January 18: The government failed to meet the revenue collection target at Birgunj customs, which is the largest border checkpoint of Nepal based on the volume of import and…
January 18: The government failed to meet the revenue collection target at Birgunj customs, which is the largest border checkpoint of Nepal based on the volume of import and…
January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned…
January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from…
January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity…
January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on…
January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app.…
January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw…
January 15: Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months…
January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in…
January 15: The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.…
January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects.…
January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14).…
January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators.…
anuary 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit.…
January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January…
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The Birgunj Customs Office did not meet the target set in the first six months of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2077/78. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has collected 86 percent of the target revenue between mid-July to mid-December of the current fiscal year. According to customs officer Ramesh Sukmani, a total revenue of Rs 73.55 billion has been collected in the last six months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Birgunj Customs had set a target to collect revenue of Rs 85.51 billion. The revenue collection so far this year is Rs 12 billion less than the corresponding period of last FY 2076/77. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Sukmani, the customs office has not been able to collect revenue as per the target due to the impact of coronavirus on the import, production and supply chain. "Even in such an uncomfortable situation, raising such a large amount of revenue in six months should be considered an achievement," he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has said that the revenue will improve in the coming months as the import and export from Birgunj is gradually returning to normal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs has collected Rs 28 billion from import duty in the first six months of the current year. Likewise, Rs 7.2 million revenue has been collected from export. Value added tax of Rs 25.44 billion has also been collected. Likewise, the customs office has collected Rs 8.66 billion in excise duty, Rs 6.88 billion in infrastructure tax on petroleum products and Rs 3.83 billion on road construction and road improvement charge. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office claims that the decline in imports of goods that contribute to the revenue this year has had an impact on revenue collection. According to the customs office data, the import of both vehicles and petroleum products, which are considered the main source of revenue, has declined. Customs officials say that import of industrial raw materials has also declined. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12699', 'image' => '20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 14:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12952', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Contributors of SSF can Avail Loan Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The SSF has prepared a draft of a new directive for implementing the investment work procedure, which once endorsed by the SSF board will pave way for providing loans to the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The draft, which outlines areas of investment and other issues, will be presented to the upcoming board meeting of SSF. Besides providing loan, SSF can also invest the collected amount if the draft is approved by the board. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Deputy Executive Director of SSF Bivek Panthi, the draft will be implemented as soon as it gets approved by the SSF board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had issued a work procedure for effective implementation of the SSF. As per the investment work procedure, the contributors can avail special loan, housing loan, educational loan and loan under the heading of social work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The contributors can get loan up to 15 percent of their total contribution. There is a provision of providing loan equivalent to 15 years of salary of the contributor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the government’s work procedure, the contributors of SSF can get a maximum of Rs 7.5 million under housing loan. Similarly, they can avail up to Rs 3.5 million for higher studies in foreign countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those who seek loan from the SSF must have contributed to the fund for at least three years. However, the work procedure has not mentioned anything about the collateral and the evaluator. Therefore, the directive is required to clear these issues, says Panthi, who is also the spokesperson of SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, 13,089 employers and more than 185,000 workers have been listed in the SSF so far. It has already collected more than Rs 3.71 billion from the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12698', 'image' => '20210118123813_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:37:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12951', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB tells Stakeholders to Give Priority to Nepali Insurance and Transportation Companies ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank issued such directive to promote the home-based companies. The central bank has said that this new policy will be applicable for import goods imported to Nepal from third countries except India through Letter of Credit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB made the provision for promoting Nepali insurance and transportation companies by amending the Unified Directive 2076.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank had been urging the importers to insure their goods from Nepali insurance companies since a long time. Now, the central bank also wants to promote Nepal’s transportation companies, informed Bam Bahadur Mishra, executive director of NRB’s Foreign Exchange Department. However, the central bank has not made this new provision mandatory.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Nepal’s insurance companies alone cannot handle all the imports. Therefore, we have made a policy-level decision that directs stakeholders to take the services of Nepali insurance companies to the possible extent,” said Mishra.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">If the importers want to opt for foreign insurance companies, they need to present the documents and related bills. According to the central bank, the importers need to present the insurance and transportation bills separately and must be clearly noticeable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12697', 'image' => '20210118121431_20200810055708_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:13:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12949', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Solar Plants get Permission for Survey ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development. Kalikhola Solar Plant, Mithila Solar Plant, Bhawanipur Solar Plant and Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant have received survey licenses from the department. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The largest project to get license is Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant. The promoter company Panas Energy Pvt Ltd is going to build a 100 MW capacity plant in Siraha district. According to the department, the company got permission for the survey on November 5. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Goodluck Glocal Power Energy has received permission to survey 7 MW Kalikhola Solar Plant in Nuwakot. According to the department, Solar Star Pvt Ltd has got permission to build and survey a 5 MW Mithila Solar Plant in Dhanusha and Nepal Petroleum Trade Links Pvt Ltd to build a 5 MW Bhawanipur Solar Plant in Bara. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The promoter companies will have to send the survey report to the department within two years. Navin Raj Singh, director general of the department, said if the survey is not completed in two years, the license will be cancelled. He said that due to the corona virus pandemic, the projects under survey are being extended. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Some projects have not been able to survey due to the lockdown to control spread of coronavirus. Survey licenses of some projects have expired," he said, "We are making arrangements to facilitate such projects." </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12696', 'image' => '20210117063750_1610841055.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 18:37:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12948', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Hoteliers Devise Strategy to bring Asian Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.<br /> Despite a marginal improvement in the hotel business due to domestic tourism, hoteliers have started formulating special packages and marketing strategies to bring tourists from Asian countries to Nepal. The stakeholders made such plans to bring back the hospitality sector, which has slowed down due to the non-arrival of foreign tourists.<br /> According to the Department of Immigration, the number of tourists from India, China, Thailand, and Myanmar is high despite the effects of the Covid-19. In 2020, only a small number of 230,000 tourists visited Nepal. However, the number of tourists visiting Nepal in 2019 was 1.197 million.<br /> Sajan Shakya, general secretary of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), informed that the hotel entrepreneurs are preparing a marketing strategy to bring the hotel business back on track.<br /> According to Shakya, necessary preparations have been made to promote tourism in China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries, as hoteliers don't see the possibility of European and American tourists.<br /> He informed that HAN made preparations to conduct marketing promotions with discount packages to such countries as many Buddhist tourists are coming to Nepal. Currently, the condition of the hotel is deplorable. The room occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu has dropped significantly as tourists have not come even though the hotels are open. Shakya added that the hotel operators are overwhelmed to manage the expenses even after opening the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Hoteliers informed that even though domestic tourists have encouraged business in other tourist destinations, it is not enough. Although the overall hospitality business, which is almost zero, has been observing a positive impact from domestic tourists, they complain that the hotel business in Kathmandu is disappointing.<br /> The occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu, which is almost zero, has improved slightly for some time, rising to an average of 3 percent, HAN reported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12695', 'image' => '20210117044019_20200504104410_20190511105700_Clipboard37 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 16:39:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12947', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Nagarik App for Nepali Citizens', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. Users can also have access to all government documents using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The app is in testing phase at the moment. Users can also register their Permanent Account Number (PAN) using the app. They can also check the details of tax paid to the government as well as other details regarding their Employee Provident Fund, Citizens Investment Trust, Social Security Fund among others.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The citizens of Nepal can register their Citizenship Number, Passport Number, educational certificate and Voter ID in the app and will no longer require to present the hard copy of the documents.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung launched the app amid a function on Friday. Minister Gurung informed that the government will be providing all kinds of services through digital platform using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the minister, preparations are underway to add services related to Land Revenue Office, vehicle tax, driving and license as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He added that the app has been launched to provide services to the citizens in a fast and effective way using digital platform. According to the minister, the app has already registered the details of 21,500,000 citizens whose records are maintained by the home ministry as well as the personal details, fingerprints and photos of 15,500,000 citizens registered with the Election Commission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ministry informed that Nepali citizens can download the app through android phone and open their accounts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12694', 'image' => '20210117015053_1610841146.Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 13:50:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12946', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prices of Essential Food Skyrocketing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials. The prices of rice and edible oil have gone up due to the increase in price of raw materials as well as transportation cost.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialist Suresh Rungata says that the farmers’ protest in India has also affected the price of paddy in Nepal. He added that the price of rice has increased by Rs 4 per kilogram within the last one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Rice produced in most of the factories of Nepal are basically from paddy imported from India. Nepali importers say that the price of paddy imported from India has gone up by Rs 200 per quintal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Earlier, Nepali importers used to import paddy at subsidized rate but now the price has increased, says Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialists say that paddy which used to cost Rs 1800 until some time ago now costs Rs 2000 in Raxaul, India. The subsidized rate of rice in India is Rs 1850.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the price of edible oil has also increased. The prices of soybean and sunflower oil have increased by Rs 50 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to industrialist Rungata, soybean oil that used to cost Rs 1,400 for 10 litres now costs Rs 1,900. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, the price of mustard oil has increased by Rs 20 per litre. The price fixed for the consumers is 20 percent more than the factory price.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Most of the oil processing factories import raw materials and then refine the oil in Nepal. Unporcessed soybean which used to cost US$ 700 per metric ton now costs US$ 1,100.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The prices of raw materials have increased during the pandemic. Shipping companies have also taken advantage by charging extra amount. Therefore, the prices of food have gone up,” said Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12693', 'image' => '20210117114353_1610840573.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 11:43:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12945', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Mahindra Brand Announces Winners of Festive Scheme ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 15: </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The company’s brand ambassador and former cricket captain of Nepal, Paras Khadka, unveiled the names of the winners amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">Yograj Rai from Dhankuta, Niranjana Chaudhary from Nepalgunj and Ram Bahadur Kami from Nepalgunj were declared the winners through lucky draw.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">The scheme was launched on the auspicious occasion of Dashain, Tihar, Chhath and Vishwakarma Pooja for customers who purchased Mahindra tractors, reads a statement issued by the company. </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The offer was valid from September 15 to November 30.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Under this scheme, the company had offered a </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">sure shot prize of l</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">ife insurance along with either 50 percent discount on ‘Rotavator’ or three years’ wallet free servicing. