March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti.…
March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti.…
March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR…
March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143…
March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak.…
March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March…
March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17).…
March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by…
March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal…
March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world.…
March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the…
March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000…
March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday…
March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black…
March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade.…
March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the…
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', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1111%284%29.jpg" style="height:192px; width:200px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti. He was appointed as the acting governor of the central bank following the retirement of Governor Dr Chiranjivi Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal’s five-year term expired on Tuesday (March 17). A meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to assign the responsibilities of acting governor of NRB to Shivakoti. The Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the central bank informing about Shivakoti’s new role as the acting governor of NRB effective from Wednesday (March 18).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Shivakoti confirmed that he received a letter signed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada that mentions his new appointment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“I have received a letter to assume the responsibilities of the central bank as its acting governor until there is further arrangement,” Shivakoti told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The cabinet has so far failed to form a committee to recommend candidates to lead the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During normal circumstances, the government appoints a new governor of central bank one month before the retirement of the incumbent governor. However, this time, the government has not been able to appoint a new governor until the last day in office of the outgoing governor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Khatiwada, who is also the spokesperson of the government, had earlier claimed that the government would appoint a new governor of NRB by March 18.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-18', 'modified' => '2020-03-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11533', 'image' => '20200318125222_20190916090237_20190911014232_1568162571.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-18 12:51:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11782', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Everest Bank Continuous its Support to Teach for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative. Teach for Nepal is a movement of outstanding university graduates and young professionals who are committed to end education inequity in Nepal with two years of fellowship teaching in public schools. Everest Bank has been supporting the education, sanitation and drinking water in various government schools of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Everest Bank handed over a cheque of Rs 700,000 to Teach for Nepal amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bank has a customer base of over 1.1 million. It has been providing banking services through a network of 95 branches, 31 revenue collection counters, and 123 ATMs across the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11532', 'image' => '20200317125519_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:54:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism and Aviation Industries Reeling Under Effects of Coronavirus', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries. The fear of contracting the deadly disease has resulted in low arrival of tourists. This has led to just 10 percent occupancy in most of the hotels in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Domestic helicopter service has come to a complete halt due to lack of passengers, most of whom are usually foreigners.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to stakeholders, the monthly loss of the hotel industry is estimated to be around Rs 1.8 billion. Similarly, the domestic airline companies have incurred losses worth Rs 11 billion due to the coronavirus outbreak, that originated in China’s Wuhan in late December last year and has spread across the globe now.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost 60 percent of international flights have been cancelled after March 10 as government authorities worldwide took drastic measures to curb the spread of the disease which has taken more than 6500 lives across the world. The number of international air passengers has reportedly declined by 70 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Shreejana Rana, the hotel entrepreneurs have had to incur losses worth Rs 1.8 billion in a month due to the low arrival of tourists amid coronavirus concerns. The hotel business has reduced by 90 percent as domestic tourists also started taking precaution by cancelling their trips.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rana further said that hotels should have at least 40 percent occupancy to generate profit. She added that the hotel entrepreneurs had invested heavily for the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign but now their efforts have gone down the drain. In such a situation, she demanded the government to declare an emergency and provide relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Rameshwar Thapa, president of Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), said that the helicopter service and short take off and landing (STOL) have been the most affected in the aviation sector. He said that the peak season for helicopter service begins from mid-March but 95 percent of helicopters are grounded at this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are altogether 33 helicopters belonging to 10 companies in Nepal.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11531', 'image' => '20200317124008_20191210031810_20191205103810_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:39:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11780', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stockpiling of Daily Essentials Resulting in Shortage of Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. This has further aggravated the situation. The public has been flocking to general stores, super markets and retail shops to stockpile the essential goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the government has time and again assured of smooth supply of daily essentials, the public has still been hoarding excessive amounts of food such as rice, salt, edible oil, cooking gas among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Taking advantage of this situation, some businessmen and traders have been involved in creating artificial shortage of essential goods and selling them in the black market. This has caused a price hike of goods. The government, on the other hand, has not been able to ensure smooth flow of goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to executive committee member of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Deepak Malhotra, the consumers themselves are to be blamed for the shortage.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Storing excessive amount of goods by the customers has created an artificial shortage despite normal supply of goods,” said Malhotra.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The suppliers as well as the government have maintained that there is no shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials in the market. But still, stakeholders claim that the demand for rice, salt, edible oil, lentil among other essential goods has skyrocketed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rajesh Kumar, the owner of Manakamana Stores in Kalimati, informed New Business Age that a single family has stored a sack full of salt in case there is shortage due to the deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We used to sell one sack of salt during a normal day before. But now, we are selling ten sacks of salt on a daily basis,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Another businessman Rajesh Prasad Joshi of B and B Store says that some traders themselves have panicked and started storing goods. He, however, said that there isn’t any shortage of essential goods so far in the market. He argues that the public has lined for stockpiling goods due to the fear of price hike.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11530', 'image' => '20200317121735_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:17:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11779', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Test Operation of Melamchi Water Supply Project held Successfully', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16). The test operation was carried out by flowing water from the source of Melamchi river into the tunnel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the test, the project officials released water up to one kilometer into the tunnel at the rate of 500 liters per second. The infrastructures of the much-awaited projects are being tested as the project is in the final phase of completion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tiresh Prasad Khatri, executive director of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, said that there were no problems during the test operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We will now test other tunnels,” said Khatri, adding, “So far, we have completed 95 percent of the works.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The length of the pipeline from the project-site dam to Kathmandu is 26 kilometers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The contractor company is yet to fix gates at four points in the pipeline and the ventilation works are pending.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the successful test operation on Monday, Minister for Water and Irrigation Bina Magar claimed that the project will supply drinking water to Kathmandu within four months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project suffered a setback when the then Italian contractor – CMC di Ravenna – pulled out unilaterally citing its own financial problems in December 2018 when it was almost complete. The project was halted for some time and later the contract for completing the tunnel and head works were awarded to a Chinese company after which the project gained momentum again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11529', 'image' => '20200317114243_Melamchi 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 11:42:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11777', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NOC Slashes Prices of Petroleum Products ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the latest announcement, the prices of petrol, kerosene and diesel each have been lowered by Rs 2 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, a litre of petrol will now cost Rs 106 whereas kerosene and diesel will cost Rs 95. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The price of aviation fuel has been fixed at Rs 90 after reducing Rs 4.50 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC has stated that the prices have been revised according to the price of petroleum products in the international market. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11528', 'image' => '20200317094122_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 09:40:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11778', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara- Biratnagar Flights Come to a Halt ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus. The historic flight linking Biratnagar and Pokhara was started from February 3. The last flight was on February 28. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We couldn't get enough passengers on our 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from the beginning,'' informed Kausal Bhandari, the Biratnagar station manager of Buddha Air, which started the maiden flight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''Coronavirus added insult to our injury,'' he added. Bhandari said seven Indian passengers from Pokhara cancelled their tickets on their last flight owing to coronavirus scare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We didn't find foreigners from the beginning and when we were about to lure high-paying tourists from Pokhara to Biratnagar, coronavirus came in our way disrupting all flights,'' said Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private carrier had started three flights in a week in every alternate day with introductory price of Rs 7200. Had the 205 nautical miles and 65-minutes-long flight been a success story for couple of months, Nepal's largest private aviation player in terms of annual passengers, was going to introduce 72-seater aircraft, said Bhandari. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11527', 'image' => '20200317100700_qqqq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 10:03:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11776', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Market Reeling Under Shortage of LPG Despite Above Average Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The state-owned NOC then decided to increase the import of cooking gas to 45,000 metric tonnes per month to meet the growing demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Looking at the data of Birgunj Customs Point, the import of LPG from this entry point alone is sufficient to meet the demand of cooking gas for the whole country. According to the Birgunj Customs Office, a total of 38,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas was imported from this transit point between mid-February to mid-March. But the consumers did not get smooth supply of LPG despite normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The NOC has increased the import of cooking gas ever since the shortage of LPG appeared some weeks ago. Although the government has time and again claimed that it has increased the supply of LPG, the serpentine line of consumers at gas depots have not reduced at all. People have not stopped queuing for LPG despite government’s assurance of adequate supply of cooking gas. This is the first time since the economic blockade of 2015 that people in such a large number are seen in serpentine queue to get cooking gas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials has appeared in the market due to the fear of coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to more than 100 countries across the world.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Businessmen have reportedly started hoarding essential goods to make profit in case there is border closure amid coronavirus fears while the consumers have started panic shopping.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is clearly evident from the fact that Birgunj Customs Point importing more than required amount of LPG during normal time but the market still reeling under shortage of cooking gas. The customs point saw entry of 37,000 metric tonnes of LPG in between mid-January to mid-February, which was increased to 38,000 metric tonnes the following month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On Sunday, 90 bullets unloaded LPG at this customs point while 30 bullets of LPG had arrived a day ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But artificial shortage of cooking gas is still prevalent in the market due to the collusion of the dealers and suppliers. The government has failed to effectively regulate such malpractice despite being well aware of the situation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11526', 'image' => '20200316125501_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 12:54:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11775', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Relief Package from Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. Tourism industry and other businesses in Nepal have been largely affected by the deadly virus with the inflow of tourists declining significantly and foreign trade coming almost to a standstill, especially with China where the epidemic originated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Representatives of three major business organizations of the country – the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) made such request to Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during a meeting on Sunday (March 15).