April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to…
April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to…
April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April…
April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's…
April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its…
April 13: COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA).…
April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12.…
April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of…
April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year.…
April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World…
April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus…
April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the…
April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus.…
April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of…
April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages.…
April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook.…
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The Washington DC-based lender has said that 25 under-developed nations including Nepal will receive immediate grant-based debt service relief from IMF. “Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads a press statement issued by Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of IMF. According to the statement, this provides grants to IMF’s poorest and most vulnerable members will help the countries to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The CCRT can currently provide about USD 500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent USD185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and USD 100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. “Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions,” Georgieva said. She urged other donors to help replenish CCRT’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to the poorest member countries of IMF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Besides Nepal, Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen are the recipients of the debt service relief.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">The latest move of IMF is one of the several steps the Fund has taken over the last few months to help its members to face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF has been focusing its efforts to help poorer nations coordinating with the World Bank. The two organisations have asked developed nations to halt collection of debt payments from poor countries until June 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-14', 'modified' => '2020-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11674', 'image' => '20200414115244_IMF.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-14 11:51:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Introduce E-Passes from April 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The Ministry of Home Affairs informed in a press conference on Monday that the government will start issuing e-passes for the transportation of food stuffs, ambulances and other essential services or for emergency from Tuesday onward after filling an online form. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The applicants must enter the details for the e-pass at the home ministry’s website http://epass.moha.gov.np/. The ministry has instructed the District Administration Office to provide e-pass only for essential purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Introducing the new system, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa said that the government has initiated a new process to make passes available for the general public in case of emergency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The minister said anyone can fill the form but made it clear that passes will be provided to only those in need of emergency. -RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11673', 'image' => '20200413033255_1586769752.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:31:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Experts Demand Separate Mechanism for Improving Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">They emphasized that a separate mechanism should be developed in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank and the Central Statistics Bureau for the economy to recover. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the experts, a separate body such as the National Reconstruction Authority which was formed to rebuild the country after the 2015 earthquake, should be established to overcome the economic crisis.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Addressing a video conference organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Society (SEJON) on Sunday, April 12, economist duo Bishwambher Pyakhurel and Rameshwar Khanal informed that a separate mechanism is necessary to overcome the economic impacts of corona.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“We need relief and rehabilitation packages soon, but, the packages should be distributed only after analyzing the impact and setting priority,” Khanal said.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Khanal added that inflow of remittance is shrinking and foreign exchange from tourism is declining.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He opined that Nepal will not receive foreign aid and foreign investment, as committed by donors and development partners, because coronavirus has impacted the entire global economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"So, it will also affect the foreign exchange reserves of the country and the money invested in the financial sector as well as liquidity," Khanal added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, economist Pyakhurel informed that the pandemic has impacted the small-scale and cottage industry the most. He says small and cottage industry has the highest contribution to the country’s economy. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that if the decline in domestic production and rise in price and unemployment increases, then the cost and expenditure will rise unbearably.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11672', 'image' => '20200413030531_coronavirus-economy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:04:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Clears CGT', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the Large Tax Payers’ Office, Ncell submitted the amount on Sunday (April 12). Before this, Ncell had paid Rs 4.6 billion CGT to the office last Tuesday as per its commitment to clear the dues in installments. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Chief of the LTO Jhalak Ram Adhikari informed New Business Age that Ncell has paid Rs 4.5 billion on December 31 as the first installment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The LTO had last year sought Rs 60.71 billion from Ncell as CGT when the company changed hands some years ago. The LTO said it had only received 21.54 billion from Ncell and demanded Rs 39 billion from the company on April 16 last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">But the company filed a petition at the Supreme Court <span style="font-family:Times">on April 22, alleging the LTO of charging excessive tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:Times">In the petition, Ncell had argued that the LTO asked it to pay more than Rs 39 billion against the existing laws and previous verdict of the apex court when it is liable to pay only Rs 14.36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">Ncell said it has already paid Rs 21.54 billion as CGT to the Large Taxpayers’ Office in two installments on May 8, 2016 and June 4, 2017. It also paid Rs 2.2 billion as late fee.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">The Supreme Court finally put the matter to rest in November last year ruling that Ncell is liable to pay 21.1 billion CGT, which the company cleared with the payment of the last installment on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11671', 'image' => '20200413113018_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:29:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Construction Materials at 2 Int’l Airports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">April 13: </span><span style="font-family:Arial">COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Due to lack of essential equipment coming from foreign countries and shortage of construction material, these two international airports are being made with the limited available resources, said Rajan Pokharel, director general at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The construction has also been affected due to lack of workers. Currently, around 100 Nepali workers and 28 foreign workers have been working in GBIA. “Earlier we had 200 workers. Now, the workers inside the camp are only engaged,” said Prawesh Adhikari, chief of the Airport Construction Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Similarly, shortage of cement which is imported from India has hit the construction of PRIA. Due to lack of equipment and delay in supply of other materials, the construction work has been affected, said Binesh Munkarmi, chief of the airport project. According to him, the equipment needed for the construction are stuck in Kolkata port. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11670', 'image' => '20200413031316_1586727960.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '3 New Cases of Coronavirus Confirmed in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. However, all of the three newly infected persons are reportedly Indian nationals who have been admitted to Narayani Hospital in Parsa, which shares border with India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Informed sources said that Hetauda-based Vector Borne Disease Research and Training Center had sent three swab samples of the suspects to Kathmandu for further testing as it couldn't independently confirm the results. However, after testing at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory, the three samples were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Although doctors at the lab had confirmed the cases on Saturday itself, the government had covered up the cases announcing publicly that no new cases have been reported within a week.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">The the Ministry of Health and Population is yet to officially make an announcement about the new cases by the time this report was prepared but the data prepared by Worldometer, which provides authentic updates of coronavirus cases worldwide, has already increased the number of infected cases in Nepal from 9 to 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">According to Worldometer, 1,784,751 people have so far been infected with the virus that is believed to have originated in Wuhan of China in late December last year. The deadly disease has already claimed 110,000 lives and has spread to 210 countries and territories around the world.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200328091941_548_12722_111.jpg" style="height:600px; width:800px" /></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11669', 'image' => '20200412030634_20200329113323_corona2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 15:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Income to Fall due to Low Consumption of Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity. The consumption of electricity has decreased due to the ongoing lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Industries, commercial buildings and hotels consumes electricity is high amount but those sectors have remained closed for the past three weeks due to the lockdown. This has resulted in less consumption of electricity. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The revenue collected from the consumption of electricity of is the main source of income of the NEA. However, the demand and consumption of electricity has decreased tremendously due to the lockdown and officials at the NEA believe that it will make an adverse impact on the annual profit in the current fiscal year. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Normally, the consumption of electricity during the months of March, April and May is around 20,020,000 units. However, the consumption of the electricity currently is 1,060,000 units only, according to NEA. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kathmandu, the capital city, has the highest demand for electricity across the country. However, the consumption of electricity in Kathmandu itself has declined tremendously, NEA informed. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kulman Ghising, CEO of NEA said that consumers analyzing the shortage of LPG have started to use induction stoves. But still, the consumption of electricity is not as high as during the normal days, he added. </span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11668', 'image' => '20200413113817_1586641381.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Expecting Decline in Profit due to Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. But BFIs have not been able to provide any service except urgent services since a month due to the lockdown. Therefore, they are expecting decline in income and profit as their business has almost come to a halt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Banks have not been able to function properly as the customers are unable to visit the banks due to the lockdown. On one hand, our business has come to a complete halt while the government has extended the time for payment of dues till mid-July,” said Bhuvan Kumar Dahal, chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The income and profit of BFIs will be directly affected this year as the government has announced 10 percent discount to anyone paying their dues and installment within April 13,” he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Dahal says banks have not been able to render their services effectively due to the lockdown. Its impact will be clearly reflected in the third quarterly report, he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs have been encouraging the use of digital transaction during lockdown. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of NMB Bank Sunil KC says banks transactions with industries, tourism sector, transportation entrepreneurs among others have been halted. They have not been able to collect deposits and have also not provided new loans. Therefore the profit is expected to decline in the third quarterly report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Earlier, we used to follow up to collect loans. But that has not been possible since a month now,” said KC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs are discussing about preparing the third quarterly report and presenting them to the Nepal Rastra Bank. But they are not willing to make the report public this time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, NRB Spokesperson Gunakar Bhatta says BFIs cannot go against the law.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“There is a provision in the law according to which BFIs have to compulsorily publish their report on daily newspapers. BFIs cannot hide their information. They must maintain transparency,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11667', 'image' => '20200412024512_20160909042218_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 14:44:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s GDP Growth to Range Between 1.5%-2.8% in 2020: World Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank. The Washington DC-based multilateral development agency in its latest twice-a-year-regional update South Asia Economic Focus expects Nepal’s growth to fall to a range between 1.5 and 2.8 percent in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 reflecting lower remittances, trade and tourism, and broader disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“A prolonged outbreak of COVID-19 would impact growth significantly with a further deceleration or contraction in services and industrial production,” reads the report. The bank predicts that economic growth during FY21 is also likely to remain subdued due to the lingering effects of the pandemic with some recovery expected in FY2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“We are closely monitoring how the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving across Nepal. Our immediate priority is to coordinate our action with the government, private sector and international development partners to ensure that health supplies and equipment are readily available and that a comprehensive recovery package is in place to support the poor and most vulnerable,” a statement issued by the World Bank quoted the bank’s Country Manager for Nepal Faris Hadad-Zervos, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The report anticipates a sharp economic slump in each of the region’s eight countries, caused by halting economic activity, collapsing trade, and greater stress in the financial and banking sectors. “In this fast-changing and uncertain context, the report presents a range forecast, estimating that regional growth will fall to a range between 1.8 and 2.8 percent in 2020, down from 6.3 percent projected six months ago. That would be the region’s worst performance in the last 40 years, with temporary contractions in all South Asian countries,” says the statement. Furthermore, in case of prolonged and broad national lockdowns, the report warns of a worst-case scenario in which the entire region would experience a negative growth rate this year, according to the statement. World Bank says that this deteriorated forecast will linger in 2021, with growth projected to hover between 3.1 and 4.0 percent, down from the previous 6.7 percent estimate. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The bank urges that, amid the mounting human toll and global economic fallout triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian governments must ramp up action to curb the health emergency, protect their people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and set the stage now for fast economic recovery,</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“The impact of the pandemic will hit low-income people hard, especially informal workers in the hospitality, retail trade, and transport sectors who have limited or no access to healthcare or social safety nets,” says the bank. The report notes that the COVID-19 shock will likely reinforce inequality in South Asia. As played out across the region, the sudden and large-scale loss of low paid work has driven a mass exodus of migrant workers from cities to rural areas, spiking fear that many of them will fall back into poverty. The bank warned that while there are no signs yet of widespread food shortages, the report warns that a protracted COVID-19 crisis may threaten food security, especially for the most vulnerable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">In the short term, the report recommends preparing weak healthcare systems for greater COVID-19 impacts, as well as providing safety nets and securing access to food, medical supplies, and necessities for the most vulnerable. “To minimize short-term economic pain, the report calls for establishing temporary work programs for unemployed migrant workers, enacting debt relief measures for businesses and individuals, and easing inter-regional customs clearance to speed up import and export of essential goods,” the report suggests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the World Bank, once lockdown restrictions are loosened, South Asian governments should adopt expansionary fiscal policies combined with monetary stimulus to keep credit flowing in their economies. “Since many South Asian countries have limited fiscal space, these policies should target people worst hit by the freeze on economic activity,” says the bank. The report urges governments to adopt temporary spending measures and coordinate with international financial partners to avoid unsustainable long-term debt levels and fiscal deficits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“After tackling the immediate COVID-19 threat, South Asian countries must keep their sovereign debt sustainable through fiscal prudence and debt relief initiatives,” the statement quoted Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region, as saying. “And looking beyond the present crisis, lie great opportunities to expand digital technologies for payment systems and distant learning to unlock remote areas in South Asia.” </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the statement, economic circumstances within countries and regions are fluid and change on a day-by-day basis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank informs that analysis in the report is based on the latest country-level data available as of April 7, 2020.