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12692', 'image' => '20210115034754_Lucky draw 1(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 15:46:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12944', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Investors Need to Invest up to 25 Percent within 1 Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government made such arrangement by introducing the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (FITTA) Regulation 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new provision has come into effect from last Monday (January 11) following the endorsement of the act two years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the new arrangement, foreign investors who have been granted permission to invest more than Rs 1 billion in Nepal need to invest at least 5 percent of the total investment within the first year. Similarly, investors who have pledged to invest more than Rs 250 million need to invest at least 10 percent within a year after getting approval from the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, investors who have been approved to invest up to Rs 250 million have to invest at least 25 percent of the total investment within a year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the government has not included the threshold for foreign investment in the Act itself, it has been adding the threshold time and again by amending the law and publishing it in the Nepal Gazette.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the latest amendment, the threshold for foreign investment in Nepal is minimum Rs 50 million, informed Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12691', 'image' => '20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:53:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12943', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home-Based Wokers Need Better Protection: ILO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">January 15:</span></span> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ILO noted that the number of such workers has greatly increased due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br /> Since homeworking occurs in the private sphere it is often "invisible", ILO said in a statement. According to the ILO, almost all home-based workers (90 per cent) work informally in low and middle-income countries for instance. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The statement added that homeworkers earn on average 13 per cent less in the United Kingdom; 22 per cent less in the United States of America; 25 per cent less in South Africa and about 50 per cent in Argentina, India and Mexico. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Homeworkers also face greater safety and health risks and have less access to training than non-home-based workers, which can affect their career prospects.<br /> The report, Working from Home: From Invisibility to Decent Work, also shows that homeworkers do not have the same level of social protection as other workers. They are also less likely to be part of a trade union or to be covered by a collective bargaining agreement. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Renewed Urgency </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO estimates, prior to the Covid-19 crisis, there were approximately 260 million home-based workers worldwide, representing 7.9 per cent of global employment; 56 per cent of them (147 million) were women.<br /> “They include teleworkers who work remotely on a continual basis, and a vast number of workers who are involved in the production of goods that cannot be automated, such as embroidery, handicrafts, electronic assembly. A third category, digital platform workers, provide services, such as processing insurance claims, copy-editing, or data annotation for the training of artificial intelligence systems.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 an estimated one-in-five workers found themselves working from home. Data for the whole of 2020, once it is available, is expected to show a substantial increase on the previous year, the statement added<br /> The growth of homeworking is likely to continue in the coming years, the report says, bringing renewed urgency to the need to address the issues facing homeworkers and their employers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Poorly Regulated with Lack of Compliance</span></span></strong> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO, homeworking is often poorly regulated and compliance with existing laws remains a challenge. In many instances, homeworkers are classified as independent contractors and therefore excluded from the scope of labour legislation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">"Only 10 ILO Member States have ratified Convention No 177, that promotes equality of treatment between homeworkers and other wage earners, and few have a comprehensive policy on homework," added the statement </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12690', 'image' => '20210115021542_60586.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Works Fail to Gather Momentum', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current government, which was formed three years ago, has been engaged more in internal dispute rather than achieving its target of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali”. The impact of internal rift within the ruling Nepal Communist Party has been clearly reflected by the lacklustre progress of development works.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ruling party is divided into two factions and the House of Representatives has been dissolved in the six months since the announcement of budget for the current fiscal year. As a result, the government has been able to spend only Rs 50.81 billion capital expenditure during the review period out of Rs 352 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the Financial Comptroller General Office, the government has been able to spend only 15 percent of the total capital expenditure allocated for the current fiscal year. The government had estimated to spend more than 18 percent of the development budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Capital expenditure during the corresponding period of last fiscal year was 16 percent. This year’s capital expenditure is even worse than that of last year. Data kept by the Financial Comptroller General Office show that the current expenditure of the government has unexpectedly increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current expenditure of the government during the review period is Rs 342 billion out of the total allocated amount of Rs 948 billion. This is 37 percent of the total budget allocated for current expenditure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stakeholders say that the poor capital expenditure is a result of the government’s failure to resolve the policy-level hurdles faced by the construction sector and its inability to prepare a work plan for expediting the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Jagdish Chandra Pokharel, the current government had a golden opportunity to expedite development works but it failed to do so due to the internal conflict within the ruling party.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He further said that the government is bent toward adding more financial burden to the state coffers under various pretexts while it has not done anything substantial in the last six months to speed up development works. Pokharel opined that the government’s attention has been drawn to something else other than people’s aspirations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Economist Keshav Acharya also blames the government leadership and different bodies for the slow pace of development in six months of current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Acharya, the government has not paid attention towards finding the reasons for its failure to spend development budget and to take timely action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12689', 'image' => '20210115122802_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 12:27:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Start Charging Fare for Inter-Bank ATM Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). The banks had been providing free service for inter-bank ATM transaction to facilitate the customers during lockdown and post-lockdown period following the directive of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank had recently fixed a new rate for inter-bank ATM transaction starting from January 14. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a circular on January 7, the Payments Department of NRB said that ATM users can withdraw money from any bank for free two times a month. After that, the ATM users will have to incur Rs 20 per transaction for inter-bank ATM service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank made such arrangement after amending its Integrated Directive on Payments System 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Prior to this, the central bank in its monetary policy had made arrangement for free inter-bank ATM service as long as the effects of Covid-19 were prevalent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, banks had announced to charge fare for inter-bank ATM service from the start of the current fiscal year arguing that transportation and other sectors had already opened by that time. But the central bank again issued a directive to the banks to provide free service for inter-bank ATM transaction. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bankers were complaining that they have to bear massive loss if they are to provide the free service for an indefinite period of time. Considering the request of the banks, the central bank issued the new directive which allows free service for two times a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12688', 'image' => '20210115115200_1610606958.atm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 11:51:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Health and Hygiene Manual for Tourism Service Operators', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. TRTF launched the HHS Protocol virtually in an event on Wednesday, January 13. <br /> Dr Stephen Rosek, head of the development assistance department of the German embassy in Nepal, along with Deepak Raj Joshi, coordinator of TRTF Nepal and former CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board inaugurated the HHS protocol virtually.<br /> The project aims to develop a manual for health and hygiene safety standards for tourism and hospitality service operators based on government-approved standards for epidemic and post-pandemic tourism-related services and businesses.<br /> Dr Rosek informed that the Covid-19 was not only a global health crisis but also an economic crisis affecting the tourism sector mostly.<br /> The German ambassador shed light on various programmes under the assistance of GIZ and also expressed his commitment to help the tourism sector.<br /> According to TRTF Nepal Coordinator Joshi, 85 percent of small and medium entrepreneurs in Nepal have pointed out the need for training, education, and awareness programs in a survey conducted among Nepal's tourism entrepreneurs and stakeholders following the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">He said that the first phase training on health and hygiene safety standards is being conducted in collaboration with GATE Foundation and GIZ.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12687', 'image' => '20210114042115_20200506031951_120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:20:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Current Account in Deficit after Five Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'anuary 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. It is believed that the rise in import recently has increased the outflow of Nepalese currency resulting in the current account deficit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal released by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on January 13 states that the </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">current account remained at a deficit of Rs 21.32 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs 65.13 billion in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the US Dollar terms, the current account recorded a deficit of 182.4 million in the review period compared to a deficit of 572.0 million in the same period of the previous year, NRB stated. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review period, capital transfer decreased 16.0 percent to Rs 4.75 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased 31.5 percent to Rs 4.50 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs 5.65 billion and Rs 6.57 billion respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments (BOP) registered a surplus of Rs106.48 billion in the review period as compared to a surplus of Rs 23.30 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP recorded a surplus of 896.5 million in the review period compared to a surplus of 205.9 million in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Remittance</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the central bank, remittance inflow increased 10.9 percent to Rs 416.81 billion in the review period against a decrease of 0.2 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 77.9 percent in the review period. It had increased 11.8 percent in the same period of the previous year. The number of Nepali workers (renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 69.4 percent in the review period. It had increased 7.6 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Merchandise Trade </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise exports increased 5.1 percent to Rs 50.06 billion compared to an increase of 27.0 percent in the same period of the previous year. Destination-wise, exports to India and other countries increased 8.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively whereas exports to China decreased 55.2 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Exports of cardamom, jute goods, polyester yarn and threads, noodles, pashmina, among others, increased whereas exports of palm oil, pulses, zinc sheet, woolen carpet, textiles, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise imports decreased 9.6 percent to Rs 525.50 billion compared to a decrease of 4.2 percent a year ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Destination-wise, imports from India, China and other countries decreased 1.1 percent, 24.4 percent, and 20.8 percent respectively.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Imports of crude soybean oil, rice, MS billet, telecommunication equipment and parts, coal, among others, increased whereas imports of petroleum products, aircraft spareparts, crude palm oil, other machinery and parts, transport equipment and parts, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Based on customs points, exports from Birgunj Dry Port, Biratnagar, Kailali, Tatopani, Kanchanpur and Rasuwa Customs offices decreased whereas exports from all the other customs points increased in the review period. On the import side, imports from all the other customs points decreased except Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Krishnanagar, Kailali and Kanchanpur customs offices in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Trade Deficit </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Total trade deficit narrowed down 10.9 percent to Rs 475.44 billion in five months of 2020/21. Such deficit had contracted 6.3 percent in the same period of the previous year. The export- import ratio increased to 9.5 percent in the review period from 8.2 percent in the same period of the previous year</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Consumer Price Inflation</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The y-o-y consumer price inflation stood at 2.93 percent in the fifth month of 2020/21 compared to 6.55 percent a year ago. Food and beverage inflation stood at 5.23 percent whereas non-food and service inflation stood at 1.16 percent in the review month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The price of fruit, ghee and oil, vegetables, and pulses and legumes sub-groups rose 14.75 percent, 13.01 percent, 11.44 percent and 10.74 percent respectively on y-o-y basis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review month, the Kathmandu Valley, Terai, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Hill and Mountain witnessed 3.71 percent, 2.35 percent, 3.95 percent and 4.22 percent inflation respectively. These regions had witnessed 7.60 percent, 6.66 percent, 5.27 percent and 4.83 percent inflation respectively a year ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12686', 'image' => '20210114114323_20200927035331_1601159663.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 11:41:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NICCI Holds Round Table Meet on Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Speaking at the inauguration of the meeting, Chairperson of NICCI Shreejana Rana said that it is not possible to do all things single handedly in the present context and therefore coordination between all kinds of service providers and institutions is necessary for success. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Vice chairman of the chamber Sunil KC shed light on the motive for organising the roundtable meeting and pointed out to the global trend of outsourcing and effective mobilization of human resources in a cost effective way. He added that the meeting was held to discuss the possibility of BPO in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The meeting was attended by CEO of Vertex Global Services India Gagan Arora, Chief Finance Officer Bikash Arora, Vice President-Corporate Relations Ashlin Madok, Vice President-Talent Acquisition Sachin Kalkal, Associate Director Tanmoya Dutta.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12685', 'image' => '20210114044939_1. IMG_7857.