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stating that the coronavirus outbreak will have long-term effects on Nepal’s economy, the delegation sought government support in availing concession in bank loans and tax rebate among others at this time of crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In response, Finance Minister told the representatives of the private sector to submit written application mentioning clearly what kind of impact has the coronavirus made on which sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs informed the government that the is no demand in the market and they are not in a position to recover their amount from the market at the moment. In order to facilitate them, representatives of the private sector requested for government help in extending the time frame for repayment of loan, renewal of loan, delaying provisioning of bad loan and also demanded waiver of income tax, according to Shekhar Golchha, senior vice president of FNCCI.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They argued that the industrial sector is in crisis due to coronavirus and urged the government not to interfere if they reach an understanding with the banks to extend the period of repaying loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs said that the entire business of the country is facing a slowdown due to the deadly disease and urged the government not to collect income tax until the situation improves.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">CNI President Satish Kumar Moore said that the finance minister has assured of taking necessary measures after studying the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Although no decision was taken during today’s meeting, the finance minister is positive toward our demands,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the meeting, the private sector drew the attention of the government toward the ailing tourism industry, which has already shown visible impacts of coronavirus with the non arrival of tourists. They demanded immediate relief package to bail out the tourism industry from the current crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stakeholders said that the hotel and aviation industry has been facing problem of fund crunch and are struggling to pay the staffers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Joint Secretary Uttar Kumar Khatri, the finance minister reportedly said that the government is highly alert of the possible crisis and has adopted necessary measures to handle the current situation. He said that the finance minister urged the businessmen not to panic as the situation has not gone out of control.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11525', 'image' => '20200316115213_20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 11:51:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11772', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SAARC Leaders Agree to Set Up Regional Fund to Combat COVID-19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">All eight member states of SAARC have agreed to set up a regional emergency fund to combat the deadly disease that has also surfaced in South Asia, with India reporting more than 100 cases and two deaths as of mid-March.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The fund was set up at the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who committed US$ 10 million in a video conference of the SAARC nations on Sunday. Modi has urged other member states to voluntarily contribute to the fund for a common cause. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Head of states or government of the SAARC member states including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and a government representative from Pakistan had participated in the video conference held at the behest of Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The SAARC meeting has been stalled due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan since 2014. India has been boycotting the regional meeting ever since it was last held in Kathmandu in 2014 accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism. Pakistan denies the allegation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is the first time in six years that all the member states of SAARC participated in the regional meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It was India who proposed setting the regional fund to combat the disease together. Indian Prime Minister Modi said in the video conference that cooperation between the SAARC nations can curb the spread of this deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He informed that India has been setting up a Rapid Response Team of specialist doctors and expressed willingness to extend support to other member states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Any of us can use the fund to meet the cost of immediate actions,” said Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost all the member states welcomed India’s proposal and expressed their solidarity to fight the disease together.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the current chair of SAARC, backed Modi’s proposal and informed the participants about the measures adopted by Nepal to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus. He said that Nepal at present does not have a single case of coronavirus reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Oli shared that Nepal has increased the capacity of the hospitals while making preparations for isolation wards to avert the possible outbreak of COVID-19. He further said that Nepal stopped issuing on-arrival visas and also postponed international seminars and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Modi reportedly said there were fewer than 150 cases in countries comprising the SAARC nations but the situation ahead was uncertain.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11524', 'image' => '20200316103251_aaa11111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:32:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11774', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Closes Borders as Coronavirus Spreads in Europe and Other Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Reuters, countries have shuttered museums, tourist attractions and sporting events to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, with more than 138,000 people worldwide infected and more than 5,000 dead.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The World Health Organization (WHO) said that Europe has become the pandemic’s current epicenter after reporting more cases and deaths than the rest of world combined, apart from mainland China where the coronavirus originated last December.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to media reports, Italy is the most affected country outside China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Al Jazeera reported that the death toll in Italy has increased to 1809 as of Sunday evening while Iran is another country grappling with the disease. Iran has reported around 724 deaths, according to the Associated Press.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia suspended all international flights for two weeks, starting from Sunday while Taiwan will require travelers from mainland Europe, Britain and Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days, while New Zealand implemented a similar measure for all those entering the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, according to Reuters, announced a ban on public events with more than 500 people, joining countries like Australia where the ban will come into force on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Britain will reportedly introduce emergency laws this week to ban mass gatherings.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Manila, the capital of the Philippines, announced nighttime curfews and urged shopping malls to close for one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While infections continue to climb around the world, the number of new cases is falling in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus, has now seen new infections fall for nine straight days, according to Reuters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Travel bans have hammered airlines and travel companies worldwide, while financial markets have been hit by panic selling this week.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11523', 'image' => '20200316105734_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:56:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11773', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Magnitude 5 Quake Jolts Pokhara ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening, according to seismologist Mukunda Bhattarai of the National Seismological Center (NSC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The quake was felt in Kaski, Gorkha, Tanahun, Lamjung and Syangja districts of the Gandaki Province. Bhattarai said that the Centre is working to confirm whether or not the quake is an aftershock of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11522', 'image' => '20200316103527_new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:34:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11771', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Police Arrest 7 Persons along with 160,000 Plus Pieces of Facemasks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Promoting black market of facemasks is punishable under the law. The arrestees were found to have been selling each piece of facemask at Rs 30 to Rs 40 against its actual price of Rs 5, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At present, the demand for facemasks is increasing amid coronavirus fear. Acting on a tip off, a police squad seized godowns at Kapan and Satungal run by the arrestees and confiscated the facemasks, he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earlier on Saturday, the police had arrested eight persons from Dallu along with 78,000 pieces of facemasks they had stored to sell illegally. - RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11521', 'image' => '20200316093436_latest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 09:34:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11769', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4.5 Million Bank Accounts Dormant in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. This is just a representative case of many such dormant accounts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 26 million accounts have been opened in various banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of Nepal till date. Out of them, 45,51,596 accounts have become dormant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), 17.48 percent of the total bank accounts are lying dormant in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government is planning to use the savings in such accounts which have remained dormant for more than two decades in development works. The government has proposed nationalizing the amounts of 20-year-old dormant accounts in the third amendment to the Banks and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prior to this, the amounts in such dormant accounts used to be transferred to the Banking Development Fund of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To withdraw the amount after 20 years, the depositors need to show their identity cards and other credentials first. In case the depositors come to claim the amount after 20 years when the amount has already transferred to the government’s development fund in the current context, the proposed bill has provision for the BFIs to release the amount and then claim it from the NRB. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has already presented the amendment proposal in the House of Representatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The government intends to utilize the amount which have remained idle since many years,” said Khatiwada, adding that the depositors can claim the amount later if they can furnish proper evidences.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He also added that it is the responsibility of the government to protect the properties of the people and will make available the amount to the rightful owners as soon as they seek to withdraw the amount.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11520', 'image' => '20200315121716_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 12:16:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11768', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Hard Hit by COVID-19: Stakeholders', 'sub_title' => 'Entrepreneurs say Hotel Industry is on the Brink of Closure', 'summary' => 'March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe. Stakeholders have realized the need to discuss about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on Nepal’s economy and the relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is organizing a meeting on Sunday (March 15) to discuss the issues while the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) is holding a meeting on Wednesday to talk about the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism industry of Nepal, which has been affected the most due to the lack of tourists amid coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Senior Vice President of FNCCI Shekhar Golchha said that they will be discussing the long-term effects of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The meeting will dwell on what might be the possible long-term effects of coronavirus and what kind of packages would be appropriate to handle the situation,” said Golchha.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The standing committee meeting of FNCCI held last Friday has already taken a decision to request the government to extend the date of loan repayment by businessmen to BFIs and the government by three months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">FNCCI also decided to seek government’s help for package relief to bail out the tourism industry from further trouble. According to the FNCCI, other countries have already started providing relief packages to the tourism industry and Nepal should also follow suit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President of HAN Shreejana Rana said that they will officially seek support from the government for protection of their business after Wednesday’s meeting. She pointed out to the need to reduce electricity tariff and interest rates charged by the banks at a time when the whole industry is reeling under crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Satish Kumar Moore also says that the government should announce relief packages as the entire economy has started bearing the brunt of coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He said that the deadly disease has severely affected all the businesses except food processing industries and machinery industries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We are not in a situation to recover our money from the market,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The production has gone down due to low demand and there is also the lack of raw materials,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the hotel entrepreneurs, their condition has returned to that of 2003-4 when the country was at the peak of Maoist insurgency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of Ace Hotel and Resort Yogendra Shakya said that the hotel industry was on the brink of closure one and a half decades ago and we are facing similar situation again. The government must announce relief package to save this sector, according to Shakya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11519', 'image' => '20200315104642_20200312112722_111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 10:46:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $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
