transactions have increased. According to the central bank, there has been a significant increase in transactions through RGTS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the central bank, electronic transactions worth Rs 1.63 trillion took place in May 2020 while there has been electronic transaction of Rs 2.11 trillion in May 2021. It has a large share of RTGS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions based on Quick Response (QR) code has also increased. While there was 195, 016 QR transactions in June 2020, there were 502,666 such transactions in May 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In May 2020, transaction through mobile banking was done 5.81 million times which increased to more than 11 million in mid-June 2021. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The general public has also given priority to electronic transactions as they were not able to do transaction physically by visiting banks and financial institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The attraction of people toward electronic transaction has increased as it has become easier and cost effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the NRB, the transaction through Connect IPS is more than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions of Rs 51.30 billion through Connect in mid-June 2020 has increased to Rs 157 billion by mid-June 2021. While there were 1.46 million transactions in the previous year, it has increased to 2.16 million this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Nileshman Pradhan, chief executive officer of Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the growing awareness among customers about technology and coronavirus. He said that the cashless transactions have increased due to the meaningful efforts of the government, Nepal Rastra Bank and other concerned governmental and non-governmental bodies. The volume of transactions through Connect IPS has increased by 660 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions through IPS have also increased by 85 percent. Pradhan says that cash transactions can be reduced to a minimum point if electronic transactions are made easy and acceptable in all sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank had launched a campaign to promote the use of QR codes in major vegetable markets, departmental stores and other public places in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Manoj Gyawali, Deputy General Manager of Nabil Bank, says that the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the easy policy arrangements by Nepal Rastra Bank and awareness among the citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Giving information that banks and financial institutions have already made arrangements to provide loans through phone or digital system, Gyawali expressed his belief that more than 4.5 million customers will be connected through electronic transactions in a short time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank plans to promote cashless transactions. Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has termed this campaign as a major campaign. The monetary policy of the current fiscal year also includes a plan to make the electronic payment system more systematic and effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank, which is involved in the promotion of cashless transactions, is preparing to set up a national payment switch. The monetary policy aims to celebrate the FY 2079/80 as the year of electronic payment transaction promotion. For that, the goal is to focus on the development of necessary infrastructure and raising awareness in the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Governor Adhikari, Nepal's own payment card will be used for electronic transaction by maintaining interconnection between electronic payment devices. Special refinancing will be provided to the payment service providers and payment system operators and communication service providers investing in the development and promotion of the overall ecosystem of electronic payment system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The amount of electronic payment has also increased from the government's revenue to the purchase of other daily necessities. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13597', 'image' => '20210822041644_it01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 16:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Deposit Accounts Exceeds Total Population of Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Study Shows there are 36.3 Million Deposit Accounts in Nepal', 'summary' => 'August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. However, the financial access of Nepalis is just 67.34 percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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"">A report prepared by NRB shows that there are currently 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal. The study conducted by NRB on the status of financial access in Nepal showed there were 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal as of mid-June 2020. </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 report, the financial access of Nepalis has expanded to 67.34 per cent with people having at least one deposit account. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total deposit accounts, 67.7 per cent are active while the remaining ones are dormant. Similarly, out of the total deposit accounts, saving accounts constitute 90.6 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total 753 local levels, people in 750 local units have financial access through commercial banks. Dhading district’s Rubi Valley, Jajarkot’s Junichande and Bajhang’s Saipal have no commercial bank, according to the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among those having access to banking service in the country, the number of mobile banking users stands at 32 per cent, the report further states. </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 report further states that there are altogether 5,978 banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of various classes (A, B and C) in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13596', 'image' => '20210822123904_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 12:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Requests its Employees to Postpone Protest Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The employees' unions have been protesting against the decision of splitting CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that discussion could be held as the bill related to CAAN is now at the parliamentary committee, the CAAN has urged the agitating staffers to postpone the ongoing protest programme, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN argued that it is not the right time to organise protest programmes and padlock the office as the parliament session has come to an end. CAAN added that the unions would get opportunity to put forth their views regarding the concerns of the employees during the discussion over the bill at the respective committee of the House of Representatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CAAN shared that problems have surfaced in carrying out essential works due to the padlocking of the office of the Director General of CAAN. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Two bills – Nepal Air Service Authority Bill-2076 and 'Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Bill-2076 – were tabled at the Federal Parliament recently in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s recommendation to split CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body . The National Assembly passed both the bills on August 2 and sent them to the House of Representatives for further action. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the employees' unions have been launching protest programmes since August 9 against the decision. Similarly, the employees have also padlocked the secretariat of the Director General from August 12. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13595', 'image' => '20210822113134_20200827042104_1598477546.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 11:30:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Printing of Driving License Halted since Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards. The department, which had been printing cards for the last one and a half years, has not been able to print the cards this year because of the prohibitory order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Due to the shortage of cards, the department has not been able to print licenses regularly since February last year. The regular printing of cards was stopped as the department had only 30,000 card in stocks in February. Meanwhile, the Director General of the Department Namaraj Ghimire says that only 20,000 blank cards are left after printing some essential cards. According to him, the department has printed the license and provided it only to a limited number of service seekers, civil servants, army personnel going abroad for foreign missions and police personnel after February.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department has printed 2 million cards as of December 2020 and sent them to transport offices. Ghimire said that 600,000 cards are yet to be printed from January 2021. The department had printed one million cards and sent them to the transport offices during last year's lockdown alone. However, due to the prohibitory order, that have not been distributed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department had signed an agreement with French company Silp to acquire 1.4 million blank cards in February alone. Ghimire, the Director General of the department, said that the process of getting the card has already started. On Monday, the company sent 250 cards for testing. He informed that 1.4 million cards will be issued within the next month and a half.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> "We will test and place the order within a year," he said, “Although a time period of 3 months have been given to the company, we have requested them to send them earlier since we have a lot of pressure.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The company has assured that all the cards would be delivered by the last week of September. Although the department has said that the cards have been printed till December 2020, the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards even though they applied for the license more than a year ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Rabindra Rajbanshi of Anamnagar, who applied to renew the card last year, complained that he did not get the card even though he reached the transport office last week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Although the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards, Director General Ghimire said adding that there may have been some problem in office management for the distribution of those cards.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13594', 'image' => '20210820014951_20151201120540_smartl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 13:48:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Plan to Increase Nepal’s Export to US$ 7 Billion by 2025 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025. The federation further said it aims to increase the export by Rs 2 billion in the next three years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a virtual meeting with the representative of diplomatic missions of 40 countries on promotion of exports on Thursday, the Federation stressed on increasing domestic products and export to make the country prosperous. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The diplomatic missions agreed to provide details on the need of goods to their countries and furnish recommendation to the federation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Chairperson of the federation and Provincial Assembly member of Gandaki Province Ram Bahadur Gurung informed that they initiated dialogue with diplomatic mission in a bid to reduce Nepal's trade deficit.</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 federation has aimed at boosting agricultural and industrial productions and their export. Export of energy is another priority," he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepal is exporting more than 950 goods to more than 120 countries. Development of industrial sector must be government's priority, he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Carpet, readymade garments, pashmina, felt, handicraft products are some of the top export items. India is the largest market of Nepali products followed by the USA. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13592', 'image' => '20210820114002_20190122112126_Promote Export.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:38:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Provide Rs 7.12 Billion Concessional Loan for Higher Education ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. The financial assistance is meant to improve the quality of higher education, scale up online learning, and expand access to academic institutions for underprivileged and vulnerable students. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and World Bank’s Country Director for Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreement in this regard amid a function organized at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday (August 19).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the signing ceremony<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">, Secretary Marasini said that investing in human capital was a key priority of the government to help young people realize their development potential. “This project supports the government’s focus on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by strengthening the higher education sector," a statement issued by World Bank quoted Finance Secretary Marasini as saying. He further said that the project ensures students all across Nepal including those from disadvantaged groups have access to quality education amid the pandemic’s challenges.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the World Bank, the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme builds on Nepal’s successful higher education projects supported through results-based financing. It will help the government align its higher education sector with labor market needs, boost collaborative research and entrepreneurship, improve governance, and access to quality higher education, especially for disadvantaged students, the World Bank said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, World Bank’s Country Director Faris Hadad-Zervos said that an important aspect of Nepal’s recovery efforts from the pandemic is to ensure that quality higher education was accessible, inclusive, and relevant to the demands of the labor market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “This is key to helping Nepal build back better and strengthen its resilience,” he added. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13591', 'image' => '20210820080303_20191015114123_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 08:02:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare Goes up by 23 Percent in Province 1', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased within the state. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of the state has made public the information that the fare of passenger and freight vehicles has been increased by up to 23 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Engineer Om Prakash Shah, the information officer of the ministry, informed that the new fare will be applicable for the use of public vehicles across the state from August 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to him, the fare has been increased by 16.5 percent for freight vehicles operating on hilly routes, 22 percent for passenger vehicles and 23 percent for freight vehicles operating in the Terai region.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He said that the price hike was based on the increase in the wages of workers, fuel, tires, interest, operating expenses and other indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A meeting of the state's fare determination advisory committee held on July 29 had recommended the government to increase the fare. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The federal government had increased the fares of long-distance inter Province vehicles by 28 percent. The fare hike by the federal government has already been implemented since July 13.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13590', 'image' => '20210820114737_PublicTransport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:46:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'TU Signs MoU with Tel Aviv University ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), TU Rector Prof Dr Shiva Lal Bhusal and TAU Vice chancellor Prof Milette Shamir signed the MoU on behalf of their respective universities through a virtual medium. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the signing ceremony, TU Rector Bhusal shared that they expect to work together and exchange the expertise between two universities especially in the areas of disaster Management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to this, Pulchok Engineering Campus, TU and Disaster Management Department of TAU have also signed same kind of MoU. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13589', 'image' => '20210820113204_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:31:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '5 Million People in Nepal Still Fall under Multidimensional Poverty Line', 'sub_title' => 'Report shows Government fails to Reduce Poverty Despite Spending Huge Amount in Collaboration with Development Partners', 'summary' => 'August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A report on multidimensional poverty shows that a large number of Nepali citizens are below the poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 2019, 17.4 percent of Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report which was published on Wednesday (August 18) states that 28 percent of population living in rural areas fall below the multidimensional poverty line while 12.3 percent of population in the urban areas fall under the same category. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Considering the age group, the report states that 28 percent of children and 51 percent of adoloscents fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Karnali Province is the most backward province in terms of poverty with 39.5 percent of population under the multidimensional poverty line. Population-wise, Province 2 has the maximum number of people under the poverty line. According to the report, 1.29 million people in the province live below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report states that there has been no improvement in poverty alleviation despite the government and non-government organisations spending huge amount of money to achieve this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Multidimensional poverty index is calculated on the basis of 10 indices related to health, education and living standard. All three categories have equal weightage while determining multidimensional poverty.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13588', 'image' => '20210819041030_Poverty Index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 16:09:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Fail to Meet Lending Requirement to SMEs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. According to a recent report of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks have provided such loans at a ratio of 10.1 percent instead of the required 11 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks were instructed to provide lending facility at a ratio of 11 percent until the end of the last fiscal year. The lending to SMEs is less by 0.9 percentage points. SMEs received loans of Rs 327 billion in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Through the monetary policy introduced last year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had directed the commercial banks to provide 11 percent loan to SMEs until the end of last fiscal year (FY 2020/21), 12 percent until the end of FY 2021/22, 14 percent and 15 percent until the end of the next two fiscal years, at a rate of Rs 10 million per enterprise. This provision has been continued in the monetary policy of the current fiscal year as well. However, the credit flow did not meet the target in the first year of implementation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has said that no action will be taken against the banks in this regard. Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, said that the banks have been given exemption for this time. He said that the loan should be disbursed adhering to the mentioned provision by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">By the end of the current fiscal year, commercial banks are required to disburse loans at the ratio of 12 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“COVID-19 pandemic affected the credit flow in such areas in the last year so the banks will not be penalized for their inability," Dhakal said, adding, “They are required to provide the lending facility as per the provision in the current fiscal year,".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">On the other hand, banks argue that the credit flow at the ratio of ten percent to the SMEs is as an achievement. Bhuwan Dahal, chairman of the Nepal Bankers Association, said, “It is a significant achievement that SMEs have received loans at a ratio of 10 percent. The target set by the central bank was high so it was impossible to meet it. We hadn't expected the lending would be this good enough."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Dahal, loans being extended to the SMEs should be increased at one percent annually. Setting high targets created challenges in the last year, said Dahal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13587', 'image' => '20210819020154_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 14:01:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'US Announces Additional $10.5 Million Financial Assistance to Tackle Covid-19 Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Issuing a statement on Wednesday (August 18), the US Embassy in Nepal said that these liquid oxygen systems are joined to the central oxygen system of the hospitals, and will provide uninterrupted supply of oxygen, or refill around 40 cylinders of 40L capacity in an hour. Four more liquid oxygen tanks are being installed in hospitals across the country with USAID’s support, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The United States also announced that it is giving an additional $10.5 million in urgent COVID-19 assistance for Nepal through USAID. The additional funding assistance will strengthen surveillance and contact tracing in municipalities, support laboratory systems, and expand antigen testing at border crossings, the embassy said in the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“This funding will also help the Ministry of Health and Population develop protocols and guidelines on COVID-19 management, train and recruit healthcare workers to increase surge capacity, and strengthen critical care. By working with its partners, USAID also helps COVID-19 patients in isolation facilities and in their homes through telemedicine, ensures continuity of crucial health and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, and equips local-level health facilities with other needed services.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the US Embassy, this additional US assistance builds on more than $90 million in COVID-19 support from the United States government to Nepal that has reached over 60 percent of the population since the pandemic started. The assistance includes $75 million from USAID in technical and commodity support such as oxygen cylinders, breathing devices, ventilators, and personal protective equipment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13586', 'image' => '20210819013725_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 13:36:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Provide Fellowship to Tribhuvan University Scholars', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Acting Executive Director of the Human Resource Management Department of NRB Tulasi Prasad Ghimire and Chief of the Economics Department of TU Professor Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari and Chief of the Management Department of TU Professor Dr Ramji Gautam jointly signed the agreement amid a function on Tuesday (August 17).</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 agreement, the central bank will provide fellowship on an annual basis to five students each undertaking post-graduate degrees in economics and management faculties at the university. Likewise, two students each undertaking MPhil and PhD courses will also be entitled to the fellowship, as per the understanding reached between the two institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB said in a statement that it has also agreed to give priority to TU students for internship at the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the agreement between the central bank and TU was a positive start, NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari said that the cooperation between the two institutions would play a vital role in achieving a milestone in the field of fellowship and research. He also pointed out to the need of expanding the horizon of such cooperation in the days ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He further said that the central bank has adopted a policy to sign similar agreements with other universities as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Professor Dr Gautam underscored the need to make this understanding result-oriented.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13585', 'image' => '20210819113648_MoU with TU.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 11:35:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13838', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Development Banks Demand Stockbroker License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license. The Development Bankers Association has written to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) asking for brokerage service through their subsidiary offices, according to a statement issued by the Association on Wednesday (August 18). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Government of Nepal on the recommendation of the SEBON can allow banks and financial institutions to provide brokerage service through their subsidiary companies in line with Clause 62 of the Securities Act, 2063. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the Securities Businessperson (stockbroker and securities dealer) Rules, 2008, formulated by the SEBON to implement the same act, allows a subsidiary company having a 15 percent ownership of ‘A’ class bank or any of the financial institutions established by a special act to work as the securities brokers by taking a permission from the Board. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Development banks are providing banking services by acquiring 'B' class license from Nepal Rastra Bank as per the Companies Act 2006 and Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2017. The average paid-up capital of national-level development banks has exceeded Rs 3.4 billion and they ensure services to around 4.1 million clients through over 1,000 branches. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, development banks have mobilized deposits of Rs 445 billion while loans of Rs 383 billion have been disbursed to over 300,000 clients till the end of last fiscal year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13584', 'image' => '20210819092724_20201123054646_mega.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13839', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Urges Government for Policy-Level Reforms in 34 Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms to revitalize the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign launched by CNI would contribute significantly to the productive economy of the country as mentioned in the whitepaper on national economy and the common minimum programme of the coalition government, the CNI delegation pointed out towards 34 areas that need policy reforms</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 recommendation letter has suggested the government to form a committee comprising the representatives of Finance Ministry, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Law, National Planning Commission and the CNI to carry out the reforms.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI has also recommended the government to set up a challenge fund to support small and middle-scale industries in order to revitalize the economy. With the objective of promoting domestic products, CNI also underscored the need to discourage the import of products that are produced within the country.<br /> Upon receiving the memorandum, Finance Minister Sharma appreciated the 'Make In Nepal' launched by the CNI and said he was ready to work for the reforms that would encourage the private sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“From labour point of view, Nepal is rich at present. We need to mobilize the youths," he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI Chairperson Bishnu Kumar Agrawal said that the monetary policy was overall good but the confusion created by revoking the CCD ratio should be addressed soon. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13583', 'image' => '20210819095120_20200522015739_CNI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:50:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13836', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sack Industries Operating at 80 Percent Capacity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity. </span></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 there is no shortage of raw materials at present, the industries have not been able to produce at their full capacity due to the lack of skilled workers and declining consumption in the market. </span></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 about two dozen industries in Nepal that produce bags, sacks and tents of plastic, jute and cloth. These industries provide sacks to all the cement industries as well as food-packaging industries in Nepal. Sudip Jaiswal, proprietor of Pashupati Seal Pack Industries in Biratnagar, told New Business Age that the industries were forced to operate at 80 percent capacity due to lack of skilled workers. </span></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, most of the workers working in such industries come to Nepal from India. Due to the pandemic, most of the Indian as well as Nepali workers have not been able to work due to which the industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. </span></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, the industries are facing more problems as the consumption of sacks and tents is declining. According to Nikhil Todi, operator of Shivam Plastic Industries, their consumption has declined as the cement and food grains industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. Moreover, he said that the consumption of bags has decreased not only in Nepal but in the Indian market as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali sack industries produce about 60,000 metric tons of sacks annually. Of them, 40 percent of the sacks are consumed in the domestic market and the remaining 60 percent are exported to other countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan. The export market of these industries has become chaotic as the production and consumption has declined. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><em><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Price of Bag Doubled </span></em></strong></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 market price of sacks and bags has doubled this year compared to last year due to the rise in price of raw materials as well as increase in wages of the workers in the wake of Covid-19 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"">According to the industrialists, the production cost of such items has increased by 25 percent this year. The price of a cement bag that used to cost Rs 13 including VAT has now increased to Rs 26.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-18', 'modified' => '2021-08-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13582', 'image' => '20210818023337_jute-sacks-500x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-18 14:32:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Pandemic Accelerates Growth of Electronic Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or cash.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or cash. With the gradual development in the field of information and technology, banks and financial institutions have been promoting electronic transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Electronic transaction, which used to be an alternative system before the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, has now become an essential service to the general public. Nepal Rastra Bank has systematically promoted electronic payments and transactions while systems like Mobile Wallet, Connect IPS, Real Gross Time Settlement (RGTS) have been brought into operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It has also added ease and reliability to the business for the general public. With the increase in e-transactions, the responsibility of the regulatory body regarding security has been added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As per the data of the Fiscal Year 2077/78 made public by Nepal Rastra Bank, both the number and volume of electronic transactions have increased. According to the central bank, there has been a significant increase in transactions through RGTS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the central bank, electronic transactions worth Rs 1.63 trillion took place in May 2020 while there has been electronic transaction of Rs 2.11 trillion in May 2021. It has a large share of RTGS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions based on Quick Response (QR) code has also increased. While there was 195, 016 QR transactions in June 2020, there were 502,666 such transactions in May 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In May 2020, transaction through mobile banking was done 5.81 million times which increased to more than 11 million in mid-June 2021. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The general public has also given priority to electronic transactions as they were not able to do transaction physically by visiting banks and financial institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The attraction of people toward electronic transaction has increased as it has become easier and cost effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the NRB, the transaction through Connect IPS is more than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions of Rs 51.30 billion through Connect in mid-June 2020 has increased to Rs 157 billion by mid-June 2021. While there were 1.46 million transactions in the previous year, it has increased to 2.16 million this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Nileshman Pradhan, chief executive officer of Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the growing awareness among customers about technology and coronavirus. He said that the cashless transactions have increased due to the meaningful efforts of the government, Nepal Rastra Bank and other concerned governmental and non-governmental bodies. The volume of transactions through Connect IPS has increased by 660 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions through IPS have also increased by 85 percent. Pradhan says that cash transactions can be reduced to a minimum point if electronic transactions are made easy and acceptable in all sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank had launched a campaign to promote the use of QR codes in major vegetable markets, departmental stores and other public places in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Manoj Gyawali, Deputy General Manager of Nabil Bank, says that the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the easy policy arrangements by Nepal Rastra Bank and awareness among the citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Giving information that banks and financial institutions have already made arrangements to provide loans through phone or digital system, Gyawali expressed his belief that more than 4.5 million customers will be connected through electronic transactions in a short time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank plans to promote cashless transactions. Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has termed this campaign as a major campaign. The monetary policy of the current fiscal year also includes a plan to make the electronic payment system more systematic and effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank, which is involved in the promotion of cashless transactions, is preparing to set up a national payment switch. The monetary policy aims to celebrate the FY 2079/80 as the year of electronic payment transaction promotion. For that, the goal is to focus on the development of necessary infrastructure and raising awareness in the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Governor Adhikari, Nepal's own payment card will be used for electronic transaction by maintaining interconnection between electronic payment devices. Special refinancing will be provided to the payment service providers and payment system operators and communication service providers investing in the development and promotion of the overall ecosystem of electronic payment system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The amount of electronic payment has also increased from the government's revenue to the purchase of other daily necessities. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13597', 'image' => '20210822041644_it01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 16:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Deposit Accounts Exceeds Total Population of Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Study Shows there are 36.3 Million Deposit Accounts in Nepal', 'summary' => 'August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. However, the financial access of Nepalis is just 67.34 percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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"">A report prepared by NRB shows that there are currently 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal. The study conducted by NRB on the status of financial access in Nepal showed there were 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal as of mid-June 2020. </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 report, the financial access of Nepalis has expanded to 67.34 per cent with people having at least one deposit account. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total deposit accounts, 67.7 per cent are active while the remaining ones are dormant. Similarly, out of the total deposit accounts, saving accounts constitute 90.6 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total 753 local levels, people in 750 local units have financial access through commercial banks. Dhading district’s Rubi Valley, Jajarkot’s Junichande and Bajhang’s Saipal have no commercial bank, according to the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among those having access to banking service in the country, the number of mobile banking users stands at 32 per cent, the report further states. </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 report further states that there are altogether 5,978 banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of various classes (A, B and C) in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13596', 'image' => '20210822123904_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 12:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Requests its Employees to Postpone Protest Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The employees' unions have been protesting against the decision of splitting CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that discussion could be held as the bill related to CAAN is now at the parliamentary committee, the CAAN has urged the agitating staffers to postpone the ongoing protest programme, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN argued that it is not the right time to organise protest programmes and padlock the office as the parliament session has come to an end. CAAN added that the unions would get opportunity to put forth their views regarding the concerns of the employees during the discussion over the bill at the respective committee of the House of Representatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CAAN shared that problems have surfaced in carrying out essential works due to the padlocking of the office of the Director General of CAAN. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Two bills – Nepal Air Service Authority Bill-2076 and 'Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Bill-2076 – were tabled at the Federal Parliament recently in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s recommendation to split CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body . The National Assembly passed both the bills on August 2 and sent them to the House of Representatives for further action. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the employees' unions have been launching protest programmes since August 9 against the decision. Similarly, the employees have also padlocked the secretariat of the Director General from August 12. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13595', 'image' => '20210822113134_20200827042104_1598477546.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 11:30:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Printing of Driving License Halted since Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards. The department, which had been printing cards for the last one and a half years, has not been able to print the cards this year because of the prohibitory order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Due to the shortage of cards, the department has not been able to print licenses regularly since February last year. The regular printing of cards was stopped as the department had only 30,000 card in stocks in February. Meanwhile, the Director General of the Department Namaraj Ghimire says that only 20,000 blank cards are left after printing some essential cards. According to him, the department has printed the license and provided it only to a limited number of service seekers, civil servants, army personnel going abroad for foreign missions and police personnel after February.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department has printed 2 million cards as of December 2020 and sent them to transport offices. Ghimire said that 600,000 cards are yet to be printed from January 2021. The department had printed one million cards and sent them to the transport offices during last year's lockdown alone. However, due to the prohibitory order, that have not been distributed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department had signed an agreement with French company Silp to acquire 1.4 million blank cards in February alone. Ghimire, the Director General of the department, said that the process of getting the card has already started. On Monday, the company sent 250 cards for testing. He informed that 1.4 million cards will be issued within the next month and a half.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> "We will test and place the order within a year," he said, “Although a time period of 3 months have been given to the company, we have requested them to send them earlier since we have a lot of pressure.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The company has assured that all the cards would be delivered by the last week of September. Although the department has said that the cards have been printed till December 2020, the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards even though they applied for the license more than a year ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Rabindra Rajbanshi of Anamnagar, who applied to renew the card last year, complained that he did not get the card even though he reached the transport office last week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Although the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards, Director General Ghimire said adding that there may have been some problem in office management for the distribution of those cards.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13594', 'image' => '20210820014951_20151201120540_smartl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 13:48:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Plan to Increase Nepal’s Export to US$ 7 Billion by 2025 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025. The federation further said it aims to increase the export by Rs 2 billion in the next three years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a virtual meeting with the representative of diplomatic missions of 40 countries on promotion of exports on Thursday, the Federation stressed on increasing domestic products and export to make the country prosperous. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The diplomatic missions agreed to provide details on the need of goods to their countries and furnish recommendation to the federation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Chairperson of the federation and Provincial Assembly member of Gandaki Province Ram Bahadur Gurung informed that they initiated dialogue with diplomatic mission in a bid to reduce Nepal's trade deficit.</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 federation has aimed at boosting agricultural and industrial productions and their export. Export of energy is another priority," he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepal is exporting more than 950 goods to more than 120 countries. Development of industrial sector must be government's priority, he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Carpet, readymade garments, pashmina, felt, handicraft products are some of the top export items. India is the largest market of Nepali products followed by the USA. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13592', 'image' => '20210820114002_20190122112126_Promote Export.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:38:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Provide Rs 7.12 Billion Concessional Loan for Higher Education ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. The financial assistance is meant to improve the quality of higher education, scale up online learning, and expand access to academic institutions for underprivileged and vulnerable students. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and World Bank’s Country Director for Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreement in this regard amid a function organized at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday (August 19).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the signing ceremony<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">, Secretary Marasini said that investing in human capital was a key priority of the government to help young people realize their development potential. “This project supports the government’s focus on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by strengthening the higher education sector," a statement issued by World Bank quoted Finance Secretary Marasini as saying. He further said that the project ensures students all across Nepal including those from disadvantaged groups have access to quality education amid the pandemic’s challenges.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the World Bank, the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme builds on Nepal’s successful higher education projects supported through results-based financing. It will help the government align its higher education sector with labor market needs, boost collaborative research and entrepreneurship, improve governance, and access to quality higher education, especially for disadvantaged students, the World Bank said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, World Bank’s Country Director Faris Hadad-Zervos said that an important aspect of Nepal’s recovery efforts from the pandemic is to ensure that quality higher education was accessible, inclusive, and relevant to the demands of the labor market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “This is key to helping Nepal build back better and strengthen its resilience,” he added. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13591', 'image' => '20210820080303_20191015114123_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 08:02:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare Goes up by 23 Percent in Province 1', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased within the state. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of the state has made public the information that the fare of passenger and freight vehicles has been increased by up to 23 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Engineer Om Prakash Shah, the information officer of the ministry, informed that the new fare will be applicable for the use of public vehicles across the state from August 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to him, the fare has been increased by 16.5 percent for freight vehicles operating on hilly routes, 22 percent for passenger vehicles and 23 percent for freight vehicles operating in the Terai region.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He said that the price hike was based on the increase in the wages of workers, fuel, tires, interest, operating expenses and other indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A meeting of the state's fare determination advisory committee held on July 29 had recommended the government to increase the fare. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The federal government had increased the fares of long-distance inter Province vehicles by 28 percent. The fare hike by the federal government has already been implemented since July 13.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13590', 'image' => '20210820114737_PublicTransport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:46:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'TU Signs MoU with Tel Aviv University ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), TU Rector Prof Dr Shiva Lal Bhusal and TAU Vice chancellor Prof Milette Shamir signed the MoU on behalf of their respective universities through a virtual medium. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the signing ceremony, TU Rector Bhusal shared that they expect to work together and exchange the expertise between two universities especially in the areas of disaster Management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to this, Pulchok Engineering Campus, TU and Disaster Management Department of TAU have also signed same kind of MoU. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13589', 'image' => '20210820113204_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:31:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '5 Million People in Nepal Still Fall under Multidimensional Poverty Line', 'sub_title' => 'Report shows Government fails to Reduce Poverty Despite Spending Huge Amount in Collaboration with Development Partners', 'summary' => 'August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A report on multidimensional poverty shows that a large number of Nepali citizens are below the poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 2019, 17.4 percent of Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report which was published on Wednesday (August 18) states that 28 percent of population living in rural areas fall below the multidimensional poverty line while 12.3 percent of population in the urban areas fall under the same category. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Considering the age group, the report states that 28 percent of children and 51 percent of adoloscents fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Karnali Province is the most backward province in terms of poverty with 39.5 percent of population under the multidimensional poverty line. Population-wise, Province 2 has the maximum number of people under the poverty line. According to the report, 1.29 million people in the province live below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report states that there has been no improvement in poverty alleviation despite the government and non-government organisations spending huge amount of money to achieve this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Multidimensional poverty index is calculated on the basis of 10 indices related to health, education and living standard. All three categories have equal weightage while determining multidimensional poverty.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13588', 'image' => '20210819041030_Poverty Index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 16:09:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Fail to Meet Lending Requirement to SMEs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. According to a recent report of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks have provided such loans at a ratio of 10.1 percent instead of the required 11 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks were instructed to provide lending facility at a ratio of 11 percent until the end of the last fiscal year. The lending to SMEs is less by 0.9 percentage points. SMEs received loans of Rs 327 billion in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Through the monetary policy introduced last year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had directed the commercial banks to provide 11 percent loan to SMEs until the end of last fiscal year (FY 2020/21), 12 percent until the end of FY 2021/22, 14 percent and 15 percent until the end of the next two fiscal years, at a rate of Rs 10 million per enterprise. This provision has been continued in the monetary policy of the current fiscal year as well. However, the credit flow did not meet the target in the first year of implementation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has said that no action will be taken against the banks in this regard. Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, said that the banks have been given exemption for this time. He said that the loan should be disbursed adhering to the mentioned provision by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">By the end of the current fiscal year, commercial banks are required to disburse loans at the ratio of 12 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“COVID-19 pandemic affected the credit flow in such areas in the last year so the banks will not be penalized for their inability," Dhakal said, adding, “They are required to provide the lending facility as per the provision in the current fiscal year,".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">On the other hand, banks argue that the credit flow at the ratio of ten percent to the SMEs is as an achievement. Bhuwan Dahal, chairman of the Nepal Bankers Association, said, “It is a significant achievement that SMEs have received loans at a ratio of 10 percent. The target set by the central bank was high so it was impossible to meet it. We hadn't expected the lending would be this good enough."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Dahal, loans being extended to the SMEs should be increased at one percent annually. Setting high targets created challenges in the last year, said Dahal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13587', 'image' => '20210819020154_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 14:01:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'US Announces Additional $10.5 Million Financial Assistance to Tackle Covid-19 Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Issuing a statement on Wednesday (August 18), the US Embassy in Nepal said that these liquid oxygen systems are joined to the central oxygen system of the hospitals, and will provide uninterrupted supply of oxygen, or refill around 40 cylinders of 40L capacity in an hour. Four more liquid oxygen tanks are being installed in hospitals across the country with USAID’s support, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The United States also announced that it is giving an additional $10.5 million in urgent COVID-19 assistance for Nepal through USAID. The additional funding assistance will strengthen surveillance and contact tracing in municipalities, support laboratory systems, and expand antigen testing at border crossings, the embassy said in the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“This funding will also help the Ministry of Health and Population develop protocols and guidelines on COVID-19 management, train and recruit healthcare workers to increase surge capacity, and strengthen critical care. By working with its partners, USAID also helps COVID-19 patients in isolation facilities and in their homes through telemedicine, ensures continuity of crucial health and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, and equips local-level health facilities with other needed services.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the US Embassy, this additional US assistance builds on more than $90 million in COVID-19 support from the United States government to Nepal that has reached over 60 percent of the population since the pandemic started. The assistance includes $75 million from USAID in technical and commodity support such as oxygen cylinders, breathing devices, ventilators, and personal protective equipment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13586', 'image' => '20210819013725_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 13:36:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Provide Fellowship to Tribhuvan University Scholars', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Acting Executive Director of the Human Resource Management Department of NRB Tulasi Prasad Ghimire and Chief of the Economics Department of TU Professor Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari and Chief of the Management Department of TU Professor Dr Ramji Gautam jointly signed the agreement amid a function on Tuesday (August 17).</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 agreement, the central bank will provide fellowship on an annual basis to five students each undertaking post-graduate degrees in economics and management faculties at the university. Likewise, two students each undertaking MPhil and PhD courses will also be entitled to the fellowship, as per the understanding reached between the two institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB said in a statement that it has also agreed to give priority to TU students for internship at the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the agreement between the central bank and TU was a positive start, NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari said that the cooperation between the two institutions would play a vital role in achieving a milestone in the field of fellowship and research. He also pointed out to the need of expanding the horizon of such cooperation in the days ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He further said that the central bank has adopted a policy to sign similar agreements with other universities as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Professor Dr Gautam underscored the need to make this understanding result-oriented.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13585', 'image' => '20210819113648_MoU with TU.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 11:35:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13838', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Development Banks Demand Stockbroker License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license. The Development Bankers Association has written to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) asking for brokerage service through their subsidiary offices, according to a statement issued by the Association on Wednesday (August 18). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Government of Nepal on the recommendation of the SEBON can allow banks and financial institutions to provide brokerage service through their subsidiary companies in line with Clause 62 of the Securities Act, 2063. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the Securities Businessperson (stockbroker and securities dealer) Rules, 2008, formulated by the SEBON to implement the same act, allows a subsidiary company having a 15 percent ownership of ‘A’ class bank or any of the financial institutions established by a special act to work as the securities brokers by taking a permission from the Board. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Development banks are providing banking services by acquiring 'B' class license from Nepal Rastra Bank as per the Companies Act 2006 and Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2017. The average paid-up capital of national-level development banks has exceeded Rs 3.4 billion and they ensure services to around 4.1 million clients through over 1,000 branches. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, development banks have mobilized deposits of Rs 445 billion while loans of Rs 383 billion have been disbursed to over 300,000 clients till the end of last fiscal year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13584', 'image' => '20210819092724_20201123054646_mega.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13839', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Urges Government for Policy-Level Reforms in 34 Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms to revitalize the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign launched by CNI would contribute significantly to the productive economy of the country as mentioned in the whitepaper on national economy and the common minimum programme of the coalition government, the CNI delegation pointed out towards 34 areas that need policy reforms</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 recommendation letter has suggested the government to form a committee comprising the representatives of Finance Ministry, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Law, National Planning Commission and the CNI to carry out the reforms.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI has also recommended the government to set up a challenge fund to support small and middle-scale industries in order to revitalize the economy. With the objective of promoting domestic products, CNI also underscored the need to discourage the import of products that are produced within the country.<br /> Upon receiving the memorandum, Finance Minister Sharma appreciated the 'Make In Nepal' launched by the CNI and said he was ready to work for the reforms that would encourage the private sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“From labour point of view, Nepal is rich at present. We need to mobilize the youths," he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI Chairperson Bishnu Kumar Agrawal said that the monetary policy was overall good but the confusion created by revoking the CCD ratio should be addressed soon. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13583', 'image' => '20210819095120_20200522015739_CNI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:50:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13836', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sack Industries Operating at 80 Percent Capacity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity. </span></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 there is no shortage of raw materials at present, the industries have not been able to produce at their full capacity due to the lack of skilled workers and declining consumption in the market. </span></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 about two dozen industries in Nepal that produce bags, sacks and tents of plastic, jute and cloth. These industries provide sacks to all the cement industries as well as food-packaging industries in Nepal. Sudip Jaiswal, proprietor of Pashupati Seal Pack Industries in Biratnagar, told New Business Age that the industries were forced to operate at 80 percent capacity due to lack of skilled workers. </span></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, most of the workers working in such industries come to Nepal from India. Due to the pandemic, most of the Indian as well as Nepali workers have not been able to work due to which the industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. </span></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, the industries are facing more problems as the consumption of sacks and tents is declining. According to Nikhil Todi, operator of Shivam Plastic Industries, their consumption has declined as the cement and food grains industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. Moreover, he said that the consumption of bags has decreased not only in Nepal but in the Indian market as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali sack industries produce about 60,000 metric tons of sacks annually. Of them, 40 percent of the sacks are consumed in the domestic market and the remaining 60 percent are exported to other countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan. The export market of these industries has become chaotic as the production and consumption has declined. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><em><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Price of Bag Doubled </span></em></strong></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 market price of sacks and bags has doubled this year compared to last year due to the rise in price of raw materials as well as increase in wages of the workers in the wake of Covid-19 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"">According to the industrialists, the production cost of such items has increased by 25 percent this year. The price of a cement bag that used to cost Rs 13 including VAT has now increased to Rs 26.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-18', 'modified' => '2021-08-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13582', 'image' => '20210818023337_jute-sacks-500x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-18 14:32:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Pandemic Accelerates Growth of Electronic Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or cash.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or cash. With the gradual development in the field of information and technology, banks and financial institutions have been promoting electronic transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Electronic transaction, which used to be an alternative system before the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, has now become an essential service to the general public. Nepal Rastra Bank has systematically promoted electronic payments and transactions while systems like Mobile Wallet, Connect IPS, Real Gross Time Settlement (RGTS) have been brought into operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It has also added ease and reliability to the business for the general public. With the increase in e-transactions, the responsibility of the regulatory body regarding security has been added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As per the data of the Fiscal Year 2077/78 made public by Nepal Rastra Bank, both the number and volume of electronic transactions have increased. According to the central bank, there has been a significant increase in transactions through RGTS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the central bank, electronic transactions worth Rs 1.63 trillion took place in May 2020 while there has been electronic transaction of Rs 2.11 trillion in May 2021. It has a large share of RTGS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions based on Quick Response (QR) code has also increased. While there was 195, 016 QR transactions in June 2020, there were 502,666 such transactions in May 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In May 2020, transaction through mobile banking was done 5.81 million times which increased to more than 11 million in mid-June 2021. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The general public has also given priority to electronic transactions as they were not able to do transaction physically by visiting banks and financial institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The attraction of people toward electronic transaction has increased as it has become easier and cost effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the NRB, the transaction through Connect IPS is more than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions of Rs 51.30 billion through Connect in mid-June 2020 has increased to Rs 157 billion by mid-June 2021. While there were 1.46 million transactions in the previous year, it has increased to 2.16 million this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Nileshman Pradhan, chief executive officer of Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the growing awareness among customers about technology and coronavirus. He said that the cashless transactions have increased due to the meaningful efforts of the government, Nepal Rastra Bank and other concerned governmental and non-governmental bodies. The volume of transactions through Connect IPS has increased by 660 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions through IPS have also increased by 85 percent. Pradhan says that cash transactions can be reduced to a minimum point if electronic transactions are made easy and acceptable in all sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank had launched a campaign to promote the use of QR codes in major vegetable markets, departmental stores and other public places in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Manoj Gyawali, Deputy General Manager of Nabil Bank, says that the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the easy policy arrangements by Nepal Rastra Bank and awareness among the citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Giving information that banks and financial institutions have already made arrangements to provide loans through phone or digital system, Gyawali expressed his belief that more than 4.5 million customers will be connected through electronic transactions in a short time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank plans to promote cashless transactions. Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has termed this campaign as a major campaign. The monetary policy of the current fiscal year also includes a plan to make the electronic payment system more systematic and effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank, which is involved in the promotion of cashless transactions, is preparing to set up a national payment switch. The monetary policy aims to celebrate the FY 2079/80 as the year of electronic payment transaction promotion. For that, the goal is to focus on the development of necessary infrastructure and raising awareness in the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Governor Adhikari, Nepal's own payment card will be used for electronic transaction by maintaining interconnection between electronic payment devices. Special refinancing will be provided to the payment service providers and payment system operators and communication service providers investing in the development and promotion of the overall ecosystem of electronic payment system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The amount of electronic payment has also increased from the government's revenue to the purchase of other daily necessities. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13597', 'image' => '20210822041644_it01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 16:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Deposit Accounts Exceeds Total Population of Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Study Shows there are 36.3 Million Deposit Accounts in Nepal', 'summary' => 'August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. However, the financial access of Nepalis is just 67.34 percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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"">A report prepared by NRB shows that there are currently 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal. The study conducted by NRB on the status of financial access in Nepal showed there were 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal as of mid-June 2020. </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 report, the financial access of Nepalis has expanded to 67.34 per cent with people having at least one deposit account. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total deposit accounts, 67.7 per cent are active while the remaining ones are dormant. Similarly, out of the total deposit accounts, saving accounts constitute 90.6 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total 753 local levels, people in 750 local units have financial access through commercial banks. Dhading district’s Rubi Valley, Jajarkot’s Junichande and Bajhang’s Saipal have no commercial bank, according to the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among those having access to banking service in the country, the number of mobile banking users stands at 32 per cent, the report further states. </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 report further states that there are altogether 5,978 banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of various classes (A, B and C) in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13596', 'image' => '20210822123904_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 12:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Requests its Employees to Postpone Protest Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The employees' unions have been protesting against the decision of splitting CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that discussion could be held as the bill related to CAAN is now at the parliamentary committee, the CAAN has urged the agitating staffers to postpone the ongoing protest programme, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN argued that it is not the right time to organise protest programmes and padlock the office as the parliament session has come to an end. CAAN added that the unions would get opportunity to put forth their views regarding the concerns of the employees during the discussion over the bill at the respective committee of the House of Representatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CAAN shared that problems have surfaced in carrying out essential works due to the padlocking of the office of the Director General of CAAN. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Two bills – Nepal Air Service Authority Bill-2076 and 'Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Bill-2076 – were tabled at the Federal Parliament recently in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s recommendation to split CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body . The National Assembly passed both the bills on August 2 and sent them to the House of Representatives for further action. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the employees' unions have been launching protest programmes since August 9 against the decision. Similarly, the employees have also padlocked the secretariat of the Director General from August 12. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13595', 'image' => '20210822113134_20200827042104_1598477546.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 11:30:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Printing of Driving License Halted since Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards. The department, which had been printing cards for the last one and a half years, has not been able to print the cards this year because of the prohibitory order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Due to the shortage of cards, the department has not been able to print licenses regularly since February last year. The regular printing of cards was stopped as the department had only 30,000 card in stocks in February. Meanwhile, the Director General of the Department Namaraj Ghimire says that only 20,000 blank cards are left after printing some essential cards. According to him, the department has printed the license and provided it only to a limited number of service seekers, civil servants, army personnel going abroad for foreign missions and police personnel after February.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department has printed 2 million cards as of December 2020 and sent them to transport offices. Ghimire said that 600,000 cards are yet to be printed from January 2021. The department had printed one million cards and sent them to the transport offices during last year's lockdown alone. However, due to the prohibitory order, that have not been distributed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department had signed an agreement with French company Silp to acquire 1.4 million blank cards in February alone. Ghimire, the Director General of the department, said that the process of getting the card has already started. On Monday, the company sent 250 cards for testing. He informed that 1.4 million cards will be issued within the next month and a half.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> "We will test and place the order within a year," he said, “Although a time period of 3 months have been given to the company, we have requested them to send them earlier since we have a lot of pressure.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The company has assured that all the cards would be delivered by the last week of September. Although the department has said that the cards have been printed till December 2020, the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards even though they applied for the license more than a year ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Rabindra Rajbanshi of Anamnagar, who applied to renew the card last year, complained that he did not get the card even though he reached the transport office last week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Although the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards, Director General Ghimire said adding that there may have been some problem in office management for the distribution of those cards.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13594', 'image' => '20210820014951_20151201120540_smartl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 13:48:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Plan to Increase Nepal’s Export to US$ 7 Billion by 2025 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025. The federation further said it aims to increase the export by Rs 2 billion in the next three years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a virtual meeting with the representative of diplomatic missions of 40 countries on promotion of exports on Thursday, the Federation stressed on increasing domestic products and export to make the country prosperous. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The diplomatic missions agreed to provide details on the need of goods to their countries and furnish recommendation to the federation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Chairperson of the federation and Provincial Assembly member of Gandaki Province Ram Bahadur Gurung informed that they initiated dialogue with diplomatic mission in a bid to reduce Nepal's trade deficit.</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 federation has aimed at boosting agricultural and industrial productions and their export. Export of energy is another priority," he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepal is exporting more than 950 goods to more than 120 countries. Development of industrial sector must be government's priority, he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Carpet, readymade garments, pashmina, felt, handicraft products are some of the top export items. India is the largest market of Nepali products followed by the USA. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13592', 'image' => '20210820114002_20190122112126_Promote Export.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:38:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Provide Rs 7.12 Billion Concessional Loan for Higher Education ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. The financial assistance is meant to improve the quality of higher education, scale up online learning, and expand access to academic institutions for underprivileged and vulnerable students. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and World Bank’s Country Director for Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreement in this regard amid a function organized at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday (August 19).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the signing ceremony<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">, Secretary Marasini said that investing in human capital was a key priority of the government to help young people realize their development potential. “This project supports the government’s focus on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by strengthening the higher education sector," a statement issued by World Bank quoted Finance Secretary Marasini as saying. He further said that the project ensures students all across Nepal including those from disadvantaged groups have access to quality education amid the pandemic’s challenges.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the World Bank, the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme builds on Nepal’s successful higher education projects supported through results-based financing. It will help the government align its higher education sector with labor market needs, boost collaborative research and entrepreneurship, improve governance, and access to quality higher education, especially for disadvantaged students, the World Bank said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, World Bank’s Country Director Faris Hadad-Zervos said that an important aspect of Nepal’s recovery efforts from the pandemic is to ensure that quality higher education was accessible, inclusive, and relevant to the demands of the labor market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “This is key to helping Nepal build back better and strengthen its resilience,” he added. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13591', 'image' => '20210820080303_20191015114123_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 08:02:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare Goes up by 23 Percent in Province 1', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased within the state. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of the state has made public the information that the fare of passenger and freight vehicles has been increased by up to 23 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Engineer Om Prakash Shah, the information officer of the ministry, informed that the new fare will be applicable for the use of public vehicles across the state from August 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to him, the fare has been increased by 16.5 percent for freight vehicles operating on hilly routes, 22 percent for passenger vehicles and 23 percent for freight vehicles operating in the Terai region.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He said that the price hike was based on the increase in the wages of workers, fuel, tires, interest, operating expenses and other indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A meeting of the state's fare determination advisory committee held on July 29 had recommended the government to increase the fare. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The federal government had increased the fares of long-distance inter Province vehicles by 28 percent. The fare hike by the federal government has already been implemented since July 13.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13590', 'image' => '20210820114737_PublicTransport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:46:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'TU Signs MoU with Tel Aviv University ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), TU Rector Prof Dr Shiva Lal Bhusal and TAU Vice chancellor Prof Milette Shamir signed the MoU on behalf of their respective universities through a virtual medium. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the signing ceremony, TU Rector Bhusal shared that they expect to work together and exchange the expertise between two universities especially in the areas of disaster Management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to this, Pulchok Engineering Campus, TU and Disaster Management Department of TAU have also signed same kind of MoU. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13589', 'image' => '20210820113204_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:31:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '5 Million People in Nepal Still Fall under Multidimensional Poverty Line', 'sub_title' => 'Report shows Government fails to Reduce Poverty Despite Spending Huge Amount in Collaboration with Development Partners', 'summary' => 'August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A report on multidimensional poverty shows that a large number of Nepali citizens are below the poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 2019, 17.4 percent of Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report which was published on Wednesday (August 18) states that 28 percent of population living in rural areas fall below the multidimensional poverty line while 12.3 percent of population in the urban areas fall under the same category. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Considering the age group, the report states that 28 percent of children and 51 percent of adoloscents fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Karnali Province is the most backward province in terms of poverty with 39.5 percent of population under the multidimensional poverty line. Population-wise, Province 2 has the maximum number of people under the poverty line. According to the report, 1.29 million people in the province live below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report states that there has been no improvement in poverty alleviation despite the government and non-government organisations spending huge amount of money to achieve this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Multidimensional poverty index is calculated on the basis of 10 indices related to health, education and living standard. All three categories have equal weightage while determining multidimensional poverty.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13588', 'image' => '20210819041030_Poverty Index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 16:09:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Fail to Meet Lending Requirement to SMEs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. According to a recent report of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks have provided such loans at a ratio of 10.1 percent instead of the required 11 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks were instructed to provide lending facility at a ratio of 11 percent until the end of the last fiscal year. The lending to SMEs is less by 0.9 percentage points. SMEs received loans of Rs 327 billion in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Through the monetary policy introduced last year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had directed the commercial banks to provide 11 percent loan to SMEs until the end of last fiscal year (FY 2020/21), 12 percent until the end of FY 2021/22, 14 percent and 15 percent until the end of the next two fiscal years, at a rate of Rs 10 million per enterprise. This provision has been continued in the monetary policy of the current fiscal year as well. However, the credit flow did not meet the target in the first year of implementation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has said that no action will be taken against the banks in this regard. Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, said that the banks have been given exemption for this time. He said that the loan should be disbursed adhering to the mentioned provision by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">By the end of the current fiscal year, commercial banks are required to disburse loans at the ratio of 12 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“COVID-19 pandemic affected the credit flow in such areas in the last year so the banks will not be penalized for their inability," Dhakal said, adding, “They are required to provide the lending facility as per the provision in the current fiscal year,".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">On the other hand, banks argue that the credit flow at the ratio of ten percent to the SMEs is as an achievement. Bhuwan Dahal, chairman of the Nepal Bankers Association, said, “It is a significant achievement that SMEs have received loans at a ratio of 10 percent. The target set by the central bank was high so it was impossible to meet it. We hadn't expected the lending would be this good enough."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Dahal, loans being extended to the SMEs should be increased at one percent annually. Setting high targets created challenges in the last year, said Dahal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13587', 'image' => '20210819020154_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 14:01:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'US Announces Additional $10.5 Million Financial Assistance to Tackle Covid-19 Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Issuing a statement on Wednesday (August 18), the US Embassy in Nepal said that these liquid oxygen systems are joined to the central oxygen system of the hospitals, and will provide uninterrupted supply of oxygen, or refill around 40 cylinders of 40L capacity in an hour. Four more liquid oxygen tanks are being installed in hospitals across the country with USAID’s support, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The United States also announced that it is giving an additional $10.5 million in urgent COVID-19 assistance for Nepal through USAID. The additional funding assistance will strengthen surveillance and contact tracing in municipalities, support laboratory systems, and expand antigen testing at border crossings, the embassy said in the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“This funding will also help the Ministry of Health and Population develop protocols and guidelines on COVID-19 management, train and recruit healthcare workers to increase surge capacity, and strengthen critical care. By working with its partners, USAID also helps COVID-19 patients in isolation facilities and in their homes through telemedicine, ensures continuity of crucial health and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, and equips local-level health facilities with other needed services.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the US Embassy, this additional US assistance builds on more than $90 million in COVID-19 support from the United States government to Nepal that has reached over 60 percent of the population since the pandemic started. The assistance includes $75 million from USAID in technical and commodity support such as oxygen cylinders, breathing devices, ventilators, and personal protective equipment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13586', 'image' => '20210819013725_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 13:36:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Provide Fellowship to Tribhuvan University Scholars', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Acting Executive Director of the Human Resource Management Department of NRB Tulasi Prasad Ghimire and Chief of the Economics Department of TU Professor Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari and Chief of the Management Department of TU Professor Dr Ramji Gautam jointly signed the agreement amid a function on Tuesday (August 17).</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 agreement, the central bank will provide fellowship on an annual basis to five students each undertaking post-graduate degrees in economics and management faculties at the university. Likewise, two students each undertaking MPhil and PhD courses will also be entitled to the fellowship, as per the understanding reached between the two institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB said in a statement that it has also agreed to give priority to TU students for internship at the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the agreement between the central bank and TU was a positive start, NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari said that the cooperation between the two institutions would play a vital role in achieving a milestone in the field of fellowship and research. He also pointed out to the need of expanding the horizon of such cooperation in the days ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He further said that the central bank has adopted a policy to sign similar agreements with other universities as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Professor Dr Gautam underscored the need to make this understanding result-oriented.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13585', 'image' => '20210819113648_MoU with TU.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 11:35:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13838', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Development Banks Demand Stockbroker License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license. The Development Bankers Association has written to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) asking for brokerage service through their subsidiary offices, according to a statement issued by the Association on Wednesday (August 18). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Government of Nepal on the recommendation of the SEBON can allow banks and financial institutions to provide brokerage service through their subsidiary companies in line with Clause 62 of the Securities Act, 2063. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the Securities Businessperson (stockbroker and securities dealer) Rules, 2008, formulated by the SEBON to implement the same act, allows a subsidiary company having a 15 percent ownership of ‘A’ class bank or any of the financial institutions established by a special act to work as the securities brokers by taking a permission from the Board. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Development banks are providing banking services by acquiring 'B' class license from Nepal Rastra Bank as per the Companies Act 2006 and Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2017. The average paid-up capital of national-level development banks has exceeded Rs 3.4 billion and they ensure services to around 4.1 million clients through over 1,000 branches. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, development banks have mobilized deposits of Rs 445 billion while loans of Rs 383 billion have been disbursed to over 300,000 clients till the end of last fiscal year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13584', 'image' => '20210819092724_20201123054646_mega.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13839', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Urges Government for Policy-Level Reforms in 34 Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms to revitalize the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign launched by CNI would contribute significantly to the productive economy of the country as mentioned in the whitepaper on national economy and the common minimum programme of the coalition government, the CNI delegation pointed out towards 34 areas that need policy reforms</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 recommendation letter has suggested the government to form a committee comprising the representatives of Finance Ministry, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Law, National Planning Commission and the CNI to carry out the reforms.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI has also recommended the government to set up a challenge fund to support small and middle-scale industries in order to revitalize the economy. With the objective of promoting domestic products, CNI also underscored the need to discourage the import of products that are produced within the country.<br /> Upon receiving the memorandum, Finance Minister Sharma appreciated the 'Make In Nepal' launched by the CNI and said he was ready to work for the reforms that would encourage the private sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“From labour point of view, Nepal is rich at present. We need to mobilize the youths," he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI Chairperson Bishnu Kumar Agrawal said that the monetary policy was overall good but the confusion created by revoking the CCD ratio should be addressed soon. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13583', 'image' => '20210819095120_20200522015739_CNI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:50:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13836', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sack Industries Operating at 80 Percent Capacity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity. </span></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 there is no shortage of raw materials at present, the industries have not been able to produce at their full capacity due to the lack of skilled workers and declining consumption in the market. </span></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 about two dozen industries in Nepal that produce bags, sacks and tents of plastic, jute and cloth. These industries provide sacks to all the cement industries as well as food-packaging industries in Nepal. Sudip Jaiswal, proprietor of Pashupati Seal Pack Industries in Biratnagar, told New Business Age that the industries were forced to operate at 80 percent capacity due to lack of skilled workers. </span></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, most of the workers working in such industries come to Nepal from India. Due to the pandemic, most of the Indian as well as Nepali workers have not been able to work due to which the industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. </span></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, the industries are facing more problems as the consumption of sacks and tents is declining. According to Nikhil Todi, operator of Shivam Plastic Industries, their consumption has declined as the cement and food grains industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. Moreover, he said that the consumption of bags has decreased not only in Nepal but in the Indian market as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali sack industries produce about 60,000 metric tons of sacks annually. Of them, 40 percent of the sacks are consumed in the domestic market and the remaining 60 percent are exported to other countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan. The export market of these industries has become chaotic as the production and consumption has declined. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><em><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Price of Bag Doubled </span></em></strong></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 market price of sacks and bags has doubled this year compared to last year due to the rise in price of raw materials as well as increase in wages of the workers in the wake of Covid-19 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"">According to the industrialists, the production cost of such items has increased by 25 percent this year. The price of a cement bag that used to cost Rs 13 including VAT has now increased to Rs 26.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-18', 'modified' => '2021-08-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13582', 'image' => '20210818023337_jute-sacks-500x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-18 14:32:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13853', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Pandemic Accelerates Growth of Electronic Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or cash.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 22: Until a few years ago, normal transactions used to be done either with cheques or cash. With the gradual development in the field of information and technology, banks and financial institutions have been promoting electronic transactions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Electronic transaction, which used to be an alternative system before the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, has now become an essential service to the general public. Nepal Rastra Bank has systematically promoted electronic payments and transactions while systems like Mobile Wallet, Connect IPS, Real Gross Time Settlement (RGTS) have been brought into operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It has also added ease and reliability to the business for the general public. With the increase in e-transactions, the responsibility of the regulatory body regarding security has been added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As per the data of the Fiscal Year 2077/78 made public by Nepal Rastra Bank, both the number and volume of electronic transactions have increased. According to the central bank, there has been a significant increase in transactions through RGTS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the central bank, electronic transactions worth Rs 1.63 trillion took place in May 2020 while there has been electronic transaction of Rs 2.11 trillion in May 2021. It has a large share of RTGS, Connect IPS and mobile banking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions based on Quick Response (QR) code has also increased. While there was 195, 016 QR transactions in June 2020, there were 502,666 such transactions in May 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In May 2020, transaction through mobile banking was done 5.81 million times which increased to more than 11 million in mid-June 2021. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The general public has also given priority to electronic transactions as they were not able to do transaction physically by visiting banks and financial institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The attraction of people toward electronic transaction has increased as it has become easier and cost effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the NRB, the transaction through Connect IPS is more than Rs 100 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions of Rs 51.30 billion through Connect in mid-June 2020 has increased to Rs 157 billion by mid-June 2021. While there were 1.46 million transactions in the previous year, it has increased to 2.16 million this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Nileshman Pradhan, chief executive officer of Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the growing awareness among customers about technology and coronavirus. He said that the cashless transactions have increased due to the meaningful efforts of the government, Nepal Rastra Bank and other concerned governmental and non-governmental bodies. The volume of transactions through Connect IPS has increased by 660 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Transactions through IPS have also increased by 85 percent. Pradhan says that cash transactions can be reduced to a minimum point if electronic transactions are made easy and acceptable in all sectors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank had launched a campaign to promote the use of QR codes in major vegetable markets, departmental stores and other public places in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Manoj Gyawali, Deputy General Manager of Nabil Bank, says that the increase in electronic transactions is also due to the easy policy arrangements by Nepal Rastra Bank and awareness among the citizens.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Giving information that banks and financial institutions have already made arrangements to provide loans through phone or digital system, Gyawali expressed his belief that more than 4.5 million customers will be connected through electronic transactions in a short time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank plans to promote cashless transactions. Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has termed this campaign as a major campaign. The monetary policy of the current fiscal year also includes a plan to make the electronic payment system more systematic and effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The central bank, which is involved in the promotion of cashless transactions, is preparing to set up a national payment switch. The monetary policy aims to celebrate the FY 2079/80 as the year of electronic payment transaction promotion. For that, the goal is to focus on the development of necessary infrastructure and raising awareness in the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Governor Adhikari, Nepal's own payment card will be used for electronic transaction by maintaining interconnection between electronic payment devices. Special refinancing will be provided to the payment service providers and payment system operators and communication service providers investing in the development and promotion of the overall ecosystem of electronic payment system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The amount of electronic payment has also increased from the government's revenue to the purchase of other daily necessities. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13597', 'image' => '20210822041644_it01.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 16:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13851', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Deposit Accounts Exceeds Total Population of Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Study Shows there are 36.3 Million Deposit Accounts in Nepal', 'summary' => 'August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The number of deposit accounts in Nepal is more than the total population of Nepal. However, the financial access of Nepalis is just 67.34 percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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"">A report prepared by NRB shows that there are currently 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal. The study conducted by NRB on the status of financial access in Nepal showed there were 36.3 million deposit accounts in Nepal as of mid-June 2020. </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 report, the financial access of Nepalis has expanded to 67.34 per cent with people having at least one deposit account. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total deposit accounts, 67.7 per cent are active while the remaining ones are dormant. Similarly, out of the total deposit accounts, saving accounts constitute 90.6 per cent. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the total 753 local levels, people in 750 local units have financial access through commercial banks. Dhading district’s Rubi Valley, Jajarkot’s Junichande and Bajhang’s Saipal have no commercial bank, according to the report. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among those having access to banking service in the country, the number of mobile banking users stands at 32 per cent, the report further states. </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 report further states that there are altogether 5,978 banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of various classes (A, B and C) in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13596', 'image' => '20210822123904_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 12:38:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13850', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CAAN Requests its Employees to Postpone Protest Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 22: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested different unions of employees to postpone their agitation programme. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The employees' unions have been protesting against the decision of splitting CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that discussion could be held as the bill related to CAAN is now at the parliamentary committee, the CAAN has urged the agitating staffers to postpone the ongoing protest programme, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN argued that it is not the right time to organise protest programmes and padlock the office as the parliament session has come to an end. CAAN added that the unions would get opportunity to put forth their views regarding the concerns of the employees during the discussion over the bill at the respective committee of the House of Representatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CAAN shared that problems have surfaced in carrying out essential works due to the padlocking of the office of the Director General of CAAN. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Two bills – Nepal Air Service Authority Bill-2076 and 'Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Bill-2076 – were tabled at the Federal Parliament recently in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s recommendation to split CAAN into an air service provider and a regulatory body . The National Assembly passed both the bills on August 2 and sent them to the House of Representatives for further action. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the employees' unions have been launching protest programmes since August 9 against the decision. Similarly, the employees have also padlocked the secretariat of the Director General from August 12. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-22', 'modified' => '2021-08-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13595', 'image' => '20210822113134_20200827042104_1598477546.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-22 11:30:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13849', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Printing of Driving License Halted since Eight Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The Department of Transport Management has stopped printing driving license after running out of stock of blank cards. The department, which had been printing cards for the last one and a half years, has not been able to print the cards this year because of the prohibitory order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Due to the shortage of cards, the department has not been able to print licenses regularly since February last year. The regular printing of cards was stopped as the department had only 30,000 card in stocks in February. Meanwhile, the Director General of the Department Namaraj Ghimire says that only 20,000 blank cards are left after printing some essential cards. According to him, the department has printed the license and provided it only to a limited number of service seekers, civil servants, army personnel going abroad for foreign missions and police personnel after February.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department has printed 2 million cards as of December 2020 and sent them to transport offices. Ghimire said that 600,000 cards are yet to be printed from January 2021. The department had printed one million cards and sent them to the transport offices during last year's lockdown alone. However, due to the prohibitory order, that have not been distributed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The department had signed an agreement with French company Silp to acquire 1.4 million blank cards in February alone. Ghimire, the Director General of the department, said that the process of getting the card has already started. On Monday, the company sent 250 cards for testing. He informed that 1.4 million cards will be issued within the next month and a half.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> "We will test and place the order within a year," he said, “Although a time period of 3 months have been given to the company, we have requested them to send them earlier since we have a lot of pressure.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The company has assured that all the cards would be delivered by the last week of September. Although the department has said that the cards have been printed till December 2020, the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards even though they applied for the license more than a year ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Rabindra Rajbanshi of Anamnagar, who applied to renew the card last year, complained that he did not get the card even though he reached the transport office last week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Although the service seekers have been complaining that they have not received the cards, Director General Ghimire said adding that there may have been some problem in office management for the distribution of those cards.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13594', 'image' => '20210820014951_20151201120540_smartl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 13:48:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13846', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Plan to Increase Nepal’s Export to US$ 7 Billion by 2025 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The Federation of Export Entrepreneurs of Nepal has targeted to expand the export size up to US$ 7 billion by 2025. The federation further said it aims to increase the export by Rs 2 billion in the next three years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a virtual meeting with the representative of diplomatic missions of 40 countries on promotion of exports on Thursday, the Federation stressed on increasing domestic products and export to make the country prosperous. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The diplomatic missions agreed to provide details on the need of goods to their countries and furnish recommendation to the federation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Chairperson of the federation and Provincial Assembly member of Gandaki Province Ram Bahadur Gurung informed that they initiated dialogue with diplomatic mission in a bid to reduce Nepal's trade deficit.</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 federation has aimed at boosting agricultural and industrial productions and their export. Export of energy is another priority," he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, Nepal is exporting more than 950 goods to more than 120 countries. Development of industrial sector must be government's priority, he stressed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Carpet, readymade garments, pashmina, felt, handicraft products are some of the top export items. India is the largest market of Nepali products followed by the USA. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13592', 'image' => '20210820114002_20190122112126_Promote Export.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:38:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13844', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank to Provide Rs 7.12 Billion Concessional Loan for Higher Education ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of US$ 60 million (equivalent to Rs 7.12 billion) for the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme. The financial assistance is meant to improve the quality of higher education, scale up online learning, and expand access to academic institutions for underprivileged and vulnerable students. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and World Bank’s Country Director for Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreement in this regard amid a function organized at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday (August 19).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the signing ceremony<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">, Secretary Marasini said that investing in human capital was a key priority of the government to help young people realize their development potential. “This project supports the government’s focus on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by strengthening the higher education sector," a statement issued by World Bank quoted Finance Secretary Marasini as saying. He further said that the project ensures students all across Nepal including those from disadvantaged groups have access to quality education amid the pandemic’s challenges.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> According to the World Bank, the Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Programme builds on Nepal’s successful higher education projects supported through results-based financing. It will help the government align its higher education sector with labor market needs, boost collaborative research and entrepreneurship, improve governance, and access to quality higher education, especially for disadvantaged students, the World Bank said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, World Bank’s Country Director Faris Hadad-Zervos said that an important aspect of Nepal’s recovery efforts from the pandemic is to ensure that quality higher education was accessible, inclusive, and relevant to the demands of the labor market.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> “This is key to helping Nepal build back better and strengthen its resilience,” he added. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13591', 'image' => '20210820080303_20191015114123_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 08:02:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13847', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Transportation Fare Goes up by 23 Percent in Province 1', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 20: The fare of public transport vehicles operating in Province-1 has been increased within the state. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of the state has made public the information that the fare of passenger and freight vehicles has been increased by up to 23 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Engineer Om Prakash Shah, the information officer of the ministry, informed that the new fare will be applicable for the use of public vehicles across the state from August 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to him, the fare has been increased by 16.5 percent for freight vehicles operating on hilly routes, 22 percent for passenger vehicles and 23 percent for freight vehicles operating in the Terai region.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He said that the price hike was based on the increase in the wages of workers, fuel, tires, interest, operating expenses and other indicators.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A meeting of the state's fare determination advisory committee held on July 29 had recommended the government to increase the fare. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The federal government had increased the fares of long-distance inter Province vehicles by 28 percent. The fare hike by the federal government has already been implemented since July 13.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13590', 'image' => '20210820114737_PublicTransport.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:46:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13845', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'TU Signs MoU with Tel Aviv University ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 20: Tribhuvan University (TU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tel Aviv University, Israel to promote educational, cultural, scientific and academic collaboration between the two universities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), TU Rector Prof Dr Shiva Lal Bhusal and TAU Vice chancellor Prof Milette Shamir signed the MoU on behalf of their respective universities through a virtual medium. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the signing ceremony, TU Rector Bhusal shared that they expect to work together and exchange the expertise between two universities especially in the areas of disaster Management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to this, Pulchok Engineering Campus, TU and Disaster Management Department of TAU have also signed same kind of MoU. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-20', 'modified' => '2021-08-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13589', 'image' => '20210820113204_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-20 11:31:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13843', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '5 Million People in Nepal Still Fall under Multidimensional Poverty Line', 'sub_title' => 'Report shows Government fails to Reduce Poverty Despite Spending Huge Amount in Collaboration with Development Partners', 'summary' => 'August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A report on multidimensional poverty shows that a large number of Nepali citizens are below the poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 2019, 17.4 percent of Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report which was published on Wednesday (August 18) states that 28 percent of population living in rural areas fall below the multidimensional poverty line while 12.3 percent of population in the urban areas fall under the same category. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Considering the age group, the report states that 28 percent of children and 51 percent of adoloscents fall under the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Karnali Province is the most backward province in terms of poverty with 39.5 percent of population under the multidimensional poverty line. Population-wise, Province 2 has the maximum number of people under the poverty line. According to the report, 1.29 million people in the province live below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report states that there has been no improvement in poverty alleviation despite the government and non-government organisations spending huge amount of money to achieve this target.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Multidimensional poverty index is calculated on the basis of 10 indices related to health, education and living standard. All three categories have equal weightage while determining multidimensional poverty.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13588', 'image' => '20210819041030_Poverty Index.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 16:09:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13842', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Fail to Meet Lending Requirement to SMEs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: Commercial banks failed to meet the lending requirement to small and medium enterprises in the last fiscal year. According to a recent report of Nepal Rastra Bank, banks have provided such loans at a ratio of 10.1 percent instead of the required 11 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks were instructed to provide lending facility at a ratio of 11 percent until the end of the last fiscal year. The lending to SMEs is less by 0.9 percentage points. SMEs received loans of Rs 327 billion in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Through the monetary policy introduced last year, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had directed the commercial banks to provide 11 percent loan to SMEs until the end of last fiscal year (FY 2020/21), 12 percent until the end of FY 2021/22, 14 percent and 15 percent until the end of the next two fiscal years, at a rate of Rs 10 million per enterprise. This provision has been continued in the monetary policy of the current fiscal year as well. However, the credit flow did not meet the target in the first year of implementation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has said that no action will be taken against the banks in this regard. Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, said that the banks have been given exemption for this time. He said that the loan should be disbursed adhering to the mentioned provision by the end of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">By the end of the current fiscal year, commercial banks are required to disburse loans at the ratio of 12 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“COVID-19 pandemic affected the credit flow in such areas in the last year so the banks will not be penalized for their inability," Dhakal said, adding, “They are required to provide the lending facility as per the provision in the current fiscal year,".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">On the other hand, banks argue that the credit flow at the ratio of ten percent to the SMEs is as an achievement. Bhuwan Dahal, chairman of the Nepal Bankers Association, said, “It is a significant achievement that SMEs have received loans at a ratio of 10 percent. The target set by the central bank was high so it was impossible to meet it. We hadn't expected the lending would be this good enough."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Dahal, loans being extended to the SMEs should be increased at one percent annually. Setting high targets created challenges in the last year, said Dahal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13587', 'image' => '20210819020154_2021030802161.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 14:01:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13841', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'US Announces Additional $10.5 Million Financial Assistance to Tackle Covid-19 Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">August 19: United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, along with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nepal Mission Director, Sepideh Keyvanshad, donated two liquid oxygen tanks to Bir Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu amid a recent function. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Issuing a statement on Wednesday (August 18), the US Embassy in Nepal said that these liquid oxygen systems are joined to the central oxygen system of the hospitals, and will provide uninterrupted supply of oxygen, or refill around 40 cylinders of 40L capacity in an hour. Four more liquid oxygen tanks are being installed in hospitals across the country with USAID’s support, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The United States also announced that it is giving an additional $10.5 million in urgent COVID-19 assistance for Nepal through USAID. The additional funding assistance will strengthen surveillance and contact tracing in municipalities, support laboratory systems, and expand antigen testing at border crossings, the embassy said in the statement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“This funding will also help the Ministry of Health and Population develop protocols and guidelines on COVID-19 management, train and recruit healthcare workers to increase surge capacity, and strengthen critical care. By working with its partners, USAID also helps COVID-19 patients in isolation facilities and in their homes through telemedicine, ensures continuity of crucial health and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, and equips local-level health facilities with other needed services.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the US Embassy, this additional US assistance builds on more than $90 million in COVID-19 support from the United States government to Nepal that has reached over 60 percent of the population since the pandemic started. The assistance includes $75 million from USAID in technical and commodity support such as oxygen cylinders, breathing devices, ventilators, and personal protective equipment.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13586', 'image' => '20210819013725_unnamed.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 13:36:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13840', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Provide Fellowship to Tribhuvan University Scholars', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has reached an understanding with Tribhuvan University (TU) to provide fellowship to the university students. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Acting Executive Director of the Human Resource Management Department of NRB Tulasi Prasad Ghimire and Chief of the Economics Department of TU Professor Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari and Chief of the Management Department of TU Professor Dr Ramji Gautam jointly signed the agreement amid a function on Tuesday (August 17).</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 agreement, the central bank will provide fellowship on an annual basis to five students each undertaking post-graduate degrees in economics and management faculties at the university. Likewise, two students each undertaking MPhil and PhD courses will also be entitled to the fellowship, as per the understanding reached between the two institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB said in a statement that it has also agreed to give priority to TU students for internship at the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the agreement between the central bank and TU was a positive start, NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari said that the cooperation between the two institutions would play a vital role in achieving a milestone in the field of fellowship and research. He also pointed out to the need of expanding the horizon of such cooperation in the days ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He further said that the central bank has adopted a policy to sign similar agreements with other universities as well.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Professor Dr Gautam underscored the need to make this understanding result-oriented.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13585', 'image' => '20210819113648_MoU with TU.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 11:35:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13838', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Development Banks Demand Stockbroker License ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 19: Development banks have asked the government to pave the way for them to get stockbroker license. The Development Bankers Association has written to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) asking for brokerage service through their subsidiary offices, according to a statement issued by the Association on Wednesday (August 18). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Government of Nepal on the recommendation of the SEBON can allow banks and financial institutions to provide brokerage service through their subsidiary companies in line with Clause 62 of the Securities Act, 2063. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the Securities Businessperson (stockbroker and securities dealer) Rules, 2008, formulated by the SEBON to implement the same act, allows a subsidiary company having a 15 percent ownership of ‘A’ class bank or any of the financial institutions established by a special act to work as the securities brokers by taking a permission from the Board. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Development banks are providing banking services by acquiring 'B' class license from Nepal Rastra Bank as per the Companies Act 2006 and Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2017. The average paid-up capital of national-level development banks has exceeded Rs 3.4 billion and they ensure services to around 4.1 million clients through over 1,000 branches. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, development banks have mobilized deposits of Rs 445 billion while loans of Rs 383 billion have been disbursed to over 300,000 clients till the end of last fiscal year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13584', 'image' => '20210819092724_20201123054646_mega.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:26:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13839', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Urges Government for Policy-Level Reforms in 34 Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 19: A delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) handed over a memorandum to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma Wednesday (August 18) recommending the government to bring policy-level reforms to revitalize the country's economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign launched by CNI would contribute significantly to the productive economy of the country as mentioned in the whitepaper on national economy and the common minimum programme of the coalition government, the CNI delegation pointed out towards 34 areas that need policy reforms</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 recommendation letter has suggested the government to form a committee comprising the representatives of Finance Ministry, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Law, National Planning Commission and the CNI to carry out the reforms.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI has also recommended the government to set up a challenge fund to support small and middle-scale industries in order to revitalize the economy. With the objective of promoting domestic products, CNI also underscored the need to discourage the import of products that are produced within the country.<br /> Upon receiving the memorandum, Finance Minister Sharma appreciated the 'Make In Nepal' launched by the CNI and said he was ready to work for the reforms that would encourage the private sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“From labour point of view, Nepal is rich at present. We need to mobilize the youths," he added. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI Chairperson Bishnu Kumar Agrawal said that the monetary policy was overall good but the confusion created by revoking the CCD ratio should be addressed soon. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-19', 'modified' => '2021-08-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13583', 'image' => '20210819095120_20200522015739_CNI.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-19 09:50:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13836', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sack Industries Operating at 80 Percent Capacity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">August 18: The sack industries of Nepal, whose production had taken a nosedive due to lack of raw materials amid Covid-19 crisis, have now started operating at 80 percent capacity. </span></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 there is no shortage of raw materials at present, the industries have not been able to produce at their full capacity due to the lack of skilled workers and declining consumption in the market. </span></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 about two dozen industries in Nepal that produce bags, sacks and tents of plastic, jute and cloth. These industries provide sacks to all the cement industries as well as food-packaging industries in Nepal. Sudip Jaiswal, proprietor of Pashupati Seal Pack Industries in Biratnagar, told New Business Age that the industries were forced to operate at 80 percent capacity due to lack of skilled workers. </span></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, most of the workers working in such industries come to Nepal from India. Due to the pandemic, most of the Indian as well as Nepali workers have not been able to work due to which the industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. </span></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, the industries are facing more problems as the consumption of sacks and tents is declining. According to Nikhil Todi, operator of Shivam Plastic Industries, their consumption has declined as the cement and food grains industries have not been able to operate in full capacity. Moreover, he said that the consumption of bags has decreased not only in Nepal but in the Indian market as well. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali sack industries produce about 60,000 metric tons of sacks annually. Of them, 40 percent of the sacks are consumed in the domestic market and the remaining 60 percent are exported to other countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan. The export market of these industries has become chaotic as the production and consumption has declined. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><em><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Price of Bag Doubled </span></em></strong></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 market price of sacks and bags has doubled this year compared to last year due to the rise in price of raw materials as well as increase in wages of the workers in the wake of Covid-19 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"">According to the industrialists, the production cost of such items has increased by 25 percent this year. The price of a cement bag that used to cost Rs 13 including VAT has now increased to Rs 26.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-08-18', 'modified' => '2021-08-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13582', 'image' => '20210818023337_jute-sacks-500x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-08-18 14:32:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