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“The World Bank Group is taking broad, fast action</span><span style="font-family:Arial"> to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response, increase disease surveillance, improve public health interventions, and help the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs,” reads the statement. The bank further says that it is deploying up to USD 160 billion in financial support over the next 15 months to help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11666', 'image' => '20200412122707_pic(4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Army to Present Quotations from India, China to Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Nepalese Army had been entrusted by the government to bring in medicines and equipment under G2G model to handle the cases of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In this regard, the army had corresponded with five countries for the supplies. It had sent letters to the governments of China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Israel through the military attaches at the embassies in the respective countries for the supply of medical kits and medicines.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In response, India said on Friday that it can send only medicines at present. India said that it is unable to send medical equipment and kits as the country itself is facing problems of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, China has agreed to supply both medicines and medical equipment to Nepal, informed army spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey. He further said that the two countries are willing to supply medicines and equipment as per the demand of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">South Korea has also provided the name of the name of the supplier company but not the details. Brigadier General Panedy informed New Business Age that the quotation provided by the countries will be presented to the government and the Council of Ministers will release the budget accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A cabinet meeting on March 29 had decided to entrust the Nepalese Army to purchase medical supplies through G2G agreements after the government’s initial bid to bring the supplies through a private company drew widespread criticism for alleged financial irregularities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">।</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11665', 'image' => '20200412122922_CWQx7dOXIAEwYbe.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:28:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Containers Stockpiled at Birgunj Dry Port ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of containers entering to the port is as usual. However, due to the lack of custom clearance, the containers are not able to leave the port. According to Animesh Kumar, senior officer of Himalayan Terminal, the company authorized to operate the dry port, the containers are piling up because of the problem is customs clearance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of piled up containers were 2,870 till Saturday. “Birgunj Dry Port is capable to handle 1,542 containers,” said Animesh Kumar. He said that 15 days ago, there were only 1,500 containers at the dry port. The number has become almost double now, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Altogether 23 cargo trains which left from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam are on their way and will arrive at the port by next week. According to Umesh Shrestha, chief of the customs office at the port, the customs clearance of 100 containers is being done every day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Himalayan Terminal estimates that provided the lockdown extends, the number of containers will reach 4,000 in one week. “The container has been crammed more than the capacity of the port. Overloading more containers might be risky,” said Animesh Kumar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Normally, 300-350 containers are cleared by the customs office per day. “Reduction of customs clearance has also affected the revenue collection of the customs office,” an official.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11664', 'image' => '20200412115856_1586641507.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 11:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lockdown will not End Soon: PM Oli', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. PM Oli talked to the chief ministers through video conferencing from the Action Room at Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On the occasion, Oli termed the ongoing efforts against COVID-19 as positive and stressed the need for moving ahead in a coordinated way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa, the PM said that the ongoing lockdown order will not end anytime soon and mobility along the border will be further restricted adding that negligence in the guise of sentimentalism was not acceptable. “Ending the lockdown here while seeing rising number of infections in India cannot happen,” Thapa quoted the PM as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the PM refused the formation of a separate mechanism adding that the government itself was working by exercising its rights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Prime Minister was of the view that the volunteers should work selflessly and they should seek no benefit out of the service. He also raised concerns on the administration’s carelessness during the lockdown and directed the administration and police to be cautious to prevent the gathering of people in the name of fairs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Saying that there was no option to maintaining physical distancing, the PM urged the citizens not to be swayed by unnecessary illusion and misinformation adding that the government was focused to work effectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Country’s health care sector will make qualitative stride and special progress will be achieved in laboratory, equipment and health materials, and management of the skilled human resources till the control of coronavirus infection in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the four-hour-long meeting, the chief ministers shared their initiatives and steps taken for the control of the COVID-19 in their respective provinces. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11663', 'image' => '20200412100619_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 10:05:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Maintenance of Hydropower Projects Halted due to Lockdown ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Promoters of such private hydropower projects are concerned that the life span of the projects will be reduced due to the lack of timely repair works.