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', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1111%284%29.jpg" style="height:192px; width:200px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti. He was appointed as the acting governor of the central bank following the retirement of Governor Dr Chiranjivi Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal’s five-year term expired on Tuesday (March 17). A meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to assign the responsibilities of acting governor of NRB to Shivakoti. The Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the central bank informing about Shivakoti’s new role as the acting governor of NRB effective from Wednesday (March 18).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Shivakoti confirmed that he received a letter signed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada that mentions his new appointment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“I have received a letter to assume the responsibilities of the central bank as its acting governor until there is further arrangement,” Shivakoti told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The cabinet has so far failed to form a committee to recommend candidates to lead the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During normal circumstances, the government appoints a new governor of central bank one month before the retirement of the incumbent governor. However, this time, the government has not been able to appoint a new governor until the last day in office of the outgoing governor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Khatiwada, who is also the spokesperson of the government, had earlier claimed that the government would appoint a new governor of NRB by March 18.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-18', 'modified' => '2020-03-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11533', 'image' => '20200318125222_20190916090237_20190911014232_1568162571.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-18 12:51:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11782', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Everest Bank Continuous its Support to Teach for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative. Teach for Nepal is a movement of outstanding university graduates and young professionals who are committed to end education inequity in Nepal with two years of fellowship teaching in public schools. Everest Bank has been supporting the education, sanitation and drinking water in various government schools of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Everest Bank handed over a cheque of Rs 700,000 to Teach for Nepal amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bank has a customer base of over 1.1 million. It has been providing banking services through a network of 95 branches, 31 revenue collection counters, and 123 ATMs across the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11532', 'image' => '20200317125519_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:54:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism and Aviation Industries Reeling Under Effects of Coronavirus', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries. The fear of contracting the deadly disease has resulted in low arrival of tourists. This has led to just 10 percent occupancy in most of the hotels in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Domestic helicopter service has come to a complete halt due to lack of passengers, most of whom are usually foreigners.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to stakeholders, the monthly loss of the hotel industry is estimated to be around Rs 1.8 billion. Similarly, the domestic airline companies have incurred losses worth Rs 11 billion due to the coronavirus outbreak, that originated in China’s Wuhan in late December last year and has spread across the globe now.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost 60 percent of international flights have been cancelled after March 10 as government authorities worldwide took drastic measures to curb the spread of the disease which has taken more than 6500 lives across the world. The number of international air passengers has reportedly declined by 70 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Shreejana Rana, the hotel entrepreneurs have had to incur losses worth Rs 1.8 billion in a month due to the low arrival of tourists amid coronavirus concerns. The hotel business has reduced by 90 percent as domestic tourists also started taking precaution by cancelling their trips.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rana further said that hotels should have at least 40 percent occupancy to generate profit. She added that the hotel entrepreneurs had invested heavily for the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign but now their efforts have gone down the drain. In such a situation, she demanded the government to declare an emergency and provide relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Rameshwar Thapa, president of Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), said that the helicopter service and short take off and landing (STOL) have been the most affected in the aviation sector. He said that the peak season for helicopter service begins from mid-March but 95 percent of helicopters are grounded at this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are altogether 33 helicopters belonging to 10 companies in Nepal.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11531', 'image' => '20200317124008_20191210031810_20191205103810_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:39:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11780', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stockpiling of Daily Essentials Resulting in Shortage of Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. This has further aggravated the situation. The public has been flocking to general stores, super markets and retail shops to stockpile the essential goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the government has time and again assured of smooth supply of daily essentials, the public has still been hoarding excessive amounts of food such as rice, salt, edible oil, cooking gas among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Taking advantage of this situation, some businessmen and traders have been involved in creating artificial shortage of essential goods and selling them in the black market. This has caused a price hike of goods. The government, on the other hand, has not been able to ensure smooth flow of goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to executive committee member of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Deepak Malhotra, the consumers themselves are to be blamed for the shortage.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Storing excessive amount of goods by the customers has created an artificial shortage despite normal supply of goods,” said Malhotra.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The suppliers as well as the government have maintained that there is no shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials in the market. But still, stakeholders claim that the demand for rice, salt, edible oil, lentil among other essential goods has skyrocketed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rajesh Kumar, the owner of Manakamana Stores in Kalimati, informed New Business Age that a single family has stored a sack full of salt in case there is shortage due to the deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We used to sell one sack of salt during a normal day before. But now, we are selling ten sacks of salt on a daily basis,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Another businessman Rajesh Prasad Joshi of B and B Store says that some traders themselves have panicked and started storing goods. He, however, said that there isn’t any shortage of essential goods so far in the market. He argues that the public has lined for stockpiling goods due to the fear of price hike.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11530', 'image' => '20200317121735_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:17:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11779', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Test Operation of Melamchi Water Supply Project held Successfully', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16). The test operation was carried out by flowing water from the source of Melamchi river into the tunnel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the test, the project officials released water up to one kilometer into the tunnel at the rate of 500 liters per second. The infrastructures of the much-awaited projects are being tested as the project is in the final phase of completion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tiresh Prasad Khatri, executive director of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, said that there were no problems during the test operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We will now test other tunnels,” said Khatri, adding, “So far, we have completed 95 percent of the works.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The length of the pipeline from the project-site dam to Kathmandu is 26 kilometers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The contractor company is yet to fix gates at four points in the pipeline and the ventilation works are pending.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the successful test operation on Monday, Minister for Water and Irrigation Bina Magar claimed that the project will supply drinking water to Kathmandu within four months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project suffered a setback when the then Italian contractor – CMC di Ravenna – pulled out unilaterally citing its own financial problems in December 2018 when it was almost complete. The project was halted for some time and later the contract for completing the tunnel and head works were awarded to a Chinese company after which the project gained momentum again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11529', 'image' => '20200317114243_Melamchi 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 11:42:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11777', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NOC Slashes Prices of Petroleum Products ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the latest announcement, the prices of petrol, kerosene and diesel each have been lowered by Rs 2 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, a litre of petrol will now cost Rs 106 whereas kerosene and diesel will cost Rs 95. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The price of aviation fuel has been fixed at Rs 90 after reducing Rs 4.50 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC has stated that the prices have been revised according to the price of petroleum products in the international market. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11528', 'image' => '20200317094122_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 09:40:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11778', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara- Biratnagar Flights Come to a Halt ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus. The historic flight linking Biratnagar and Pokhara was started from February 3. The last flight was on February 28. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We couldn't get enough passengers on our 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from the beginning,'' informed Kausal Bhandari, the Biratnagar station manager of Buddha Air, which started the maiden flight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''Coronavirus added insult to our injury,'' he added. Bhandari said seven Indian passengers from Pokhara cancelled their tickets on their last flight owing to coronavirus scare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We didn't find foreigners from the beginning and when we were about to lure high-paying tourists from Pokhara to Biratnagar, coronavirus came in our way disrupting all flights,'' said Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private carrier had started three flights in a week in every alternate day with introductory price of Rs 7200. Had the 205 nautical miles and 65-minutes-long flight been a success story for couple of months, Nepal's largest private aviation player in terms of annual passengers, was going to introduce 72-seater aircraft, said Bhandari. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11527', 'image' => '20200317100700_qqqq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 10:03:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11776', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Market Reeling Under Shortage of LPG Despite Above Average Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The state-owned NOC then decided to increase the import of cooking gas to 45,000 metric tonnes per month to meet the growing demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Looking at the data of Birgunj Customs Point, the import of LPG from this entry point alone is sufficient to meet the demand of cooking gas for the whole country. According to the Birgunj Customs Office, a total of 38,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas was imported from this transit point between mid-February to mid-March. But the consumers did not get smooth supply of LPG despite normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The NOC has increased the import of cooking gas ever since the shortage of LPG appeared some weeks ago. Although the government has time and again claimed that it has increased the supply of LPG, the serpentine line of consumers at gas depots have not reduced at all. People have not stopped queuing for LPG despite government’s assurance of adequate supply of cooking gas. This is the first time since the economic blockade of 2015 that people in such a large number are seen in serpentine queue to get cooking gas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials has appeared in the market due to the fear of coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to more than 100 countries across the world.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Businessmen have reportedly started hoarding essential goods to make profit in case there is border closure amid coronavirus fears while the consumers have started panic shopping.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is clearly evident from the fact that Birgunj Customs Point importing more than required amount of LPG during normal time but the market still reeling under shortage of cooking gas. The customs point saw entry of 37,000 metric tonnes of LPG in between mid-January to mid-February, which was increased to 38,000 metric tonnes the following month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On Sunday, 90 bullets unloaded LPG at this customs point while 30 bullets of LPG had arrived a day ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But artificial shortage of cooking gas is still prevalent in the market due to the collusion of the dealers and suppliers. The government has failed to effectively regulate such malpractice despite being well aware of the situation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11526', 'image' => '20200316125501_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 12:54:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11775', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Relief Package from Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. Tourism industry and other businesses in Nepal have been largely affected by the deadly virus with the inflow of tourists declining significantly and foreign trade coming almost to a standstill, especially with China where the epidemic originated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Representatives of three major business organizations of the country – the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) made such request to Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during a meeting on Sunday (March 15).