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:48:33', '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' => '12953', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Birgunj Customs Fails to Meet Revenue Collection Target ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The government failed to meet the revenue collection target at Birgunj customs, which is the largest border checkpoint of Nepal based on the volume of import and export.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">January 18: The government failed to meet the revenue collection target at Birgunj customs, which is the largest border checkpoint of Nepal based on the volume of import and export. The Birgunj Customs Office did not meet the target set in the first six months of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2077/78. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has collected 86 percent of the target revenue between mid-July to mid-December of the current fiscal year. According to customs officer Ramesh Sukmani, a total revenue of Rs 73.55 billion has been collected in the last six months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Birgunj Customs had set a target to collect revenue of Rs 85.51 billion. The revenue collection so far this year is Rs 12 billion less than the corresponding period of last FY 2076/77. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Sukmani, the customs office has not been able to collect revenue as per the target due to the impact of coronavirus on the import, production and supply chain. "Even in such an uncomfortable situation, raising such a large amount of revenue in six months should be considered an achievement," he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has said that the revenue will improve in the coming months as the import and export from Birgunj is gradually returning to normal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs has collected Rs 28 billion from import duty in the first six months of the current year. Likewise, Rs 7.2 million revenue has been collected from export. Value added tax of Rs 25.44 billion has also been collected. Likewise, the customs office has collected Rs 8.66 billion in excise duty, Rs 6.88 billion in infrastructure tax on petroleum products and Rs 3.83 billion on road construction and road improvement charge. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office claims that the decline in imports of goods that contribute to the revenue this year has had an impact on revenue collection. According to the customs office data, the import of both vehicles and petroleum products, which are considered the main source of revenue, has declined. Customs officials say that import of industrial raw materials has also declined. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12699', 'image' => '20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 14:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12952', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Contributors of SSF can Avail Loan Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The SSF has prepared a draft of a new directive for implementing the investment work procedure, which once endorsed by the SSF board will pave way for providing loans to the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The draft, which outlines areas of investment and other issues, will be presented to the upcoming board meeting of SSF. Besides providing loan, SSF can also invest the collected amount if the draft is approved by the board. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Deputy Executive Director of SSF Bivek Panthi, the draft will be implemented as soon as it gets approved by the SSF board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had issued a work procedure for effective implementation of the SSF. As per the investment work procedure, the contributors can avail special loan, housing loan, educational loan and loan under the heading of social work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The contributors can get loan up to 15 percent of their total contribution. There is a provision of providing loan equivalent to 15 years of salary of the contributor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the government’s work procedure, the contributors of SSF can get a maximum of Rs 7.5 million under housing loan. Similarly, they can avail up to Rs 3.5 million for higher studies in foreign countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those who seek loan from the SSF must have contributed to the fund for at least three years. However, the work procedure has not mentioned anything about the collateral and the evaluator. Therefore, the directive is required to clear these issues, says Panthi, who is also the spokesperson of SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, 13,089 employers and more than 185,000 workers have been listed in the SSF so far. It has already collected more than Rs 3.71 billion from the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12698', 'image' => '20210118123813_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:37:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12951', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB tells Stakeholders to Give Priority to Nepali Insurance and Transportation Companies ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank issued such directive to promote the home-based companies. The central bank has said that this new policy will be applicable for import goods imported to Nepal from third countries except India through Letter of Credit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB made the provision for promoting Nepali insurance and transportation companies by amending the Unified Directive 2076.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank had been urging the importers to insure their goods from Nepali insurance companies since a long time. Now, the central bank also wants to promote Nepal’s transportation companies, informed Bam Bahadur Mishra, executive director of NRB’s Foreign Exchange Department. However, the central bank has not made this new provision mandatory.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Nepal’s insurance companies alone cannot handle all the imports. Therefore, we have made a policy-level decision that directs stakeholders to take the services of Nepali insurance companies to the possible extent,” said Mishra.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">If the importers want to opt for foreign insurance companies, they need to present the documents and related bills. According to the central bank, the importers need to present the insurance and transportation bills separately and must be clearly noticeable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12697', 'image' => '20210118121431_20200810055708_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:13:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12949', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Solar Plants get Permission for Survey ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development. Kalikhola Solar Plant, Mithila Solar Plant, Bhawanipur Solar Plant and Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant have received survey licenses from the department. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The largest project to get license is Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant. The promoter company Panas Energy Pvt Ltd is going to build a 100 MW capacity plant in Siraha district. According to the department, the company got permission for the survey on November 5. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Goodluck Glocal Power Energy has received permission to survey 7 MW Kalikhola Solar Plant in Nuwakot. According to the department, Solar Star Pvt Ltd has got permission to build and survey a 5 MW Mithila Solar Plant in Dhanusha and Nepal Petroleum Trade Links Pvt Ltd to build a 5 MW Bhawanipur Solar Plant in Bara. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The promoter companies will have to send the survey report to the department within two years. Navin Raj Singh, director general of the department, said if the survey is not completed in two years, the license will be cancelled. He said that due to the corona virus pandemic, the projects under survey are being extended. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Some projects have not been able to survey due to the lockdown to control spread of coronavirus. Survey licenses of some projects have expired," he said, "We are making arrangements to facilitate such projects." </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12696', 'image' => '20210117063750_1610841055.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 18:37:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12948', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Hoteliers Devise Strategy to bring Asian Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.<br /> Despite a marginal improvement in the hotel business due to domestic tourism, hoteliers have started formulating special packages and marketing strategies to bring tourists from Asian countries to Nepal. The stakeholders made such plans to bring back the hospitality sector, which has slowed down due to the non-arrival of foreign tourists.<br /> According to the Department of Immigration, the number of tourists from India, China, Thailand, and Myanmar is high despite the effects of the Covid-19. In 2020, only a small number of 230,000 tourists visited Nepal. However, the number of tourists visiting Nepal in 2019 was 1.197 million.<br /> Sajan Shakya, general secretary of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), informed that the hotel entrepreneurs are preparing a marketing strategy to bring the hotel business back on track.<br /> According to Shakya, necessary preparations have been made to promote tourism in China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries, as hoteliers don't see the possibility of European and American tourists.<br /> He informed that HAN made preparations to conduct marketing promotions with discount packages to such countries as many Buddhist tourists are coming to Nepal. Currently, the condition of the hotel is deplorable. The room occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu has dropped significantly as tourists have not come even though the hotels are open. Shakya added that the hotel operators are overwhelmed to manage the expenses even after opening the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Hoteliers informed that even though domestic tourists have encouraged business in other tourist destinations, it is not enough. Although the overall hospitality business, which is almost zero, has been observing a positive impact from domestic tourists, they complain that the hotel business in Kathmandu is disappointing.<br /> The occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu, which is almost zero, has improved slightly for some time, rising to an average of 3 percent, HAN reported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12695', 'image' => '20210117044019_20200504104410_20190511105700_Clipboard37 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 16:39:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12947', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Nagarik App for Nepali Citizens', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. Users can also have access to all government documents using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The app is in testing phase at the moment. Users can also register their Permanent Account Number (PAN) using the app. They can also check the details of tax paid to the government as well as other details regarding their Employee Provident Fund, Citizens Investment Trust, Social Security Fund among others.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The citizens of Nepal can register their Citizenship Number, Passport Number, educational certificate and Voter ID in the app and will no longer require to present the hard copy of the documents.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung launched the app amid a function on Friday. Minister Gurung informed that the government will be providing all kinds of services through digital platform using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the minister, preparations are underway to add services related to Land Revenue Office, vehicle tax, driving and license as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He added that the app has been launched to provide services to the citizens in a fast and effective way using digital platform. According to the minister, the app has already registered the details of 21,500,000 citizens whose records are maintained by the home ministry as well as the personal details, fingerprints and photos of 15,500,000 citizens registered with the Election Commission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ministry informed that Nepali citizens can download the app through android phone and open their accounts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12694', 'image' => '20210117015053_1610841146.Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 13:50:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12946', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prices of Essential Food Skyrocketing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials. The prices of rice and edible oil have gone up due to the increase in price of raw materials as well as transportation cost.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialist Suresh Rungata says that the farmers’ protest in India has also affected the price of paddy in Nepal. He added that the price of rice has increased by Rs 4 per kilogram within the last one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Rice produced in most of the factories of Nepal are basically from paddy imported from India. Nepali importers say that the price of paddy imported from India has gone up by Rs 200 per quintal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Earlier, Nepali importers used to import paddy at subsidized rate but now the price has increased, says Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialists say that paddy which used to cost Rs 1800 until some time ago now costs Rs 2000 in Raxaul, India. The subsidized rate of rice in India is Rs 1850.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the price of edible oil has also increased. The prices of soybean and sunflower oil have increased by Rs 50 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to industrialist Rungata, soybean oil that used to cost Rs 1,400 for 10 litres now costs Rs 1,900. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, the price of mustard oil has increased by Rs 20 per litre. The price fixed for the consumers is 20 percent more than the factory price.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Most of the oil processing factories import raw materials and then refine the oil in Nepal. Unporcessed soybean which used to cost US$ 700 per metric ton now costs US$ 1,100.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The prices of raw materials have increased during the pandemic. Shipping companies have also taken advantage by charging extra amount. Therefore, the prices of food have gone up,” said Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12693', 'image' => '20210117114353_1610840573.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 11:43:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12945', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Mahindra Brand Announces Winners of Festive Scheme ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 15: </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The company’s brand ambassador and former cricket captain of Nepal, Paras Khadka, unveiled the names of the winners amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">Yograj Rai from Dhankuta, Niranjana Chaudhary from Nepalgunj and Ram Bahadur Kami from Nepalgunj were declared the winners through lucky draw.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">The scheme was launched on the auspicious occasion of Dashain, Tihar, Chhath and Vishwakarma Pooja for customers who purchased Mahindra tractors, reads a statement issued by the company. </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The offer was valid from September 15 to November 30.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Under this scheme, the company had offered a </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">sure shot prize of l</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">ife insurance along with either 50 percent discount on ‘Rotavator’ or three years’ wallet free servicing. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12692', 'image' => '20210115034754_Lucky draw 1(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 15:46:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12944', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Investors Need to Invest up to 25 Percent within 1 Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government made such arrangement by introducing the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (FITTA) Regulation 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new provision has come into effect from last Monday (January 11) following the endorsement of the act two years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the new arrangement, foreign investors who have been granted permission to invest more than Rs 1 billion in Nepal need to invest at least 5 percent of the total investment within the first year. Similarly, investors who have pledged to invest more than Rs 250 million need to invest at least 10 percent within a year after getting approval from the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, investors who have been approved to invest up to Rs 250 million have to invest at least 25 percent of the total investment within a year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the government has not included the threshold for foreign investment in the Act itself, it has been adding the threshold time and again by amending the law and publishing it in the Nepal Gazette.