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The operation of hydropower projects can continue only if they are repaired on a timely basis. However, if the projects are not repaired, it may affect their life span.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kumar Pandey, vice president of Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) said that if the dams need to be repaired anyhow later.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">But, if repaired later, it will affect their life span and add extra expenses to the project, he added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pandey, continuous oepration of the turbines without repair and maintenance is harmful for the machines.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Project operators believe that March, April and May are the best period for maintenance of hydropower projects as there is less flow of water in the rivers and all units are not in operation.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the repair work of all hydropower projects have been halted after the government announced the lockdown on March 24 to control the coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that there are altogether 85 hydropower projects operated by the private sector and maintenance of all the projects have been stalled due to the lockdown. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to IPPAN, this is the right time to do the repair works of the dams, machines, and other infrastructure.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The project cannot be repaired later as the flow of water will rise during the monsoon starting from June. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that the repair work of the projects have been currently halted mainly due to the problem in supply of construction materials such as cement and rods because of the lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11662', 'image' => '20200410023742_1586468380.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:36:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Zonta Club Kathmandu Helping Daily Wage Earners to Cope with COVID-19 Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. The package comprises of rice, lentils, pulses, cooking oil, beaten rice, salt, sugar and tea.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Till date, Zonta has distributed 1,000 food packages to daily wage earners in Bijeshwori, Budhanilkantha, Dhalko, Jagritinagar, Jorpati, Lele, Mahankal, Nagarjun, Sankhamool, Sinamangal, Thali, Thapathali, Tokha Municipalities and in Teku (Bangmati Area). The club says it has partnered with organizations like Bikalpa, Nepal Mahila Samaj, Food for Life, ICDO, Sky Foundation and friends for the cause. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“In these challenging times they have joined hands with Zonta by getting necessary permits and distributing the packages to daily wage earners who are unable to work due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the club said in a statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta expresses heartfelt gratitude to all Zonta’s Family and Friends, Rotary Club of Midtown, SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council (SCWEC), Shangrila Toastmasters, Dr Sanjib Das, Sanskriti School Teachers, DS Store and Helena’s Café for caring for the plight of the people and helping them to reach out to over 2,400 families. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“Initially we started targeting to reach 300 families and with the incredible response and support we have received, our reach will be eight time more. Zonta will continue distributing the food packages in the coming days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta International, founded in 1919, is a leading global organization of professionals, empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. Under the umbrella of Zonta International, Zonta Club of Kathmandu was established in 2012. It is a legally registered NGO in Kathmandu and has been working on the advancement of the status of women with the objective to improve the economic, education, health, and issues related to youth and violence against women at the national and local level through service and advocacy. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-11', 'modified' => '2020-04-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11661', 'image' => '20200411093815_Picture(2) 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-11 09:37:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two held on Charge of Posting Misleading info of VIPs on Social Site ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those arrested in this connection are 36-year-old Tara Nachhiring of Ainselukharka, Khotang, currently living in Budhanilkantha of Kathmandu and 46-year-old Ram Kumar Shrestha of Ward Number 5 of Panauti Municipality, the Cyber Crime Bureau of Nepal Police said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A team from the bureau arrested both of them after discovering that Shrestha had committed an indecent act using PM Oli's photo to the effect of tarnishing his reputation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The bureau said the two were arrested on Thursday and they would be tried under the Electronic Transaction Act, 2063 and the existing laws governing the electronic media. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11660', 'image' => '20200410024628_20190329012355_oli (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:45:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, '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
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Approves Immediate Debt Relief for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to Nepal. The Washington DC-based lender has said that 25 under-developed nations including Nepal will receive immediate grant-based debt service relief from IMF. “Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads a press statement issued by Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of IMF. According to the statement, this provides grants to IMF’s poorest and most vulnerable members will help the countries to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The CCRT can currently provide about USD 500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent USD185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and USD 100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. “Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions,” Georgieva said. She urged other donors to help replenish CCRT’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to the poorest member countries of IMF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Besides Nepal, Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen are the recipients of the debt service relief.