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stating that the coronavirus outbreak will have long-term effects on Nepal’s economy, the delegation sought government support in availing concession in bank loans and tax rebate among others at this time of crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In response, Finance Minister told the representatives of the private sector to submit written application mentioning clearly what kind of impact has the coronavirus made on which sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs informed the government that the is no demand in the market and they are not in a position to recover their amount from the market at the moment. In order to facilitate them, representatives of the private sector requested for government help in extending the time frame for repayment of loan, renewal of loan, delaying provisioning of bad loan and also demanded waiver of income tax, according to Shekhar Golchha, senior vice president of FNCCI.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They argued that the industrial sector is in crisis due to coronavirus and urged the government not to interfere if they reach an understanding with the banks to extend the period of repaying loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs said that the entire business of the country is facing a slowdown due to the deadly disease and urged the government not to collect income tax until the situation improves.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">CNI President Satish Kumar Moore said that the finance minister has assured of taking necessary measures after studying the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Although no decision was taken during today’s meeting, the finance minister is positive toward our demands,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the meeting, the private sector drew the attention of the government toward the ailing tourism industry, which has already shown visible impacts of coronavirus with the non arrival of tourists. They demanded immediate relief package to bail out the tourism industry from the current crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stakeholders said that the hotel and aviation industry has been facing problem of fund crunch and are struggling to pay the staffers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Joint Secretary Uttar Kumar Khatri, the finance minister reportedly said that the government is highly alert of the possible crisis and has adopted necessary measures to handle the current situation. He said that the finance minister urged the businessmen not to panic as the situation has not gone out of control.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11525', 'image' => '20200316115213_20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 11:51:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11772', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SAARC Leaders Agree to Set Up Regional Fund to Combat COVID-19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">All eight member states of SAARC have agreed to set up a regional emergency fund to combat the deadly disease that has also surfaced in South Asia, with India reporting more than 100 cases and two deaths as of mid-March.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The fund was set up at the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who committed US$ 10 million in a video conference of the SAARC nations on Sunday. Modi has urged other member states to voluntarily contribute to the fund for a common cause. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Head of states or government of the SAARC member states including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and a government representative from Pakistan had participated in the video conference held at the behest of Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The SAARC meeting has been stalled due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan since 2014. India has been boycotting the regional meeting ever since it was last held in Kathmandu in 2014 accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism. Pakistan denies the allegation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is the first time in six years that all the member states of SAARC participated in the regional meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It was India who proposed setting the regional fund to combat the disease together. Indian Prime Minister Modi said in the video conference that cooperation between the SAARC nations can curb the spread of this deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He informed that India has been setting up a Rapid Response Team of specialist doctors and expressed willingness to extend support to other member states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Any of us can use the fund to meet the cost of immediate actions,” said Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost all the member states welcomed India’s proposal and expressed their solidarity to fight the disease together.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the current chair of SAARC, backed Modi’s proposal and informed the participants about the measures adopted by Nepal to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus. He said that Nepal at present does not have a single case of coronavirus reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Oli shared that Nepal has increased the capacity of the hospitals while making preparations for isolation wards to avert the possible outbreak of COVID-19. He further said that Nepal stopped issuing on-arrival visas and also postponed international seminars and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Modi reportedly said there were fewer than 150 cases in countries comprising the SAARC nations but the situation ahead was uncertain.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11524', 'image' => '20200316103251_aaa11111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:32:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11774', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Closes Borders as Coronavirus Spreads in Europe and Other Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Reuters, countries have shuttered museums, tourist attractions and sporting events to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, with more than 138,000 people worldwide infected and more than 5,000 dead.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The World Health Organization (WHO) said that Europe has become the pandemic’s current epicenter after reporting more cases and deaths than the rest of world combined, apart from mainland China where the coronavirus originated last December.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to media reports, Italy is the most affected country outside China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Al Jazeera reported that the death toll in Italy has increased to 1809 as of Sunday evening while Iran is another country grappling with the disease. Iran has reported around 724 deaths, according to the Associated Press.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia suspended all international flights for two weeks, starting from Sunday while Taiwan will require travelers from mainland Europe, Britain and Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days, while New Zealand implemented a similar measure for all those entering the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, according to Reuters, announced a ban on public events with more than 500 people, joining countries like Australia where the ban will come into force on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Britain will reportedly introduce emergency laws this week to ban mass gatherings.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Manila, the capital of the Philippines, announced nighttime curfews and urged shopping malls to close for one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While infections continue to climb around the world, the number of new cases is falling in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus, has now seen new infections fall for nine straight days, according to Reuters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Travel bans have hammered airlines and travel companies worldwide, while financial markets have been hit by panic selling this week.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11523', 'image' => '20200316105734_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:56:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11773', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Magnitude 5 Quake Jolts Pokhara ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening, according to seismologist Mukunda Bhattarai of the National Seismological Center (NSC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The quake was felt in Kaski, Gorkha, Tanahun, Lamjung and Syangja districts of the Gandaki Province. Bhattarai said that the Centre is working to confirm whether or not the quake is an aftershock of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11522', 'image' => '20200316103527_new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:34:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11771', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Police Arrest 7 Persons along with 160,000 Plus Pieces of Facemasks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Promoting black market of facemasks is punishable under the law. The arrestees were found to have been selling each piece of facemask at Rs 30 to Rs 40 against its actual price of Rs 5, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At present, the demand for facemasks is increasing amid coronavirus fear. Acting on a tip off, a police squad seized godowns at Kapan and Satungal run by the arrestees and confiscated the facemasks, he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earlier on Saturday, the police had arrested eight persons from Dallu along with 78,000 pieces of facemasks they had stored to sell illegally. - RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11521', 'image' => '20200316093436_latest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 09:34:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11769', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4.5 Million Bank Accounts Dormant in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. This is just a representative case of many such dormant accounts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 26 million accounts have been opened in various banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of Nepal till date. Out of them, 45,51,596 accounts have become dormant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), 17.48 percent of the total bank accounts are lying dormant in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government is planning to use the savings in such accounts which have remained dormant for more than two decades in development works. The government has proposed nationalizing the amounts of 20-year-old dormant accounts in the third amendment to the Banks and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prior to this, the amounts in such dormant accounts used to be transferred to the Banking Development Fund of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To withdraw the amount after 20 years, the depositors need to show their identity cards and other credentials first. In case the depositors come to claim the amount after 20 years when the amount has already transferred to the government’s development fund in the current context, the proposed bill has provision for the BFIs to release the amount and then claim it from the NRB. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has already presented the amendment proposal in the House of Representatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The government intends to utilize the amount which have remained idle since many years,” said Khatiwada, adding that the depositors can claim the amount later if they can furnish proper evidences.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He also added that it is the responsibility of the government to protect the properties of the people and will make available the amount to the rightful owners as soon as they seek to withdraw the amount.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11520', 'image' => '20200315121716_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 12:16:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11768', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Hard Hit by COVID-19: Stakeholders', 'sub_title' => 'Entrepreneurs say Hotel Industry is on the Brink of Closure', 'summary' => 'March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe. Stakeholders have realized the need to discuss about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on Nepal’s economy and the relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is organizing a meeting on Sunday (March 15) to discuss the issues while the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) is holding a meeting on Wednesday to talk about the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism industry of Nepal, which has been affected the most due to the lack of tourists amid coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Senior Vice President of FNCCI Shekhar Golchha said that they will be discussing the long-term effects of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The meeting will dwell on what might be the possible long-term effects of coronavirus and what kind of packages would be appropriate to handle the situation,” said Golchha.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The standing committee meeting of FNCCI held last Friday has already taken a decision to request the government to extend the date of loan repayment by businessmen to BFIs and the government by three months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">FNCCI also decided to seek government’s help for package relief to bail out the tourism industry from further trouble. According to the FNCCI, other countries have already started providing relief packages to the tourism industry and Nepal should also follow suit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President of HAN Shreejana Rana said that they will officially seek support from the government for protection of their business after Wednesday’s meeting. She pointed out to the need to reduce electricity tariff and interest rates charged by the banks at a time when the whole industry is reeling under crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Satish Kumar Moore also says that the government should announce relief packages as the entire economy has started bearing the brunt of coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He said that the deadly disease has severely affected all the businesses except food processing industries and machinery industries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We are not in a situation to recover our money from the market,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The production has gone down due to low demand and there is also the lack of raw materials,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the hotel entrepreneurs, their condition has returned to that of 2003-4 when the country was at the peak of Maoist insurgency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of Ace Hotel and Resort Yogendra Shakya said that the hotel industry was on the brink of closure one and a half decades ago and we are facing similar situation again. The government must announce relief package to save this sector, according to Shakya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11519', 'image' => '20200315104642_20200312112722_111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 10:46:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11787', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Appoints Shivakoti as Acting Governor of Central Bank', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti. ', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1111%284%29.jpg" style="height:192px; width:200px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti. He was appointed as the acting governor of the central bank following the retirement of Governor Dr Chiranjivi Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal’s five-year term expired on Tuesday (March 17). A meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to assign the responsibilities of acting governor of NRB to Shivakoti. The Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the central bank informing about Shivakoti’s new role as the acting governor of NRB effective from Wednesday (March 18).