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the latest amendment, the threshold for foreign investment in Nepal is minimum Rs 50 million, informed Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12691', 'image' => '20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:53:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12943', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home-Based Wokers Need Better Protection: ILO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">January 15:</span></span> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ILO noted that the number of such workers has greatly increased due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br /> Since homeworking occurs in the private sphere it is often "invisible", ILO said in a statement. According to the ILO, almost all home-based workers (90 per cent) work informally in low and middle-income countries for instance. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The statement added that homeworkers earn on average 13 per cent less in the United Kingdom; 22 per cent less in the United States of America; 25 per cent less in South Africa and about 50 per cent in Argentina, India and Mexico. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Homeworkers also face greater safety and health risks and have less access to training than non-home-based workers, which can affect their career prospects.<br /> The report, Working from Home: From Invisibility to Decent Work, also shows that homeworkers do not have the same level of social protection as other workers. They are also less likely to be part of a trade union or to be covered by a collective bargaining agreement. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Renewed Urgency </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO estimates, prior to the Covid-19 crisis, there were approximately 260 million home-based workers worldwide, representing 7.9 per cent of global employment; 56 per cent of them (147 million) were women.<br /> “They include teleworkers who work remotely on a continual basis, and a vast number of workers who are involved in the production of goods that cannot be automated, such as embroidery, handicrafts, electronic assembly. A third category, digital platform workers, provide services, such as processing insurance claims, copy-editing, or data annotation for the training of artificial intelligence systems.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 an estimated one-in-five workers found themselves working from home. Data for the whole of 2020, once it is available, is expected to show a substantial increase on the previous year, the statement added<br /> The growth of homeworking is likely to continue in the coming years, the report says, bringing renewed urgency to the need to address the issues facing homeworkers and their employers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Poorly Regulated with Lack of Compliance</span></span></strong> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO, homeworking is often poorly regulated and compliance with existing laws remains a challenge. In many instances, homeworkers are classified as independent contractors and therefore excluded from the scope of labour legislation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">"Only 10 ILO Member States have ratified Convention No 177, that promotes equality of treatment between homeworkers and other wage earners, and few have a comprehensive policy on homework," added the statement </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12690', 'image' => '20210115021542_60586.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Works Fail to Gather Momentum', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current government, which was formed three years ago, has been engaged more in internal dispute rather than achieving its target of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali”. The impact of internal rift within the ruling Nepal Communist Party has been clearly reflected by the lacklustre progress of development works.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ruling party is divided into two factions and the House of Representatives has been dissolved in the six months since the announcement of budget for the current fiscal year. As a result, the government has been able to spend only Rs 50.81 billion capital expenditure during the review period out of Rs 352 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the Financial Comptroller General Office, the government has been able to spend only 15 percent of the total capital expenditure allocated for the current fiscal year. The government had estimated to spend more than 18 percent of the development budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Capital expenditure during the corresponding period of last fiscal year was 16 percent. This year’s capital expenditure is even worse than that of last year. Data kept by the Financial Comptroller General Office show that the current expenditure of the government has unexpectedly increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current expenditure of the government during the review period is Rs 342 billion out of the total allocated amount of Rs 948 billion. This is 37 percent of the total budget allocated for current expenditure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stakeholders say that the poor capital expenditure is a result of the government’s failure to resolve the policy-level hurdles faced by the construction sector and its inability to prepare a work plan for expediting the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Jagdish Chandra Pokharel, the current government had a golden opportunity to expedite development works but it failed to do so due to the internal conflict within the ruling party.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He further said that the government is bent toward adding more financial burden to the state coffers under various pretexts while it has not done anything substantial in the last six months to speed up development works. Pokharel opined that the government’s attention has been drawn to something else other than people’s aspirations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Economist Keshav Acharya also blames the government leadership and different bodies for the slow pace of development in six months of current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Acharya, the government has not paid attention towards finding the reasons for its failure to spend development budget and to take timely action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12689', 'image' => '20210115122802_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 12:27:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Start Charging Fare for Inter-Bank ATM Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). The banks had been providing free service for inter-bank ATM transaction to facilitate the customers during lockdown and post-lockdown period following the directive of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank had recently fixed a new rate for inter-bank ATM transaction starting from January 14. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a circular on January 7, the Payments Department of NRB said that ATM users can withdraw money from any bank for free two times a month. After that, the ATM users will have to incur Rs 20 per transaction for inter-bank ATM service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank made such arrangement after amending its Integrated Directive on Payments System 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Prior to this, the central bank in its monetary policy had made arrangement for free inter-bank ATM service as long as the effects of Covid-19 were prevalent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, banks had announced to charge fare for inter-bank ATM service from the start of the current fiscal year arguing that transportation and other sectors had already opened by that time. But the central bank again issued a directive to the banks to provide free service for inter-bank ATM transaction. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bankers were complaining that they have to bear massive loss if they are to provide the free service for an indefinite period of time. Considering the request of the banks, the central bank issued the new directive which allows free service for two times a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12688', 'image' => '20210115115200_1610606958.atm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 11:51:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Health and Hygiene Manual for Tourism Service Operators', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. TRTF launched the HHS Protocol virtually in an event on Wednesday, January 13. <br /> Dr Stephen Rosek, head of the development assistance department of the German embassy in Nepal, along with Deepak Raj Joshi, coordinator of TRTF Nepal and former CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board inaugurated the HHS protocol virtually.<br /> The project aims to develop a manual for health and hygiene safety standards for tourism and hospitality service operators based on government-approved standards for epidemic and post-pandemic tourism-related services and businesses.<br /> Dr Rosek informed that the Covid-19 was not only a global health crisis but also an economic crisis affecting the tourism sector mostly.<br /> The German ambassador shed light on various programmes under the assistance of GIZ and also expressed his commitment to help the tourism sector.<br /> According to TRTF Nepal Coordinator Joshi, 85 percent of small and medium entrepreneurs in Nepal have pointed out the need for training, education, and awareness programs in a survey conducted among Nepal's tourism entrepreneurs and stakeholders following the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">He said that the first phase training on health and hygiene safety standards is being conducted in collaboration with GATE Foundation and GIZ.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12687', 'image' => '20210114042115_20200506031951_120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:20:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Current Account in Deficit after Five Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'anuary 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. It is believed that the rise in import recently has increased the outflow of Nepalese currency resulting in the current account deficit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal released by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on January 13 states that the </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">current account remained at a deficit of Rs 21.32 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs 65.13 billion in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the US Dollar terms, the current account recorded a deficit of 182.4 million in the review period compared to a deficit of 572.0 million in the same period of the previous year, NRB stated. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review period, capital transfer decreased 16.0 percent to Rs 4.75 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased 31.5 percent to Rs 4.50 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs 5.65 billion and Rs 6.57 billion respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments (BOP) registered a surplus of Rs106.48 billion in the review period as compared to a surplus of Rs 23.30 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP recorded a surplus of 896.5 million in the review period compared to a surplus of 205.9 million in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Remittance</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the central bank, remittance inflow increased 10.9 percent to Rs 416.81 billion in the review period against a decrease of 0.2 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 77.9 percent in the review period. It had increased 11.8 percent in the same period of the previous year. The number of Nepali workers (renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 69.4 percent in the review period. It had increased 7.6 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Merchandise Trade </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise exports increased 5.1 percent to Rs 50.06 billion compared to an increase of 27.0 percent in the same period of the previous year. Destination-wise, exports to India and other countries increased 8.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively whereas exports to China decreased 55.2 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Exports of cardamom, jute goods, polyester yarn and threads, noodles, pashmina, among others, increased whereas exports of palm oil, pulses, zinc sheet, woolen carpet, textiles, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise imports decreased 9.6 percent to Rs 525.50 billion compared to a decrease of 4.2 percent a year ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Destination-wise, imports from India, China and other countries decreased 1.1 percent, 24.4 percent, and 20.8 percent respectively.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Imports of crude soybean oil, rice, MS billet, telecommunication equipment and parts, coal, among others, increased whereas imports of petroleum products, aircraft spareparts, crude palm oil, other machinery and parts, transport equipment and parts, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Based on customs points, exports from Birgunj Dry Port, Biratnagar, Kailali, Tatopani, Kanchanpur and Rasuwa Customs offices decreased whereas exports from all the other customs points increased in the review period. On the import side, imports from all the other customs points decreased except Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Krishnanagar, Kailali and Kanchanpur customs offices in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Trade Deficit </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Total trade deficit narrowed down 10.9 percent to Rs 475.44 billion in five months of 2020/21. Such deficit had contracted 6.3 percent in the same period of the previous year. The export- import ratio increased to 9.5 percent in the review period from 8.2 percent in the same period of the previous year</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Consumer Price Inflation</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The y-o-y consumer price inflation stood at 2.93 percent in the fifth month of 2020/21 compared to 6.55 percent a year ago. Food and beverage inflation stood at 5.23 percent whereas non-food and service inflation stood at 1.16 percent in the review month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The price of fruit, ghee and oil, vegetables, and pulses and legumes sub-groups rose 14.75 percent, 13.01 percent, 11.44 percent and 10.74 percent respectively on y-o-y basis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review month, the Kathmandu Valley, Terai, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Hill and Mountain witnessed 3.71 percent, 2.35 percent, 3.95 percent and 4.22 percent inflation respectively. These regions had witnessed 7.60 percent, 6.66 percent, 5.27 percent and 4.83 percent inflation respectively a year ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12686', 'image' => '20210114114323_20200927035331_1601159663.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 11:41:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NICCI Holds Round Table Meet on Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Speaking at the inauguration of the meeting, Chairperson of NICCI Shreejana Rana said that it is not possible to do all things single handedly in the present context and therefore coordination between all kinds of service providers and institutions is necessary for success. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Vice chairman of the chamber Sunil KC shed light on the motive for organising the roundtable meeting and pointed out to the global trend of outsourcing and effective mobilization of human resources in a cost effective way. He added that the meeting was held to discuss the possibility of BPO in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The meeting was attended by CEO of Vertex Global Services India Gagan Arora, Chief Finance Officer Bikash Arora, Vice President-Corporate Relations Ashlin Madok, Vice President-Talent Acquisition Sachin Kalkal, Associate Director Tanmoya Dutta.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12685', 'image' => '20210114044939_1. IMG_7857.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:48:33', '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