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Shivakoti confirmed that he received a letter signed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada that mentions his new appointment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“I have received a letter to assume the responsibilities of the central bank as its acting governor until there is further arrangement,” Shivakoti told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The cabinet has so far failed to form a committee to recommend candidates to lead the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During normal circumstances, the government appoints a new governor of central bank one month before the retirement of the incumbent governor. However, this time, the government has not been able to appoint a new governor until the last day in office of the outgoing governor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Khatiwada, who is also the spokesperson of the government, had earlier claimed that the government would appoint a new governor of NRB by March 18.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-18', 'modified' => '2020-03-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11533', 'image' => '20200318125222_20190916090237_20190911014232_1568162571.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-18 12:51:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11782', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Everest Bank Continuous its Support to Teach for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative. Teach for Nepal is a movement of outstanding university graduates and young professionals who are committed to end education inequity in Nepal with two years of fellowship teaching in public schools. Everest Bank has been supporting the education, sanitation and drinking water in various government schools of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Everest Bank handed over a cheque of Rs 700,000 to Teach for Nepal amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bank has a customer base of over 1.1 million. It has been providing banking services through a network of 95 branches, 31 revenue collection counters, and 123 ATMs across the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11532', 'image' => '20200317125519_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:54:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism and Aviation Industries Reeling Under Effects of Coronavirus', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries. The fear of contracting the deadly disease has resulted in low arrival of tourists. This has led to just 10 percent occupancy in most of the hotels in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Domestic helicopter service has come to a complete halt due to lack of passengers, most of whom are usually foreigners.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to stakeholders, the monthly loss of the hotel industry is estimated to be around Rs 1.8 billion. Similarly, the domestic airline companies have incurred losses worth Rs 11 billion due to the coronavirus outbreak, that originated in China’s Wuhan in late December last year and has spread across the globe now.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost 60 percent of international flights have been cancelled after March 10 as government authorities worldwide took drastic measures to curb the spread of the disease which has taken more than 6500 lives across the world. The number of international air passengers has reportedly declined by 70 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Shreejana Rana, the hotel entrepreneurs have had to incur losses worth Rs 1.8 billion in a month due to the low arrival of tourists amid coronavirus concerns. The hotel business has reduced by 90 percent as domestic tourists also started taking precaution by cancelling their trips.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rana further said that hotels should have at least 40 percent occupancy to generate profit. She added that the hotel entrepreneurs had invested heavily for the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign but now their efforts have gone down the drain. In such a situation, she demanded the government to declare an emergency and provide relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Rameshwar Thapa, president of Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), said that the helicopter service and short take off and landing (STOL) have been the most affected in the aviation sector. He said that the peak season for helicopter service begins from mid-March but 95 percent of helicopters are grounded at this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are altogether 33 helicopters belonging to 10 companies in Nepal.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11531', 'image' => '20200317124008_20191210031810_20191205103810_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:39:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11780', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stockpiling of Daily Essentials Resulting in Shortage of Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. This has further aggravated the situation. The public has been flocking to general stores, super markets and retail shops to stockpile the essential goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the government has time and again assured of smooth supply of daily essentials, the public has still been hoarding excessive amounts of food such as rice, salt, edible oil, cooking gas among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Taking advantage of this situation, some businessmen and traders have been involved in creating artificial shortage of essential goods and selling them in the black market. This has caused a price hike of goods. The government, on the other hand, has not been able to ensure smooth flow of goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to executive committee member of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Deepak Malhotra, the consumers themselves are to be blamed for the shortage.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Storing excessive amount of goods by the customers has created an artificial shortage despite normal supply of goods,” said Malhotra.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The suppliers as well as the government have maintained that there is no shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials in the market. But still, stakeholders claim that the demand for rice, salt, edible oil, lentil among other essential goods has skyrocketed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rajesh Kumar, the owner of Manakamana Stores in Kalimati, informed New Business Age that a single family has stored a sack full of salt in case there is shortage due to the deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We used to sell one sack of salt during a normal day before. But now, we are selling ten sacks of salt on a daily basis,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Another businessman Rajesh Prasad Joshi of B and B Store says that some traders themselves have panicked and started storing goods. He, however, said that there isn’t any shortage of essential goods so far in the market. He argues that the public has lined for stockpiling goods due to the fear of price hike.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11530', 'image' => '20200317121735_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:17:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11779', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Test Operation of Melamchi Water Supply Project held Successfully', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16). The test operation was carried out by flowing water from the source of Melamchi river into the tunnel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the test, the project officials released water up to one kilometer into the tunnel at the rate of 500 liters per second. The infrastructures of the much-awaited projects are being tested as the project is in the final phase of completion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tiresh Prasad Khatri, executive director of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, said that there were no problems during the test operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We will now test other tunnels,” said Khatri, adding, “So far, we have completed 95 percent of the works.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The length of the pipeline from the project-site dam to Kathmandu is 26 kilometers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The contractor company is yet to fix gates at four points in the pipeline and the ventilation works are pending.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the successful test operation on Monday, Minister for Water and Irrigation Bina Magar claimed that the project will supply drinking water to Kathmandu within four months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project suffered a setback when the then Italian contractor – CMC di Ravenna – pulled out unilaterally citing its own financial problems in December 2018 when it was almost complete. The project was halted for some time and later the contract for completing the tunnel and head works were awarded to a Chinese company after which the project gained momentum again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11529', 'image' => '20200317114243_Melamchi 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 11:42:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11777', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NOC Slashes Prices of Petroleum Products ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the latest announcement, the prices of petrol, kerosene and diesel each have been lowered by Rs 2 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, a litre of petrol will now cost Rs 106 whereas kerosene and diesel will cost Rs 95. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The price of aviation fuel has been fixed at Rs 90 after reducing Rs 4.50 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC has stated that the prices have been revised according to the price of petroleum products in the international market. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11528', 'image' => '20200317094122_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 09:40:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11778', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara- Biratnagar Flights Come to a Halt ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus. The historic flight linking Biratnagar and Pokhara was started from February 3. The last flight was on February 28. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We couldn't get enough passengers on our 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from the beginning,'' informed Kausal Bhandari, the Biratnagar station manager of Buddha Air, which started the maiden flight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''Coronavirus added insult to our injury,'' he added. Bhandari said seven Indian passengers from Pokhara cancelled their tickets on their last flight owing to coronavirus scare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We didn't find foreigners from the beginning and when we were about to lure high-paying tourists from Pokhara to Biratnagar, coronavirus came in our way disrupting all flights,'' said Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private carrier had started three flights in a week in every alternate day with introductory price of Rs 7200. Had the 205 nautical miles and 65-minutes-long flight been a success story for couple of months, Nepal's largest private aviation player in terms of annual passengers, was going to introduce 72-seater aircraft, said Bhandari. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11527', 'image' => '20200317100700_qqqq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 10:03:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11776', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Market Reeling Under Shortage of LPG Despite Above Average Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The state-owned NOC then decided to increase the import of cooking gas to 45,000 metric tonnes per month to meet the growing demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Looking at the data of Birgunj Customs Point, the import of LPG from this entry point alone is sufficient to meet the demand of cooking gas for the whole country. According to the Birgunj Customs Office, a total of 38,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas was imported from this transit point between mid-February to mid-March. But the consumers did not get smooth supply of LPG despite normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The NOC has increased the import of cooking gas ever since the shortage of LPG appeared some weeks ago. Although the government has time and again claimed that it has increased the supply of LPG, the serpentine line of consumers at gas depots have not reduced at all. People have not stopped queuing for LPG despite government’s assurance of adequate supply of cooking gas. This is the first time since the economic blockade of 2015 that people in such a large number are seen in serpentine queue to get cooking gas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials has appeared in the market due to the fear of coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to more than 100 countries across the world.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Businessmen have reportedly started hoarding essential goods to make profit in case there is border closure amid coronavirus fears while the consumers have started panic shopping.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is clearly evident from the fact that Birgunj Customs Point importing more than required amount of LPG during normal time but the market still reeling under shortage of cooking gas. The customs point saw entry of 37,000 metric tonnes of LPG in between mid-January to mid-February, which was increased to 38,000 metric tonnes the following month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On Sunday, 90 bullets unloaded LPG at this customs point while 30 bullets of LPG had arrived a day ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But artificial shortage of cooking gas is still prevalent in the market due to the collusion of the dealers and suppliers. The government has failed to effectively regulate such malpractice despite being well aware of the situation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11526', 'image' => '20200316125501_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 12:54:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11775', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Relief Package from Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. Tourism industry and other businesses in Nepal have been largely affected by the deadly virus with the inflow of tourists declining significantly and foreign trade coming almost to a standstill, especially with China where the epidemic originated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Representatives of three major business organizations of the country – the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) made such request to Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during a meeting on Sunday (March 15).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stating that the coronavirus outbreak will have long-term effects on Nepal’s economy, the delegation sought government support in availing concession in bank loans and tax rebate among others at this time of crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In response, Finance Minister told the representatives of the private sector to submit written application mentioning clearly what kind of impact has the coronavirus made on which sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs informed the government that the is no demand in the market and they are not in a position to recover their amount from the market at the moment. In order to facilitate them, representatives of the private sector requested for government help in extending the time frame for repayment of loan, renewal of loan, delaying provisioning of bad loan and also demanded waiver of income tax, according to Shekhar Golchha, senior vice president of FNCCI.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They argued that the industrial sector is in crisis due to coronavirus and urged the government not to interfere if they reach an understanding with the banks to extend the period of repaying loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs said that the entire business of the country is facing a slowdown due to the deadly disease and urged the government not to collect income tax until the situation improves.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">CNI President Satish Kumar Moore said that the finance minister has assured of taking necessary measures after studying the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Although no decision was taken during today’s meeting, the finance minister is positive toward our demands,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the meeting, the private sector drew the attention of the government toward the ailing tourism industry, which has already shown visible impacts of coronavirus with the non arrival of tourists. They demanded immediate relief package to bail out the tourism industry from the current crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stakeholders said that the hotel and aviation industry has been facing problem of fund crunch and are struggling to pay the staffers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Joint Secretary Uttar Kumar Khatri, the finance minister reportedly said that the government is highly alert of the possible crisis and has adopted necessary measures to handle the current situation. He said that the finance minister urged the businessmen not to panic as the situation has not gone out of control.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11525', 'image' => '20200316115213_20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 11:51:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11772', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SAARC Leaders Agree to Set Up Regional Fund to Combat COVID-19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">All eight member states of SAARC have agreed to set up a regional emergency fund to combat the deadly disease that has also surfaced in South Asia, with India reporting more than 100 cases and two deaths as of mid-March.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The fund was set up at the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who committed US$ 10 million in a video conference of the SAARC nations on Sunday. Modi has urged other member states to voluntarily contribute to the fund for a common cause. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Head of states or government of the SAARC member states including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and a government representative from Pakistan had participated in the video conference held at the behest of Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The SAARC meeting has been stalled due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan since 2014. India has been boycotting the regional meeting ever since it was last held in Kathmandu in 2014 accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism. Pakistan denies the allegation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is the first time in six years that all the member states of SAARC participated in the regional meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It was India who proposed setting the regional fund to combat the disease together. Indian Prime Minister Modi said in the video conference that cooperation between the SAARC nations can curb the spread of this deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He informed that India has been setting up a Rapid Response Team of specialist doctors and expressed willingness to extend support to other member states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Any of us can use the fund to meet the cost of immediate actions,” said Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost all the member states welcomed India’s proposal and expressed their solidarity to fight the disease together.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the current chair of SAARC, backed Modi’s proposal and informed the participants about the measures adopted by Nepal to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus. He said that Nepal at present does not have a single case of coronavirus reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Oli shared that Nepal has increased the capacity of the hospitals while making preparations for isolation wards to avert the possible outbreak of COVID-19. He further said that Nepal stopped issuing on-arrival visas and also postponed international seminars and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Modi reportedly said there were fewer than 150 cases in countries comprising the SAARC nations but the situation ahead was uncertain.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11524', 'image' => '20200316103251_aaa11111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:32:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11774', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Closes Borders as Coronavirus Spreads in Europe and Other Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Reuters, countries have shuttered museums, tourist attractions and sporting events to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, with more than 138,000 people worldwide infected and more than 5,000 dead.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The World Health Organization (WHO) said that Europe has become the pandemic’s current epicenter after reporting more cases and deaths than the rest of world combined, apart from mainland China where the coronavirus originated last December.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to media reports, Italy is the most affected country outside China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Al Jazeera reported that the death toll in Italy has increased to 1809 as of Sunday evening while Iran is another country grappling with the disease. Iran has reported around 724 deaths, according to the Associated Press.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia suspended all international flights for two weeks, starting from Sunday while Taiwan will require travelers from mainland Europe, Britain and Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days, while New Zealand implemented a similar measure for all those entering the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, according to Reuters, announced a ban on public events with more than 500 people, joining countries like Australia where the ban will come into force on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Britain will reportedly introduce emergency laws this week to ban mass gatherings.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Manila, the capital of the Philippines, announced nighttime curfews and urged shopping malls to close for one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While infections continue to climb around the world, the number of new cases is falling in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus, has now seen new infections fall for nine straight days, according to Reuters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Travel bans have hammered airlines and travel companies worldwide, while financial markets have been hit by panic selling this week.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11523', 'image' => '20200316105734_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:56:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11773', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Magnitude 5 Quake Jolts Pokhara ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening, according to seismologist Mukunda Bhattarai of the National Seismological Center (NSC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The quake was felt in Kaski, Gorkha, Tanahun, Lamjung and Syangja districts of the Gandaki Province. Bhattarai said that the Centre is working to confirm whether or not the quake is an aftershock of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11522', 'image' => '20200316103527_new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:34:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11771', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Police Arrest 7 Persons along with 160,000 Plus Pieces of Facemasks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Promoting black market of facemasks is punishable under the law. The arrestees were found to have been selling each piece of facemask at Rs 30 to Rs 40 against its actual price of Rs 5, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At present, the demand for facemasks is increasing amid coronavirus fear. Acting on a tip off, a police squad seized godowns at Kapan and Satungal run by the arrestees and confiscated the facemasks, he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earlier on Saturday, the police had arrested eight persons from Dallu along with 78,000 pieces of facemasks they had stored to sell illegally. - RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11521', 'image' => '20200316093436_latest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 09:34:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11769', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4.5 Million Bank Accounts Dormant in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. This is just a representative case of many such dormant accounts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 26 million accounts have been opened in various banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of Nepal till date. Out of them, 45,51,596 accounts have become dormant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), 17.48 percent of the total bank accounts are lying dormant in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government is planning to use the savings in such accounts which have remained dormant for more than two decades in development works. The government has proposed nationalizing the amounts of 20-year-old dormant accounts in the third amendment to the Banks and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prior to this, the amounts in such dormant accounts used to be transferred to the Banking Development Fund of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To withdraw the amount after 20 years, the depositors need to show their identity cards and other credentials first. In case the depositors come to claim the amount after 20 years when the amount has already transferred to the government’s development fund in the current context, the proposed bill has provision for the BFIs to release the amount and then claim it from the NRB. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has already presented the amendment proposal in the House of Representatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The government intends to utilize the amount which have remained idle since many years,” said Khatiwada, adding that the depositors can claim the amount later if they can furnish proper evidences.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He also added that it is the responsibility of the government to protect the properties of the people and will make available the amount to the rightful owners as soon as they seek to withdraw the amount.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11520', 'image' => '20200315121716_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 12:16:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11768', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Hard Hit by COVID-19: Stakeholders', 'sub_title' => 'Entrepreneurs say Hotel Industry is on the Brink of Closure', 'summary' => 'March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe. Stakeholders have realized the need to discuss about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on Nepal’s economy and the relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is organizing a meeting on Sunday (March 15) to discuss the issues while the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) is holding a meeting on Wednesday to talk about the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism industry of Nepal, which has been affected the most due to the lack of tourists amid coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Senior Vice President of FNCCI Shekhar Golchha said that they will be discussing the long-term effects of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The meeting will dwell on what might be the possible long-term effects of coronavirus and what kind of packages would be appropriate to handle the situation,” said Golchha.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The standing committee meeting of FNCCI held last Friday has already taken a decision to request the government to extend the date of loan repayment by businessmen to BFIs and the government by three months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">FNCCI also decided to seek government’s help for package relief to bail out the tourism industry from further trouble. According to the FNCCI, other countries have already started providing relief packages to the tourism industry and Nepal should also follow suit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President of HAN Shreejana Rana said that they will officially seek support from the government for protection of their business after Wednesday’s meeting. She pointed out to the need to reduce electricity tariff and interest rates charged by the banks at a time when the whole industry is reeling under crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Satish Kumar Moore also says that the government should announce relief packages as the entire economy has started bearing the brunt of coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He said that the deadly disease has severely affected all the businesses except food processing industries and machinery industries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We are not in a situation to recover our money from the market,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The production has gone down due to low demand and there is also the lack of raw materials,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the hotel entrepreneurs, their condition has returned to that of 2003-4 when the country was at the peak of Maoist insurgency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of Ace Hotel and Resort Yogendra Shakya said that the hotel industry was on the brink of closure one and a half decades ago and we are facing similar situation again. The government must announce relief package to save this sector, according to Shakya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11519', 'image' => '20200315104642_20200312112722_111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 10:46:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11787', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Appoints Shivakoti as Acting Governor of Central Bank', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti. ', 'content' => '<p><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/1111%284%29.jpg" style="height:192px; width:200px" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 18: The government has assigned the responsibilities of the acting governor of Nepal Rastra Bank to its Deputy Governor Chintamani Shivakoti. He was appointed as the acting governor of the central bank following the retirement of Governor Dr Chiranjivi Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Nepal’s five-year term expired on Tuesday (March 17). A meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to assign the responsibilities of acting governor of NRB to Shivakoti. The Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the central bank informing about Shivakoti’s new role as the acting governor of NRB effective from Wednesday (March 18).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Shivakoti confirmed that he received a letter signed by Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada that mentions his new appointment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“I have received a letter to assume the responsibilities of the central bank as its acting governor until there is further arrangement,” Shivakoti told New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The cabinet has so far failed to form a committee to recommend candidates to lead the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During normal circumstances, the government appoints a new governor of central bank one month before the retirement of the incumbent governor. However, this time, the government has not been able to appoint a new governor until the last day in office of the outgoing governor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Khatiwada, who is also the spokesperson of the government, had earlier claimed that the government would appoint a new governor of NRB by March 18.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-18', 'modified' => '2020-03-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11533', 'image' => '20200318125222_20190916090237_20190911014232_1568162571.