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The Birgunj Customs Office did not meet the target set in the first six months of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2077/78. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has collected 86 percent of the target revenue between mid-July to mid-December of the current fiscal year. According to customs officer Ramesh Sukmani, a total revenue of Rs 73.55 billion has been collected in the last six months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Birgunj Customs had set a target to collect revenue of Rs 85.51 billion. The revenue collection so far this year is Rs 12 billion less than the corresponding period of last FY 2076/77. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Sukmani, the customs office has not been able to collect revenue as per the target due to the impact of coronavirus on the import, production and supply chain. "Even in such an uncomfortable situation, raising such a large amount of revenue in six months should be considered an achievement," he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has said that the revenue will improve in the coming months as the import and export from Birgunj is gradually returning to normal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs has collected Rs 28 billion from import duty in the first six months of the current year. Likewise, Rs 7.2 million revenue has been collected from export. Value added tax of Rs 25.44 billion has also been collected. Likewise, the customs office has collected Rs 8.66 billion in excise duty, Rs 6.88 billion in infrastructure tax on petroleum products and Rs 3.83 billion on road construction and road improvement charge. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office claims that the decline in imports of goods that contribute to the revenue this year has had an impact on revenue collection. According to the customs office data, the import of both vehicles and petroleum products, which are considered the main source of revenue, has declined. Customs officials say that import of industrial raw materials has also declined. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12699', 'image' => '20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 14:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12952', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Contributors of SSF can Avail Loan Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The SSF has prepared a draft of a new directive for implementing the investment work procedure, which once endorsed by the SSF board will pave way for providing loans to the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The draft, which outlines areas of investment and other issues, will be presented to the upcoming board meeting of SSF. Besides providing loan, SSF can also invest the collected amount if the draft is approved by the board. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Deputy Executive Director of SSF Bivek Panthi, the draft will be implemented as soon as it gets approved by the SSF board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had issued a work procedure for effective implementation of the SSF. As per the investment work procedure, the contributors can avail special loan, housing loan, educational loan and loan under the heading of social work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The contributors can get loan up to 15 percent of their total contribution. There is a provision of providing loan equivalent to 15 years of salary of the contributor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the government’s work procedure, the contributors of SSF can get a maximum of Rs 7.5 million under housing loan. Similarly, they can avail up to Rs 3.5 million for higher studies in foreign countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those who seek loan from the SSF must have contributed to the fund for at least three years. However, the work procedure has not mentioned anything about the collateral and the evaluator. Therefore, the directive is required to clear these issues, says Panthi, who is also the spokesperson of SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, 13,089 employers and more than 185,000 workers have been listed in the SSF so far. It has already collected more than Rs 3.71 billion from the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12698', 'image' => '20210118123813_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:37:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12951', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB tells Stakeholders to Give Priority to Nepali Insurance and Transportation Companies ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank issued such directive to promote the home-based companies. The central bank has said that this new policy will be applicable for import goods imported to Nepal from third countries except India through Letter of Credit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB made the provision for promoting Nepali insurance and transportation companies by amending the Unified Directive 2076.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank had been urging the importers to insure their goods from Nepali insurance companies since a long time. Now, the central bank also wants to promote Nepal’s transportation companies, informed Bam Bahadur Mishra, executive director of NRB’s Foreign Exchange Department. However, the central bank has not made this new provision mandatory.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Nepal’s insurance companies alone cannot handle all the imports. Therefore, we have made a policy-level decision that directs stakeholders to take the services of Nepali insurance companies to the possible extent,” said Mishra.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">If the importers want to opt for foreign insurance companies, they need to present the documents and related bills. According to the central bank, the importers need to present the insurance and transportation bills separately and must be clearly noticeable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12697', 'image' => '20210118121431_20200810055708_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:13:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12949', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Solar Plants get Permission for Survey ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development. Kalikhola Solar Plant, Mithila Solar Plant, Bhawanipur Solar Plant and Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant have received survey licenses from the department. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The largest project to get license is Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant. The promoter company Panas Energy Pvt Ltd is going to build a 100 MW capacity plant in Siraha district. According to the department, the company got permission for the survey on November 5. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Goodluck Glocal Power Energy has received permission to survey 7 MW Kalikhola Solar Plant in Nuwakot. According to the department, Solar Star Pvt Ltd has got permission to build and survey a 5 MW Mithila Solar Plant in Dhanusha and Nepal Petroleum Trade Links Pvt Ltd to build a 5 MW Bhawanipur Solar Plant in Bara. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The promoter companies will have to send the survey report to the department within two years. Navin Raj Singh, director general of the department, said if the survey is not completed in two years, the license will be cancelled. He said that due to the corona virus pandemic, the projects under survey are being extended. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Some projects have not been able to survey due to the lockdown to control spread of coronavirus. Survey licenses of some projects have expired," he said, "We are making arrangements to facilitate such projects." </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12696', 'image' => '20210117063750_1610841055.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 18:37:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12948', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Hoteliers Devise Strategy to bring Asian Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.<br /> Despite a marginal improvement in the hotel business due to domestic tourism, hoteliers have started formulating special packages and marketing strategies to bring tourists from Asian countries to Nepal. The stakeholders made such plans to bring back the hospitality sector, which has slowed down due to the non-arrival of foreign tourists.<br /> According to the Department of Immigration, the number of tourists from India, China, Thailand, and Myanmar is high despite the effects of the Covid-19. In 2020, only a small number of 230,000 tourists visited Nepal. However, the number of tourists visiting Nepal in 2019 was 1.197 million.<br /> Sajan Shakya, general secretary of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), informed that the hotel entrepreneurs are preparing a marketing strategy to bring the hotel business back on track.<br /> According to Shakya, necessary preparations have been made to promote tourism in China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries, as hoteliers don't see the possibility of European and American tourists.<br /> He informed that HAN made preparations to conduct marketing promotions with discount packages to such countries as many Buddhist tourists are coming to Nepal. Currently, the condition of the hotel is deplorable. The room occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu has dropped significantly as tourists have not come even though the hotels are open. Shakya added that the hotel operators are overwhelmed to manage the expenses even after opening the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Hoteliers informed that even though domestic tourists have encouraged business in other tourist destinations, it is not enough. Although the overall hospitality business, which is almost zero, has been observing a positive impact from domestic tourists, they complain that the hotel business in Kathmandu is disappointing.<br /> The occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu, which is almost zero, has improved slightly for some time, rising to an average of 3 percent, HAN reported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12695', 'image' => '20210117044019_20200504104410_20190511105700_Clipboard37 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 16:39:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12947', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Nagarik App for Nepali Citizens', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. Users can also have access to all government documents using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The app is in testing phase at the moment. Users can also register their Permanent Account Number (PAN) using the app. They can also check the details of tax paid to the government as well as other details regarding their Employee Provident Fund, Citizens Investment Trust, Social Security Fund among others.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The citizens of Nepal can register their Citizenship Number, Passport Number, educational certificate and Voter ID in the app and will no longer require to present the hard copy of the documents.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung launched the app amid a function on Friday. Minister Gurung informed that the government will be providing all kinds of services through digital platform using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the minister, preparations are underway to add services related to Land Revenue Office, vehicle tax, driving and license as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He added that the app has been launched to provide services to the citizens in a fast and effective way using digital platform. According to the minister, the app has already registered the details of 21,500,000 citizens whose records are maintained by the home ministry as well as the personal details, fingerprints and photos of 15,500,000 citizens registered with the Election Commission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ministry informed that Nepali citizens can download the app through android phone and open their accounts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12694', 'image' => '20210117015053_1610841146.Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 13:50:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12946', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prices of Essential Food Skyrocketing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials. The prices of rice and edible oil have gone up due to the increase in price of raw materials as well as transportation cost.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialist Suresh Rungata says that the farmers’ protest in India has also affected the price of paddy in Nepal. He added that the price of rice has increased by Rs 4 per kilogram within the last one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Rice produced in most of the factories of Nepal are basically from paddy imported from India. Nepali importers say that the price of paddy imported from India has gone up by Rs 200 per quintal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Earlier, Nepali importers used to import paddy at subsidized rate but now the price has increased, says Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialists say that paddy which used to cost Rs 1800 until some time ago now costs Rs 2000 in Raxaul, India. The subsidized rate of rice in India is Rs 1850.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the price of edible oil has also increased. The prices of soybean and sunflower oil have increased by Rs 50 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to industrialist Rungata, soybean oil that used to cost Rs 1,400 for 10 litres now costs Rs 1,900. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, the price of mustard oil has increased by Rs 20 per litre. The price fixed for the consumers is 20 percent more than the factory price.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Most of the oil processing factories import raw materials and then refine the oil in Nepal. Unporcessed soybean which used to cost US$ 700 per metric ton now costs US$ 1,100.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The prices of raw materials have increased during the pandemic. Shipping companies have also taken advantage by charging extra amount. Therefore, the prices of food have gone up,” said Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12693', 'image' => '20210117114353_1610840573.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 11:43:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12945', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Mahindra Brand Announces Winners of Festive Scheme ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 15: </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The company’s brand ambassador and former cricket captain of Nepal, Paras Khadka, unveiled the names of the winners amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">Yograj Rai from Dhankuta, Niranjana Chaudhary from Nepalgunj and Ram Bahadur Kami from Nepalgunj were declared the winners through lucky draw.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">The scheme was launched on the auspicious occasion of Dashain, Tihar, Chhath and Vishwakarma Pooja for customers who purchased Mahindra tractors, reads a statement issued by the company. </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The offer was valid from September 15 to November 30.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Under this scheme, the company had offered a </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">sure shot prize of l</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">ife insurance along with either 50 percent discount on ‘Rotavator’ or three years’ wallet free servicing. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12692', 'image' => '20210115034754_Lucky draw 1(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 15:46:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12944', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Investors Need to Invest up to 25 Percent within 1 Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government made such arrangement by introducing the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (FITTA) Regulation 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new provision has come into effect from last Monday (January 11) following the endorsement of the act two years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the new arrangement, foreign investors who have been granted permission to invest more than Rs 1 billion in Nepal need to invest at least 5 percent of the total investment within the first year. Similarly, investors who have pledged to invest more than Rs 250 million need to invest at least 10 percent within a year after getting approval from the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, investors who have been approved to invest up to Rs 250 million have to invest at least 25 percent of the total investment within a year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the government has not included the threshold for foreign investment in the Act itself, it has been adding the threshold time and again by amending the law and publishing it in the Nepal Gazette.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the latest amendment, the threshold for foreign investment in Nepal is minimum Rs 50 million, informed Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12691', 'image' => '20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:53:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12943', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home-Based Wokers Need Better Protection: ILO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">January 15:</span></span> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ILO noted that the number of such workers has greatly increased due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br /> Since homeworking occurs in the private sphere it is often "invisible", ILO said in a statement. According to the ILO, almost all home-based workers (90 per cent) work informally in low and middle-income countries for instance. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The statement added that homeworkers earn on average 13 per cent less in the United Kingdom; 22 per cent less in the United States of America; 25 per cent less in South Africa and about 50 per cent in Argentina, India and Mexico. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Homeworkers also face greater safety and health risks and have less access to training than non-home-based workers, which can affect their career prospects.<br /> The report, Working from Home: From Invisibility to Decent Work, also shows that homeworkers do not have the same level of social protection as other workers. They are also less likely to be part of a trade union or to be covered by a collective bargaining agreement. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Renewed Urgency </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO estimates, prior to the Covid-19 crisis, there were approximately 260 million home-based workers worldwide, representing 7.9 per cent of global employment; 56 per cent of them (147 million) were women.<br /> “They include teleworkers who work remotely on a continual basis, and a vast number of workers who are involved in the production of goods that cannot be automated, such as embroidery, handicrafts, electronic assembly. A third category, digital platform workers, provide services, such as processing insurance claims, copy-editing, or data annotation for the training of artificial intelligence systems.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 an estimated one-in-five workers found themselves working from home. Data for the whole of 2020, once it is available, is expected to show a substantial increase on the previous year, the statement added<br /> The growth of homeworking is likely to continue in the coming years, the report says, bringing renewed urgency to the need to address the issues facing homeworkers and their employers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Poorly Regulated with Lack of Compliance</span></span></strong> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO, homeworking is often poorly regulated and compliance with existing laws remains a challenge. In many instances, homeworkers are classified as independent contractors and therefore excluded from the scope of labour legislation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">"Only 10 ILO Member States have ratified Convention No 177, that promotes equality of treatment between homeworkers and other wage earners, and few have a comprehensive policy on homework," added the statement </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12690', 'image' => '20210115021542_60586.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Works Fail to Gather Momentum', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current government, which was formed three years ago, has been engaged more in internal dispute rather than achieving its target of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali”. The impact of internal rift within the ruling Nepal Communist Party has been clearly reflected by the lacklustre progress of development works.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ruling party is divided into two factions and the House of Representatives has been dissolved in the six months since the announcement of budget for the current fiscal year. As a result, the government has been able to spend only Rs 50.81 billion capital expenditure during the review period out of Rs 352 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the Financial Comptroller General Office, the government has been able to spend only 15 percent of the total capital expenditure allocated for the current fiscal year. The government had estimated to spend more than 18 percent of the development budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Capital expenditure during the corresponding period of last fiscal year was 16 percent. This year’s capital expenditure is even worse than that of last year. Data kept by the Financial Comptroller General Office show that the current expenditure of the government has unexpectedly increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current expenditure of the government during the review period is Rs 342 billion out of the total allocated amount of Rs 948 billion. This is 37 percent of the total budget allocated for current expenditure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stakeholders say that the poor capital expenditure is a result of the government’s failure to resolve the policy-level hurdles faced by the construction sector and its inability to prepare a work plan for expediting the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Jagdish Chandra Pokharel, the current government had a golden opportunity to expedite development works but it failed to do so due to the internal conflict within the ruling party.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He further said that the government is bent toward adding more financial burden to the state coffers under various pretexts while it has not done anything substantial in the last six months to speed up development works. Pokharel opined that the government’s attention has been drawn to something else other than people’s aspirations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Economist Keshav Acharya also blames the government leadership and different bodies for the slow pace of development in six months of current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Acharya, the government has not paid attention towards finding the reasons for its failure to spend development budget and to take timely action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12689', 'image' => '20210115122802_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 12:27:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Start Charging Fare for Inter-Bank ATM Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). The banks had been providing free service for inter-bank ATM transaction to facilitate the customers during lockdown and post-lockdown period following the directive of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank had recently fixed a new rate for inter-bank ATM transaction starting from January 14. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a circular on January 7, the Payments Department of NRB said that ATM users can withdraw money from any bank for free two times a month. After that, the ATM users will have to incur Rs 20 per transaction for inter-bank ATM service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank made such arrangement after amending its Integrated Directive on Payments System 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Prior to this, the central bank in its monetary policy had made arrangement for free inter-bank ATM service as long as the effects of Covid-19 were prevalent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, banks had announced to charge fare for inter-bank ATM service from the start of the current fiscal year arguing that transportation and other sectors had already opened by that time. But the central bank again issued a directive to the banks to provide free service for inter-bank ATM transaction. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bankers were complaining that they have to bear massive loss if they are to provide the free service for an indefinite period of time. Considering the request of the banks, the central bank issued the new directive which allows free service for two times a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12688', 'image' => '20210115115200_1610606958.atm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 11:51:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Health and Hygiene Manual for Tourism Service Operators', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. TRTF launched the HHS Protocol virtually in an event on Wednesday, January 13. <br /> Dr Stephen Rosek, head of the development assistance department of the German embassy in Nepal, along with Deepak Raj Joshi, coordinator of TRTF Nepal and former CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board inaugurated the HHS protocol virtually.<br /> The project aims to develop a manual for health and hygiene safety standards for tourism and hospitality service operators based on government-approved standards for epidemic and post-pandemic tourism-related services and businesses.<br /> Dr Rosek informed that the Covid-19 was not only a global health crisis but also an economic crisis affecting the tourism sector mostly.<br /> The German ambassador shed light on various programmes under the assistance of GIZ and also expressed his commitment to help the tourism sector.<br /> According to TRTF Nepal Coordinator Joshi, 85 percent of small and medium entrepreneurs in Nepal have pointed out the need for training, education, and awareness programs in a survey conducted among Nepal's tourism entrepreneurs and stakeholders following the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">He said that the first phase training on health and hygiene safety standards is being conducted in collaboration with GATE Foundation and GIZ.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12687', 'image' => '20210114042115_20200506031951_120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:20:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Current Account in Deficit after Five Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'anuary 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. It is believed that the rise in import recently has increased the outflow of Nepalese currency resulting in the current account deficit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal released by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on January 13 states that the </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">current account remained at a deficit of Rs 21.32 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs 65.13 billion in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the US Dollar terms, the current account recorded a deficit of 182.4 million in the review period compared to a deficit of 572.0 million in the same period of the previous year, NRB stated. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review period, capital transfer decreased 16.0 percent to Rs 4.75 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased 31.5 percent to Rs 4.50 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs 5.65 billion and Rs 6.57 billion respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments (BOP) registered a surplus of Rs106.48 billion in the review period as compared to a surplus of Rs 23.30 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP recorded a surplus of 896.5 million in the review period compared to a surplus of 205.9 million in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Remittance</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the central bank, remittance inflow increased 10.9 percent to Rs 416.81 billion in the review period against a decrease of 0.2 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 77.9 percent in the review period. It had increased 11.8 percent in the same period of the previous year. The number of Nepali workers (renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 69.4 percent in the review period. It had increased 7.6 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Merchandise Trade </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise exports increased 5.1 percent to Rs 50.06 billion compared to an increase of 27.0 percent in the same period of the previous year. Destination-wise, exports to India and other countries increased 8.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively whereas exports to China decreased 55.2 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Exports of cardamom, jute goods, polyester yarn and threads, noodles, pashmina, among others, increased whereas exports of palm oil, pulses, zinc sheet, woolen carpet, textiles, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise imports decreased 9.6 percent to Rs 525.50 billion compared to a decrease of 4.2 percent a year ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Destination-wise, imports from India, China and other countries decreased 1.1 percent, 24.4 percent, and 20.8 percent respectively.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Imports of crude soybean oil, rice, MS billet, telecommunication equipment and parts, coal, among others, increased whereas imports of petroleum products, aircraft spareparts, crude palm oil, other machinery and parts, transport equipment and parts, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Based on customs points, exports from Birgunj Dry Port, Biratnagar, Kailali, Tatopani, Kanchanpur and Rasuwa Customs offices decreased whereas exports from all the other customs points increased in the review period. On the import side, imports from all the other customs points decreased except Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Krishnanagar, Kailali and Kanchanpur customs offices in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Trade Deficit </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Total trade deficit narrowed down 10.9 percent to Rs 475.44 billion in five months of 2020/21. Such deficit had contracted 6.3 percent in the same period of the previous year. The export- import ratio increased to 9.5 percent in the review period from 8.2 percent in the same period of the previous year</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Consumer Price Inflation</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The y-o-y consumer price inflation stood at 2.93 percent in the fifth month of 2020/21 compared to 6.55 percent a year ago. Food and beverage inflation stood at 5.23 percent whereas non-food and service inflation stood at 1.16 percent in the review month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The price of fruit, ghee and oil, vegetables, and pulses and legumes sub-groups rose 14.75 percent, 13.01 percent, 11.44 percent and 10.74 percent respectively on y-o-y basis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review month, the Kathmandu Valley, Terai, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Hill and Mountain witnessed 3.71 percent, 2.35 percent, 3.95 percent and 4.22 percent inflation respectively. These regions had witnessed 7.60 percent, 6.66 percent, 5.27 percent and 4.83 percent inflation respectively a year ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12686', 'image' => '20210114114323_20200927035331_1601159663.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 11:41:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NICCI Holds Round Table Meet on Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Speaking at the inauguration of the meeting, Chairperson of NICCI Shreejana Rana said that it is not possible to do all things single handedly in the present context and therefore coordination between all kinds of service providers and institutions is necessary for success. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Vice chairman of the chamber Sunil KC shed light on the motive for organising the roundtable meeting and pointed out to the global trend of outsourcing and effective mobilization of human resources in a cost effective way. He added that the meeting was held to discuss the possibility of BPO in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The meeting was attended by CEO of Vertex Global Services India Gagan Arora, Chief Finance Officer Bikash Arora, Vice President-Corporate Relations Ashlin Madok, Vice President-Talent Acquisition Sachin Kalkal, Associate Director Tanmoya Dutta.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12685', 'image' => '20210114044939_1. 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The Birgunj Customs Office did not meet the target set in the first six months of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2077/78. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has collected 86 percent of the target revenue between mid-July to mid-December of the current fiscal year. According to customs officer Ramesh Sukmani, a total revenue of Rs 73.55 billion has been collected in the last six months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Birgunj Customs had set a target to collect revenue of Rs 85.51 billion. The revenue collection so far this year is Rs 12 billion less than the corresponding period of last FY 2076/77. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Sukmani, the customs office has not been able to collect revenue as per the target due to the impact of coronavirus on the import, production and supply chain. "Even in such an uncomfortable situation, raising such a large amount of revenue in six months should be considered an achievement," he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office has said that the revenue will improve in the coming months as the import and export from Birgunj is gradually returning to normal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs has collected Rs 28 billion from import duty in the first six months of the current year. Likewise, Rs 7.2 million revenue has been collected from export. Value added tax of Rs 25.44 billion has also been collected. Likewise, the customs office has collected Rs 8.66 billion in excise duty, Rs 6.88 billion in infrastructure tax on petroleum products and Rs 3.83 billion on road construction and road improvement charge. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The customs office claims that the decline in imports of goods that contribute to the revenue this year has had an impact on revenue collection. According to the customs office data, the import of both vehicles and petroleum products, which are considered the main source of revenue, has declined. Customs officials say that import of industrial raw materials has also declined. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12699', 'image' => '20210118020708_1610926784.Clipboard08.