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-18 12:51:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11782', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Everest Bank Continuous its Support to Teach for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 17: Everest Bank has recently handed over a cheque as a continuation of its support to Teach For Nepal under its CSR initiative. Teach for Nepal is a movement of outstanding university graduates and young professionals who are committed to end education inequity in Nepal with two years of fellowship teaching in public schools. Everest Bank has been supporting the education, sanitation and drinking water in various government schools of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Everest Bank handed over a cheque of Rs 700,000 to Teach for Nepal amid a recent function.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The bank has a customer base of over 1.1 million. It has been providing banking services through a network of 95 branches, 31 revenue collection counters, and 123 ATMs across the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11532', 'image' => '20200317125519_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:54:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism and Aviation Industries Reeling Under Effects of Coronavirus', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The tourism industry of Nepal has been badly affected in the peak season due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to at least 143 countries. The fear of contracting the deadly disease has resulted in low arrival of tourists. This has led to just 10 percent occupancy in most of the hotels in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Domestic helicopter service has come to a complete halt due to lack of passengers, most of whom are usually foreigners.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to stakeholders, the monthly loss of the hotel industry is estimated to be around Rs 1.8 billion. Similarly, the domestic airline companies have incurred losses worth Rs 11 billion due to the coronavirus outbreak, that originated in China’s Wuhan in late December last year and has spread across the globe now.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost 60 percent of international flights have been cancelled after March 10 as government authorities worldwide took drastic measures to curb the spread of the disease which has taken more than 6500 lives across the world. The number of international air passengers has reportedly declined by 70 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Shreejana Rana, the hotel entrepreneurs have had to incur losses worth Rs 1.8 billion in a month due to the low arrival of tourists amid coronavirus concerns. The hotel business has reduced by 90 percent as domestic tourists also started taking precaution by cancelling their trips.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rana further said that hotels should have at least 40 percent occupancy to generate profit. She added that the hotel entrepreneurs had invested heavily for the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign but now their efforts have gone down the drain. In such a situation, she demanded the government to declare an emergency and provide relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Rameshwar Thapa, president of Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN), said that the helicopter service and short take off and landing (STOL) have been the most affected in the aviation sector. He said that the peak season for helicopter service begins from mid-March but 95 percent of helicopters are grounded at this period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are altogether 33 helicopters belonging to 10 companies in Nepal.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11531', 'image' => '20200317124008_20191210031810_20191205103810_aa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:39:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11780', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stockpiling of Daily Essentials Resulting in Shortage of Goods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: Consumers have started panic shopping fearing shortage of daily essentials due to the coronavirus outbreak. This has further aggravated the situation. The public has been flocking to general stores, super markets and retail shops to stockpile the essential goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the government has time and again assured of smooth supply of daily essentials, the public has still been hoarding excessive amounts of food such as rice, salt, edible oil, cooking gas among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Taking advantage of this situation, some businessmen and traders have been involved in creating artificial shortage of essential goods and selling them in the black market. This has caused a price hike of goods. The government, on the other hand, has not been able to ensure smooth flow of goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to executive committee member of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Deepak Malhotra, the consumers themselves are to be blamed for the shortage.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Storing excessive amount of goods by the customers has created an artificial shortage despite normal supply of goods,” said Malhotra.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The suppliers as well as the government have maintained that there is no shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials in the market. But still, stakeholders claim that the demand for rice, salt, edible oil, lentil among other essential goods has skyrocketed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rajesh Kumar, the owner of Manakamana Stores in Kalimati, informed New Business Age that a single family has stored a sack full of salt in case there is shortage due to the deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We used to sell one sack of salt during a normal day before. But now, we are selling ten sacks of salt on a daily basis,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Another businessman Rajesh Prasad Joshi of B and B Store says that some traders themselves have panicked and started storing goods. He, however, said that there isn’t any shortage of essential goods so far in the market. He argues that the public has lined for stockpiling goods due to the fear of price hike.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11530', 'image' => '20200317121735_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 12:17:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11779', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Test Operation of Melamchi Water Supply Project held Successfully', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 17: The test operation of the main tunnel of Melamchi Water Supply Project was held on Monday (March 16). The test operation was carried out by flowing water from the source of Melamchi river into the tunnel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the test, the project officials released water up to one kilometer into the tunnel at the rate of 500 liters per second. The infrastructures of the much-awaited projects are being tested as the project is in the final phase of completion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tiresh Prasad Khatri, executive director of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, said that there were no problems during the test operation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We will now test other tunnels,” said Khatri, adding, “So far, we have completed 95 percent of the works.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The length of the pipeline from the project-site dam to Kathmandu is 26 kilometers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The contractor company is yet to fix gates at four points in the pipeline and the ventilation works are pending.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the successful test operation on Monday, Minister for Water and Irrigation Bina Magar claimed that the project will supply drinking water to Kathmandu within four months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The project suffered a setback when the then Italian contractor – CMC di Ravenna – pulled out unilaterally citing its own financial problems in December 2018 when it was almost complete. The project was halted for some time and later the contract for completing the tunnel and head works were awarded to a Chinese company after which the project gained momentum again.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11529', 'image' => '20200317114243_Melamchi 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 11:42:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11777', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' NOC Slashes Prices of Petroleum Products ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene effective from Tuesday (March 17). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the latest announcement, the prices of petrol, kerosene and diesel each have been lowered by Rs 2 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With this, a litre of petrol will now cost Rs 106 whereas kerosene and diesel will cost Rs 95. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The price of aviation fuel has been fixed at Rs 90 after reducing Rs 4.50 per litre. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC has stated that the prices have been revised according to the price of petroleum products in the international market. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11528', 'image' => '20200317094122_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 09:40:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11778', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara- Biratnagar Flights Come to a Halt ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 17: The first inter-state direct flight between Province 1 and Gandaki Province has come to a halt since the beginning of March due to lack of passengers amid panic created by coronavirus. The historic flight linking Biratnagar and Pokhara was started from February 3. The last flight was on February 28. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We couldn't get enough passengers on our 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from the beginning,'' informed Kausal Bhandari, the Biratnagar station manager of Buddha Air, which started the maiden flight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''Coronavirus added insult to our injury,'' he added. Bhandari said seven Indian passengers from Pokhara cancelled their tickets on their last flight owing to coronavirus scare. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">''We didn't find foreigners from the beginning and when we were about to lure high-paying tourists from Pokhara to Biratnagar, coronavirus came in our way disrupting all flights,'' said Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The private carrier had started three flights in a week in every alternate day with introductory price of Rs 7200. Had the 205 nautical miles and 65-minutes-long flight been a success story for couple of months, Nepal's largest private aviation player in terms of annual passengers, was going to introduce 72-seater aircraft, said Bhandari. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-17', 'modified' => '2020-03-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11527', 'image' => '20200317100700_qqqq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-17 10:03:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11776', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Market Reeling Under Shortage of LPG Despite Above Average Supply', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The average monthly consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Nepal is 38,000 metric tonnes, according to a recent notice published by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the market witnessed shortage of cooking gas despite the normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The state-owned NOC then decided to increase the import of cooking gas to 45,000 metric tonnes per month to meet the growing demand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Looking at the data of Birgunj Customs Point, the import of LPG from this entry point alone is sufficient to meet the demand of cooking gas for the whole country. According to the Birgunj Customs Office, a total of 38,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas was imported from this transit point between mid-February to mid-March. But the consumers did not get smooth supply of LPG despite normal supply.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The NOC has increased the import of cooking gas ever since the shortage of LPG appeared some weeks ago. Although the government has time and again claimed that it has increased the supply of LPG, the serpentine line of consumers at gas depots have not reduced at all. People have not stopped queuing for LPG despite government’s assurance of adequate supply of cooking gas. This is the first time since the economic blockade of 2015 that people in such a large number are seen in serpentine queue to get cooking gas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shortage of cooking gas and other daily essentials has appeared in the market due to the fear of coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to more than 100 countries across the world.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Businessmen have reportedly started hoarding essential goods to make profit in case there is border closure amid coronavirus fears while the consumers have started panic shopping.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is clearly evident from the fact that Birgunj Customs Point importing more than required amount of LPG during normal time but the market still reeling under shortage of cooking gas. The customs point saw entry of 37,000 metric tonnes of LPG in between mid-January to mid-February, which was increased to 38,000 metric tonnes the following month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On Sunday, 90 bullets unloaded LPG at this customs point while 30 bullets of LPG had arrived a day ago.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But artificial shortage of cooking gas is still prevalent in the market due to the collusion of the dealers and suppliers. The government has failed to effectively regulate such malpractice despite being well aware of the situation.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11526', 'image' => '20200316125501_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 12:54:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11775', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Relief Package from Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: The private sector has demanded an extensive relief package to cope with the financial crisis they are facing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. Tourism industry and other businesses in Nepal have been largely affected by the deadly virus with the inflow of tourists declining significantly and foreign trade coming almost to a standstill, especially with China where the epidemic originated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Representatives of three major business organizations of the country – the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) made such request to Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada during a meeting on Sunday (March 15).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stating that the coronavirus outbreak will have long-term effects on Nepal’s economy, the delegation sought government support in availing concession in bank loans and tax rebate among others at this time of crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In response, Finance Minister told the representatives of the private sector to submit written application mentioning clearly what kind of impact has the coronavirus made on which sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs informed the government that the is no demand in the market and they are not in a position to recover their amount from the market at the moment. In order to facilitate them, representatives of the private sector requested for government help in extending the time frame for repayment of loan, renewal of loan, delaying provisioning of bad loan and also demanded waiver of income tax, according to Shekhar Golchha, senior vice president of FNCCI.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They argued that the industrial sector is in crisis due to coronavirus and urged the government not to interfere if they reach an understanding with the banks to extend the period of repaying loans.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entrepreneurs said that the entire business of the country is facing a slowdown due to the deadly disease and urged the government not to collect income tax until the situation improves.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">CNI President Satish Kumar Moore said that the finance minister has assured of taking necessary measures after studying the current situation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Although no decision was taken during today’s meeting, the finance minister is positive toward our demands,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the meeting, the private sector drew the attention of the government toward the ailing tourism industry, which has already shown visible impacts of coronavirus with the non arrival of tourists. They demanded immediate relief package to bail out the tourism industry from the current crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stakeholders said that the hotel and aviation industry has been facing problem of fund crunch and are struggling to pay the staffers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Joint Secretary Uttar Kumar Khatri, the finance minister reportedly said that the government is highly alert of the possible crisis and has adopted necessary measures to handle the current situation. He said that the finance minister urged the businessmen not to panic as the situation has not gone out of control.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11525', 'image' => '20200316115213_20200306122644_0180724052602_IMG_0298.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 11:51:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11772', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SAARC Leaders Agree to Set Up Regional Fund to Combat COVID-19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states have agreed to stand united against the common threat of COVID-19 coronavirus, that is fast spreading across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">All eight member states of SAARC have agreed to set up a regional emergency fund to combat the deadly disease that has also surfaced in South Asia, with India reporting more than 100 cases and two deaths as of mid-March.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The fund was set up at the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who committed US$ 10 million in a video conference of the SAARC nations on Sunday. Modi has urged other member states to voluntarily contribute to the fund for a common cause. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Head of states or government of the SAARC member states including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and a government representative from Pakistan had participated in the video conference held at the behest of Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The SAARC meeting has been stalled due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan since 2014. India has been boycotting the regional meeting ever since it was last held in Kathmandu in 2014 accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism. Pakistan denies the allegation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is the first time in six years that all the member states of SAARC participated in the regional meeting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It was India who proposed setting the regional fund to combat the disease together. Indian Prime Minister Modi said in the video conference that cooperation between the SAARC nations can curb the spread of this deadly disease.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He informed that India has been setting up a Rapid Response Team of specialist doctors and expressed willingness to extend support to other member states.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Any of us can use the fund to meet the cost of immediate actions,” said Modi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost all the member states welcomed India’s proposal and expressed their solidarity to fight the disease together.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the current chair of SAARC, backed Modi’s proposal and informed the participants about the measures adopted by Nepal to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus. He said that Nepal at present does not have a single case of coronavirus reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Oli shared that Nepal has increased the capacity of the hospitals while making preparations for isolation wards to avert the possible outbreak of COVID-19. He further said that Nepal stopped issuing on-arrival visas and also postponed international seminars and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Modi reportedly said there were fewer than 150 cases in countries comprising the SAARC nations but the situation ahead was uncertain.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11524', 'image' => '20200316103251_aaa11111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:32:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11774', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Closes Borders as Coronavirus Spreads in Europe and Other Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Countries across the world continued closing borders, imposing strict entry and quarantine requirements and restricting large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, that has claimed more than 5000 lives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Reuters, countries have shuttered museums, tourist attractions and sporting events to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, with more than 138,000 people worldwide infected and more than 5,000 dead.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The World Health Organization (WHO) said that Europe has become the pandemic’s current epicenter after reporting more cases and deaths than the rest of world combined, apart from mainland China where the coronavirus originated last December.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to media reports, Italy is the most affected country outside China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Al Jazeera reported that the death toll in Italy has increased to 1809 as of Sunday evening while Iran is another country grappling with the disease. Iran has reported around 724 deaths, according to the Associated Press.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia suspended all international flights for two weeks, starting from Sunday while Taiwan will require travelers from mainland Europe, Britain and Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days, while New Zealand implemented a similar measure for all those entering the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, according to Reuters, announced a ban on public events with more than 500 people, joining countries like Australia where the ban will come into force on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Britain will reportedly introduce emergency laws this week to ban mass gatherings.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Manila, the capital of the Philippines, announced nighttime curfews and urged shopping malls to close for one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While infections continue to climb around the world, the number of new cases is falling in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus, has now seen new infections fall for nine straight days, according to Reuters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“Travel bans have hammered airlines and travel companies worldwide, while financial markets have been hit by panic selling this week.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11523', 'image' => '20200316105734_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:56:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11773', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Magnitude 5 Quake Jolts Pokhara ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: An earthquake of magnitude 5 in the Richter scale with its epicenter in Lumle of Kaski district occurred at 8:45 pm on Sunday evening, according to seismologist Mukunda Bhattarai of the National Seismological Center (NSC). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The quake was felt in Kaski, Gorkha, Tanahun, Lamjung and Syangja districts of the Gandaki Province. Bhattarai said that the Centre is working to confirm whether or not the quake is an aftershock of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. - RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11522', 'image' => '20200316103527_new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 10:34:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11771', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Police Arrest 7 Persons along with 160,000 Plus Pieces of Facemasks ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Police on Sunday arrested seven persons from Kathmandu along with over 160,000 pieces facemasks they had stored to sell in the black market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Promoting black market of facemasks is punishable under the law. The arrestees were found to have been selling each piece of facemask at Rs 30 to Rs 40 against its actual price of Rs 5, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At present, the demand for facemasks is increasing amid coronavirus fear. Acting on a tip off, a police squad seized godowns at Kapan and Satungal run by the arrestees and confiscated the facemasks, he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earlier on Saturday, the police had arrested eight persons from Dallu along with 78,000 pieces of facemasks they had stored to sell illegally. - RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-16', 'modified' => '2020-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11521', 'image' => '20200316093436_latest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-16 09:34:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11769', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4.5 Million Bank Accounts Dormant in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: Altogether 21,499 accounts are dormant with Nepal Bangladesh Bank with zero transaction since a decade. This is just a representative case of many such dormant accounts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A total of 26 million accounts have been opened in various banks and financial institutions (BFIs) of Nepal till date. Out of them, 45,51,596 accounts have become dormant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), 17.48 percent of the total bank accounts are lying dormant in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government is planning to use the savings in such accounts which have remained dormant for more than two decades in development works. The government has proposed nationalizing the amounts of 20-year-old dormant accounts in the third amendment to the Banks and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prior to this, the amounts in such dormant accounts used to be transferred to the Banking Development Fund of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To withdraw the amount after 20 years, the depositors need to show their identity cards and other credentials first. In case the depositors come to claim the amount after 20 years when the amount has already transferred to the government’s development fund in the current context, the proposed bill has provision for the BFIs to release the amount and then claim it from the NRB. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada has already presented the amendment proposal in the House of Representatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The government intends to utilize the amount which have remained idle since many years,” said Khatiwada, adding that the depositors can claim the amount later if they can furnish proper evidences.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He also added that it is the responsibility of the government to protect the properties of the people and will make available the amount to the rightful owners as soon as they seek to withdraw the amount.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11520', 'image' => '20200315121716_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 12:16:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11768', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Economy Hard Hit by COVID-19: Stakeholders', 'sub_title' => 'Entrepreneurs say Hotel Industry is on the Brink of Closure', 'summary' => 'March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 15: The private sector of Nepal has started discussing ways to mitigate the threats of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy as the deadly virus has started taking toll on economic activities across the globe. Stakeholders have realized the need to discuss about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on Nepal’s economy and the relief packages.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is organizing a meeting on Sunday (March 15) to discuss the issues while the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) is holding a meeting on Wednesday to talk about the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism industry of Nepal, which has been affected the most due to the lack of tourists amid coronavirus pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Senior Vice President of FNCCI Shekhar Golchha said that they will be discussing the long-term effects of coronavirus on Nepal’s economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The meeting will dwell on what might be the possible long-term effects of coronavirus and what kind of packages would be appropriate to handle the situation,” said Golchha.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The standing committee meeting of FNCCI held last Friday has already taken a decision to request the government to extend the date of loan repayment by businessmen to BFIs and the government by three months.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">FNCCI also decided to seek government’s help for package relief to bail out the tourism industry from further trouble. According to the FNCCI, other countries have already started providing relief packages to the tourism industry and Nepal should also follow suit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President of HAN Shreejana Rana said that they will officially seek support from the government for protection of their business after Wednesday’s meeting. She pointed out to the need to reduce electricity tariff and interest rates charged by the banks at a time when the whole industry is reeling under crisis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Satish Kumar Moore also says that the government should announce relief packages as the entire economy has started bearing the brunt of coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He said that the deadly disease has severely affected all the businesses except food processing industries and machinery industries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“We are not in a situation to recover our money from the market,” said Moore.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">“The production has gone down due to low demand and there is also the lack of raw materials,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the hotel entrepreneurs, their condition has returned to that of 2003-4 when the country was at the peak of Maoist insurgency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chairman of Ace Hotel and Resort Yogendra Shakya said that the hotel industry was on the brink of closure one and a half decades ago and we are facing similar situation again. The government must announce relief package to save this sector, according to Shakya.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-03-15', 'modified' => '2020-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11519', 'image' => '20200315104642_20200312112722_111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-03-15 10:46:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ) ) $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