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 14:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12952', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Contributors of SSF can Avail Loan Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Contributors of the Social Security Fund (SSF) can soon avail loan from the state-owned fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The SSF has prepared a draft of a new directive for implementing the investment work procedure, which once endorsed by the SSF board will pave way for providing loans to the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The draft, which outlines areas of investment and other issues, will be presented to the upcoming board meeting of SSF. Besides providing loan, SSF can also invest the collected amount if the draft is approved by the board. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Deputy Executive Director of SSF Bivek Panthi, the draft will be implemented as soon as it gets approved by the SSF board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had issued a work procedure for effective implementation of the SSF. As per the investment work procedure, the contributors can avail special loan, housing loan, educational loan and loan under the heading of social work.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The contributors can get loan up to 15 percent of their total contribution. There is a provision of providing loan equivalent to 15 years of salary of the contributor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the government’s work procedure, the contributors of SSF can get a maximum of Rs 7.5 million under housing loan. Similarly, they can avail up to Rs 3.5 million for higher studies in foreign countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those who seek loan from the SSF must have contributed to the fund for at least three years. However, the work procedure has not mentioned anything about the collateral and the evaluator. Therefore, the directive is required to clear these issues, says Panthi, who is also the spokesperson of SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">So far, 13,089 employers and more than 185,000 workers have been listed in the SSF so far. It has already collected more than Rs 3.71 billion from the contributors.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12698', 'image' => '20210118123813_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:37:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12951', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB tells Stakeholders to Give Priority to Nepali Insurance and Transportation Companies ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 18: Nepal Rastra Bank has instructed all stakeholders to give priority to Nepali insurance and transportation companies while importing goods from abroad.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank issued such directive to promote the home-based companies. The central bank has said that this new policy will be applicable for import goods imported to Nepal from third countries except India through Letter of Credit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">NRB made the provision for promoting Nepali insurance and transportation companies by amending the Unified Directive 2076.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Nepal Rastra Bank had been urging the importers to insure their goods from Nepali insurance companies since a long time. Now, the central bank also wants to promote Nepal’s transportation companies, informed Bam Bahadur Mishra, executive director of NRB’s Foreign Exchange Department. However, the central bank has not made this new provision mandatory.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Nepal’s insurance companies alone cannot handle all the imports. Therefore, we have made a policy-level decision that directs stakeholders to take the services of Nepali insurance companies to the possible extent,” said Mishra.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">If the importers want to opt for foreign insurance companies, they need to present the documents and related bills. According to the central bank, the importers need to present the insurance and transportation bills separately and must be clearly noticeable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-18', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12697', 'image' => '20210118121431_20200810055708_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-18 12:13:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12949', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Solar Plants get Permission for Survey ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">January 17: Four solar power projects of 117 Megawatt capacity have received permission for survey in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Department of Electricity Development. Kalikhola Solar Plant, Mithila Solar Plant, Bhawanipur Solar Plant and Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant have received survey licenses from the department. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The largest project to get license is Lamadanda Lalpur Solar Plant. The promoter company Panas Energy Pvt Ltd is going to build a 100 MW capacity plant in Siraha district. According to the department, the company got permission for the survey on November 5. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Goodluck Glocal Power Energy has received permission to survey 7 MW Kalikhola Solar Plant in Nuwakot. According to the department, Solar Star Pvt Ltd has got permission to build and survey a 5 MW Mithila Solar Plant in Dhanusha and Nepal Petroleum Trade Links Pvt Ltd to build a 5 MW Bhawanipur Solar Plant in Bara. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The promoter companies will have to send the survey report to the department within two years. Navin Raj Singh, director general of the department, said if the survey is not completed in two years, the license will be cancelled. He said that due to the corona virus pandemic, the projects under survey are being extended. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Some projects have not been able to survey due to the lockdown to control spread of coronavirus. Survey licenses of some projects have expired," he said, "We are making arrangements to facilitate such projects." </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12696', 'image' => '20210117063750_1610841055.Clipboard14.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 18:37:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12948', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Hoteliers Devise Strategy to bring Asian Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 17: Hoteliers are working to bring the hospitality sector, most affected by the Covid-19, back on track.<br /> Despite a marginal improvement in the hotel business due to domestic tourism, hoteliers have started formulating special packages and marketing strategies to bring tourists from Asian countries to Nepal. The stakeholders made such plans to bring back the hospitality sector, which has slowed down due to the non-arrival of foreign tourists.<br /> According to the Department of Immigration, the number of tourists from India, China, Thailand, and Myanmar is high despite the effects of the Covid-19. In 2020, only a small number of 230,000 tourists visited Nepal. However, the number of tourists visiting Nepal in 2019 was 1.197 million.<br /> Sajan Shakya, general secretary of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), informed that the hotel entrepreneurs are preparing a marketing strategy to bring the hotel business back on track.<br /> According to Shakya, necessary preparations have been made to promote tourism in China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian countries, as hoteliers don't see the possibility of European and American tourists.<br /> He informed that HAN made preparations to conduct marketing promotions with discount packages to such countries as many Buddhist tourists are coming to Nepal. Currently, the condition of the hotel is deplorable. The room occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu has dropped significantly as tourists have not come even though the hotels are open. Shakya added that the hotel operators are overwhelmed to manage the expenses even after opening the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Hoteliers informed that even though domestic tourists have encouraged business in other tourist destinations, it is not enough. Although the overall hospitality business, which is almost zero, has been observing a positive impact from domestic tourists, they complain that the hotel business in Kathmandu is disappointing.<br /> The occupancy rate of hotels in Kathmandu, which is almost zero, has improved slightly for some time, rising to an average of 3 percent, HAN reported.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12695', 'image' => '20210117044019_20200504104410_20190511105700_Clipboard37 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 16:39:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12947', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Launches Nagarik App for Nepali Citizens', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The government has launched a smartphone application to provide all kings of government services through the app. Users can also have access to all government documents using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The app is in testing phase at the moment. Users can also register their Permanent Account Number (PAN) using the app. They can also check the details of tax paid to the government as well as other details regarding their Employee Provident Fund, Citizens Investment Trust, Social Security Fund among others.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The citizens of Nepal can register their Citizenship Number, Passport Number, educational certificate and Voter ID in the app and will no longer require to present the hard copy of the documents.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung launched the app amid a function on Friday. Minister Gurung informed that the government will be providing all kinds of services through digital platform using the app.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the minister, preparations are underway to add services related to Land Revenue Office, vehicle tax, driving and license as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He added that the app has been launched to provide services to the citizens in a fast and effective way using digital platform. According to the minister, the app has already registered the details of 21,500,000 citizens whose records are maintained by the home ministry as well as the personal details, fingerprints and photos of 15,500,000 citizens registered with the Election Commission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ministry informed that Nepali citizens can download the app through android phone and open their accounts.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12694', 'image' => '20210117015053_1610841146.Clipboard18.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 13:50:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12946', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prices of Essential Food Skyrocketing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 17: The prices of essential food have increased due to the increase in price of raw materials. The prices of rice and edible oil have gone up due to the increase in price of raw materials as well as transportation cost.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialist Suresh Rungata says that the farmers’ protest in India has also affected the price of paddy in Nepal. He added that the price of rice has increased by Rs 4 per kilogram within the last one month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Rice produced in most of the factories of Nepal are basically from paddy imported from India. Nepali importers say that the price of paddy imported from India has gone up by Rs 200 per quintal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Earlier, Nepali importers used to import paddy at subsidized rate but now the price has increased, says Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Industrialists say that paddy which used to cost Rs 1800 until some time ago now costs Rs 2000 in Raxaul, India. The subsidized rate of rice in India is Rs 1850.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Similarly, the price of edible oil has also increased. The prices of soybean and sunflower oil have increased by Rs 50 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to industrialist Rungata, soybean oil that used to cost Rs 1,400 for 10 litres now costs Rs 1,900. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, the price of mustard oil has increased by Rs 20 per litre. The price fixed for the consumers is 20 percent more than the factory price.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Most of the oil processing factories import raw materials and then refine the oil in Nepal. Unporcessed soybean which used to cost US$ 700 per metric ton now costs US$ 1,100.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The prices of raw materials have increased during the pandemic. Shipping companies have also taken advantage by charging extra amount. Therefore, the prices of food have gone up,” said Rungata.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-17', 'modified' => '2021-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12693', 'image' => '20210117114353_1610840573.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-17 11:43:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12945', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Mahindra Brand Announces Winners of Festive Scheme ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 15: </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Agni Incorporated, the authorized distributor of Mahindra automobiles and tractors in Nepal, has announced the winners of a festive scheme launched some months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The company’s brand ambassador and former cricket captain of Nepal, Paras Khadka, unveiled the names of the winners amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">According to the company, </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">Yograj Rai from Dhankuta, Niranjana Chaudhary from Nepalgunj and Ram Bahadur Kami from Nepalgunj were declared the winners through lucky draw.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif"">The scheme was launched on the auspicious occasion of Dashain, Tihar, Chhath and Vishwakarma Pooja for customers who purchased Mahindra tractors, reads a statement issued by the company. </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The offer was valid from September 15 to November 30.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Under this scheme, the company had offered a </span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">sure shot prize of l</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">ife insurance along with either 50 percent discount on ‘Rotavator’ or three years’ wallet free servicing. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12692', 'image' => '20210115034754_Lucky draw 1(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 15:46:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12944', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Investors Need to Invest up to 25 Percent within 1 Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Foreign investors will now onward have to invest 5 to 25 percent of their total investment within a year of getting approval from the government to invest in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government made such arrangement by introducing the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer (FITTA) Regulation 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The new provision has come into effect from last Monday (January 11) following the endorsement of the act two years.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the new arrangement, foreign investors who have been granted permission to invest more than Rs 1 billion in Nepal need to invest at least 5 percent of the total investment within the first year. Similarly, investors who have pledged to invest more than Rs 250 million need to invest at least 10 percent within a year after getting approval from the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, investors who have been approved to invest up to Rs 250 million have to invest at least 25 percent of the total investment within a year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Although the government has not included the threshold for foreign investment in the Act itself, it has been adding the threshold time and again by amending the law and publishing it in the Nepal Gazette.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">As per the latest amendment, the threshold for foreign investment in Nepal is minimum Rs 50 million, informed Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12691', 'image' => '20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:53:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12943', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Home-Based Wokers Need Better Protection: ILO', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">January 15:</span></span> <span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The International Labour Organisation has called for better protection of workers who have been working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ILO noted that the number of such workers has greatly increased due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br /> Since homeworking occurs in the private sphere it is often "invisible", ILO said in a statement. According to the ILO, almost all home-based workers (90 per cent) work informally in low and middle-income countries for instance. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">The statement added that homeworkers earn on average 13 per cent less in the United Kingdom; 22 per cent less in the United States of America; 25 per cent less in South Africa and about 50 per cent in Argentina, India and Mexico. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Homeworkers also face greater safety and health risks and have less access to training than non-home-based workers, which can affect their career prospects.<br /> The report, Working from Home: From Invisibility to Decent Work, also shows that homeworkers do not have the same level of social protection as other workers. They are also less likely to be part of a trade union or to be covered by a collective bargaining agreement. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Renewed Urgency </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO estimates, prior to the Covid-19 crisis, there were approximately 260 million home-based workers worldwide, representing 7.9 per cent of global employment; 56 per cent of them (147 million) were women.<br /> “They include teleworkers who work remotely on a continual basis, and a vast number of workers who are involved in the production of goods that cannot be automated, such as embroidery, handicrafts, electronic assembly. A third category, digital platform workers, provide services, such as processing insurance claims, copy-editing, or data annotation for the training of artificial intelligence systems.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 an estimated one-in-five workers found themselves working from home. Data for the whole of 2020, once it is available, is expected to show a substantial increase on the previous year, the statement added<br /> The growth of homeworking is likely to continue in the coming years, the report says, bringing renewed urgency to the need to address the issues facing homeworkers and their employers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">Poorly Regulated with Lack of Compliance</span></span></strong> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">According to ILO, homeworking is often poorly regulated and compliance with existing laws remains a challenge. In many instances, homeworkers are classified as independent contractors and therefore excluded from the scope of labour legislation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Times">"Only 10 ILO Member States have ratified Convention No 177, that promotes equality of treatment between homeworkers and other wage earners, and few have a comprehensive policy on homework," added the statement </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12690', 'image' => '20210115021542_60586.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 14:14:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12942', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Development Works Fail to Gather Momentum', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Progress of development works in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been below par due to the failure of the government to expedite various projects. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current government, which was formed three years ago, has been engaged more in internal dispute rather than achieving its target of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali”. The impact of internal rift within the ruling Nepal Communist Party has been clearly reflected by the lacklustre progress of development works.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The ruling party is divided into two factions and the House of Representatives has been dissolved in the six months since the announcement of budget for the current fiscal year. As a result, the government has been able to spend only Rs 50.81 billion capital expenditure during the review period out of Rs 352 billion allocated for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the Financial Comptroller General Office, the government has been able to spend only 15 percent of the total capital expenditure allocated for the current fiscal year. The government had estimated to spend more than 18 percent of the development budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Capital expenditure during the corresponding period of last fiscal year was 16 percent. This year’s capital expenditure is even worse than that of last year. Data kept by the Financial Comptroller General Office show that the current expenditure of the government has unexpectedly increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The current expenditure of the government during the review period is Rs 342 billion out of the total allocated amount of Rs 948 billion. This is 37 percent of the total budget allocated for current expenditure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stakeholders say that the poor capital expenditure is a result of the government’s failure to resolve the policy-level hurdles faced by the construction sector and its inability to prepare a work plan for expediting the projects.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Jagdish Chandra Pokharel, the current government had a golden opportunity to expedite development works but it failed to do so due to the internal conflict within the ruling party.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">He further said that the government is bent toward adding more financial burden to the state coffers under various pretexts while it has not done anything substantial in the last six months to speed up development works. Pokharel opined that the government’s attention has been drawn to something else other than people’s aspirations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Economist Keshav Acharya also blames the government leadership and different bodies for the slow pace of development in six months of current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to Acharya, the government has not paid attention towards finding the reasons for its failure to spend development budget and to take timely action.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12689', 'image' => '20210115122802_20190609013126_20190531021713_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 12:27:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12941', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Start Charging Fare for Inter-Bank ATM Service', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">January 15: Banks have started charging fare for inter-bank ATM transaction effective from Thursday (January 14). The banks had been providing free service for inter-bank ATM transaction to facilitate the customers during lockdown and post-lockdown period following the directive of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The central bank had recently fixed a new rate for inter-bank ATM transaction starting from January 14. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a circular on January 7, the Payments Department of NRB said that ATM users can withdraw money from any bank for free two times a month. After that, the ATM users will have to incur Rs 20 per transaction for inter-bank ATM service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The central bank made such arrangement after amending its Integrated Directive on Payments System 2077.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Prior to this, the central bank in its monetary policy had made arrangement for free inter-bank ATM service as long as the effects of Covid-19 were prevalent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, banks had announced to charge fare for inter-bank ATM service from the start of the current fiscal year arguing that transportation and other sectors had already opened by that time. But the central bank again issued a directive to the banks to provide free service for inter-bank ATM transaction. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Bankers were complaining that they have to bear massive loss if they are to provide the free service for an indefinite period of time. Considering the request of the banks, the central bank issued the new directive which allows free service for two times a month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-15', 'modified' => '2021-01-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12688', 'image' => '20210115115200_1610606958.atm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-15 11:51:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12938', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Public Health and Hygiene Manual for Tourism Service Operators', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 14: The Tourism Recovery Task Force Nepal (TRTF Nepal) has launched the Health and Hygiene Safety Standards (HHS Protocol) Manual for Tourism Service Operators. TRTF launched the HHS Protocol virtually in an event on Wednesday, January 13. <br /> Dr Stephen Rosek, head of the development assistance department of the German embassy in Nepal, along with Deepak Raj Joshi, coordinator of TRTF Nepal and former CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board inaugurated the HHS protocol virtually.<br /> The project aims to develop a manual for health and hygiene safety standards for tourism and hospitality service operators based on government-approved standards for epidemic and post-pandemic tourism-related services and businesses.<br /> Dr Rosek informed that the Covid-19 was not only a global health crisis but also an economic crisis affecting the tourism sector mostly.<br /> The German ambassador shed light on various programmes under the assistance of GIZ and also expressed his commitment to help the tourism sector.<br /> According to TRTF Nepal Coordinator Joshi, 85 percent of small and medium entrepreneurs in Nepal have pointed out the need for training, education, and awareness programs in a survey conducted among Nepal's tourism entrepreneurs and stakeholders following the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">He said that the first phase training on health and hygiene safety standards is being conducted in collaboration with GATE Foundation and GIZ.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12687', 'image' => '20210114042115_20200506031951_120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:20:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12937', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Current Account in Deficit after Five Months', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'anuary 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: The current account, which was in surplus since the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year, is now in deficit. It is believed that the rise in import recently has increased the outflow of Nepalese currency resulting in the current account deficit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal released by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on January 13 states that the </span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">current account remained at a deficit of Rs 21.32 billion in the review period compared to a deficit of Rs 65.13 billion in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the US Dollar terms, the current account recorded a deficit of 182.4 million in the review period compared to a deficit of 572.0 million in the same period of the previous year, NRB stated. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review period, capital transfer decreased 16.0 percent to Rs 4.75 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased 31.5 percent to Rs 4.50 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer and net FDI amounted to Rs 5.65 billion and Rs 6.57 billion respectively. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Balance of Payments (BOP) registered a surplus of Rs106.48 billion in the review period as compared to a surplus of Rs 23.30 billion in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, the BOP recorded a surplus of 896.5 million in the review period compared to a surplus of 205.9 million in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Remittance</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the central bank, remittance inflow increased 10.9 percent to Rs 416.81 billion in the review period against a decrease of 0.2 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new and legalized) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 77.9 percent in the review period. It had increased 11.8 percent in the same period of the previous year. The number of Nepali workers (renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment decreased 69.4 percent in the review period. It had increased 7.6 percent in the same period of the previous year. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Merchandise Trade </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise exports increased 5.1 percent to Rs 50.06 billion compared to an increase of 27.0 percent in the same period of the previous year. Destination-wise, exports to India and other countries increased 8.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively whereas exports to China decreased 55.2 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Exports of cardamom, jute goods, polyester yarn and threads, noodles, pashmina, among others, increased whereas exports of palm oil, pulses, zinc sheet, woolen carpet, textiles, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In five months of 2020/21, merchandise imports decreased 9.6 percent to Rs 525.50 billion compared to a decrease of 4.2 percent a year ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Destination-wise, imports from India, China and other countries decreased 1.1 percent, 24.4 percent, and 20.8 percent respectively.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Imports of crude soybean oil, rice, MS billet, telecommunication equipment and parts, coal, among others, increased whereas imports of petroleum products, aircraft spareparts, crude palm oil, other machinery and parts, transport equipment and parts, among others, decreased in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Based on customs points, exports from Birgunj Dry Port, Biratnagar, Kailali, Tatopani, Kanchanpur and Rasuwa Customs offices decreased whereas exports from all the other customs points increased in the review period. On the import side, imports from all the other customs points decreased except Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Krishnanagar, Kailali and Kanchanpur customs offices in the review period.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Trade Deficit </span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Total trade deficit narrowed down 10.9 percent to Rs 475.44 billion in five months of 2020/21. Such deficit had contracted 6.3 percent in the same period of the previous year. The export- import ratio increased to 9.5 percent in the review period from 8.2 percent in the same period of the previous year</span></span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Consumer Price Inflation</span></span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The y-o-y consumer price inflation stood at 2.93 percent in the fifth month of 2020/21 compared to 6.55 percent a year ago. Food and beverage inflation stood at 5.23 percent whereas non-food and service inflation stood at 1.16 percent in the review month.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The price of fruit, ghee and oil, vegetables, and pulses and legumes sub-groups rose 14.75 percent, 13.01 percent, 11.44 percent and 10.74 percent respectively on y-o-y basis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">In the review month, the Kathmandu Valley, Terai, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Hill and Mountain witnessed 3.71 percent, 2.35 percent, 3.95 percent and 4.22 percent inflation respectively. These regions had witnessed 7.60 percent, 6.66 percent, 5.27 percent and 4.83 percent inflation respectively a year ago.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12686', 'image' => '20210114114323_20200927035331_1601159663.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 11:41:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '12939', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NICCI Holds Round Table Meet on Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">January 14: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) organized a round table meet on “Business and Investment Opportunities in Nepal” between representatives of India-based BPO company Vertex Global Services India and Nepali stakeholders on Tuesday (January 12).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Speaking at the inauguration of the meeting, Chairperson of NICCI Shreejana Rana said that it is not possible to do all things single handedly in the present context and therefore coordination between all kinds of service providers and institutions is necessary for success. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Vice chairman of the chamber Sunil KC shed light on the motive for organising the roundtable meeting and pointed out to the global trend of outsourcing and effective mobilization of human resources in a cost effective way. He added that the meeting was held to discuss the possibility of BPO in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-size:16.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">The meeting was attended by CEO of Vertex Global Services India Gagan Arora, Chief Finance Officer Bikash Arora, Vice President-Corporate Relations Ashlin Madok, Vice President-Talent Acquisition Sachin Kalkal, Associate Director Tanmoya Dutta.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-01-14', 'modified' => '2021-01-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '12685', 'image' => '20210114044939_1. IMG_7857.JPG', 'article_date' => '2021-01-14 16:48:33', '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