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">The latest move of IMF is one of the several steps the Fund has taken over the last few months to help its members to face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF has been focusing its efforts to help poorer nations coordinating with the World Bank. The two organisations have asked developed nations to halt collection of debt payments from poor countries until June 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-14', 'modified' => '2020-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11674', 'image' => '20200414115244_IMF.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-14 11:51:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Introduce E-Passes from April 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The Ministry of Home Affairs informed in a press conference on Monday that the government will start issuing e-passes for the transportation of food stuffs, ambulances and other essential services or for emergency from Tuesday onward after filling an online form. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The applicants must enter the details for the e-pass at the home ministry’s website http://epass.moha.gov.np/. The ministry has instructed the District Administration Office to provide e-pass only for essential purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Introducing the new system, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa said that the government has initiated a new process to make passes available for the general public in case of emergency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The minister said anyone can fill the form but made it clear that passes will be provided to only those in need of emergency. -RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11673', 'image' => '20200413033255_1586769752.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:31:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Experts Demand Separate Mechanism for Improving Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">They emphasized that a separate mechanism should be developed in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank and the Central Statistics Bureau for the economy to recover. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the experts, a separate body such as the National Reconstruction Authority which was formed to rebuild the country after the 2015 earthquake, should be established to overcome the economic crisis.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Addressing a video conference organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Society (SEJON) on Sunday, April 12, economist duo Bishwambher Pyakhurel and Rameshwar Khanal informed that a separate mechanism is necessary to overcome the economic impacts of corona.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“We need relief and rehabilitation packages soon, but, the packages should be distributed only after analyzing the impact and setting priority,” Khanal said.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Khanal added that inflow of remittance is shrinking and foreign exchange from tourism is declining.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He opined that Nepal will not receive foreign aid and foreign investment, as committed by donors and development partners, because coronavirus has impacted the entire global economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"So, it will also affect the foreign exchange reserves of the country and the money invested in the financial sector as well as liquidity," Khanal added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, economist Pyakhurel informed that the pandemic has impacted the small-scale and cottage industry the most. He says small and cottage industry has the highest contribution to the country’s economy. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that if the decline in domestic production and rise in price and unemployment increases, then the cost and expenditure will rise unbearably.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11672', 'image' => '20200413030531_coronavirus-economy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:04:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Clears CGT', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the Large Tax Payers’ Office, Ncell submitted the amount on Sunday (April 12). Before this, Ncell had paid Rs 4.6 billion CGT to the office last Tuesday as per its commitment to clear the dues in installments. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Chief of the LTO Jhalak Ram Adhikari informed New Business Age that Ncell has paid Rs 4.5 billion on December 31 as the first installment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The LTO had last year sought Rs 60.71 billion from Ncell as CGT when the company changed hands some years ago. The LTO said it had only received 21.54 billion from Ncell and demanded Rs 39 billion from the company on April 16 last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">But the company filed a petition at the Supreme Court <span style="font-family:Times">on April 22, alleging the LTO of charging excessive tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:Times">In the petition, Ncell had argued that the LTO asked it to pay more than Rs 39 billion against the existing laws and previous verdict of the apex court when it is liable to pay only Rs 14.36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">Ncell said it has already paid Rs 21.54 billion as CGT to the Large Taxpayers’ Office in two installments on May 8, 2016 and June 4, 2017. It also paid Rs 2.2 billion as late fee.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">The Supreme Court finally put the matter to rest in November last year ruling that Ncell is liable to pay 21.1 billion CGT, which the company cleared with the payment of the last installment on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11671', 'image' => '20200413113018_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:29:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Construction Materials at 2 Int’l Airports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">April 13: </span><span style="font-family:Arial">COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Due to lack of essential equipment coming from foreign countries and shortage of construction material, these two international airports are being made with the limited available resources, said Rajan Pokharel, director general at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The construction has also been affected due to lack of workers. Currently, around 100 Nepali workers and 28 foreign workers have been working in GBIA. “Earlier we had 200 workers. Now, the workers inside the camp are only engaged,” said Prawesh Adhikari, chief of the Airport Construction Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Similarly, shortage of cement which is imported from India has hit the construction of PRIA. Due to lack of equipment and delay in supply of other materials, the construction work has been affected, said Binesh Munkarmi, chief of the airport project. According to him, the equipment needed for the construction are stuck in Kolkata port. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11670', 'image' => '20200413031316_1586727960.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '3 New Cases of Coronavirus Confirmed in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. However, all of the three newly infected persons are reportedly Indian nationals who have been admitted to Narayani Hospital in Parsa, which shares border with India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Informed sources said that Hetauda-based Vector Borne Disease Research and Training Center had sent three swab samples of the suspects to Kathmandu for further testing as it couldn't independently confirm the results. However, after testing at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory, the three samples were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Although doctors at the lab had confirmed the cases on Saturday itself, the government had covered up the cases announcing publicly that no new cases have been reported within a week.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">The the Ministry of Health and Population is yet to officially make an announcement about the new cases by the time this report was prepared but the data prepared by Worldometer, which provides authentic updates of coronavirus cases worldwide, has already increased the number of infected cases in Nepal from 9 to 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">According to Worldometer, 1,784,751 people have so far been infected with the virus that is believed to have originated in Wuhan of China in late December last year. The deadly disease has already claimed 110,000 lives and has spread to 210 countries and territories around the world.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200328091941_548_12722_111.jpg" style="height:600px; width:800px" /></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11669', 'image' => '20200412030634_20200329113323_corona2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 15:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Income to Fall due to Low Consumption of Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity. The consumption of electricity has decreased due to the ongoing lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Industries, commercial buildings and hotels consumes electricity is high amount but those sectors have remained closed for the past three weeks due to the lockdown. This has resulted in less consumption of electricity. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The revenue collected from the consumption of electricity of is the main source of income of the NEA. However, the demand and consumption of electricity has decreased tremendously due to the lockdown and officials at the NEA believe that it will make an adverse impact on the annual profit in the current fiscal year. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Normally, the consumption of electricity during the months of March, April and May is around 20,020,000 units. However, the consumption of the electricity currently is 1,060,000 units only, according to NEA. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kathmandu, the capital city, has the highest demand for electricity across the country. However, the consumption of electricity in Kathmandu itself has declined tremendously, NEA informed. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kulman Ghising, CEO of NEA said that consumers analyzing the shortage of LPG have started to use induction stoves. But still, the consumption of electricity is not as high as during the normal days, he added. </span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11668', 'image' => '20200413113817_1586641381.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Expecting Decline in Profit due to Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. But BFIs have not been able to provide any service except urgent services since a month due to the lockdown. Therefore, they are expecting decline in income and profit as their business has almost come to a halt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Banks have not been able to function properly as the customers are unable to visit the banks due to the lockdown. On one hand, our business has come to a complete halt while the government has extended the time for payment of dues till mid-July,” said Bhuvan Kumar Dahal, chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The income and profit of BFIs will be directly affected this year as the government has announced 10 percent discount to anyone paying their dues and installment within April 13,” he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Dahal says banks have not been able to render their services effectively due to the lockdown. Its impact will be clearly reflected in the third quarterly report, he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs have been encouraging the use of digital transaction during lockdown. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of NMB Bank Sunil KC says banks transactions with industries, tourism sector, transportation entrepreneurs among others have been halted. They have not been able to collect deposits and have also not provided new loans. Therefore the profit is expected to decline in the third quarterly report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Earlier, we used to follow up to collect loans. But that has not been possible since a month now,” said KC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs are discussing about preparing the third quarterly report and presenting them to the Nepal Rastra Bank. But they are not willing to make the report public this time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, NRB Spokesperson Gunakar Bhatta says BFIs cannot go against the law.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“There is a provision in the law according to which BFIs have to compulsorily publish their report on daily newspapers. BFIs cannot hide their information. They must maintain transparency,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11667', 'image' => '20200412024512_20160909042218_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 14:44:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s GDP Growth to Range Between 1.5%-2.8% in 2020: World Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank. The Washington DC-based multilateral development agency in its latest twice-a-year-regional update South Asia Economic Focus expects Nepal’s growth to fall to a range between 1.5 and 2.8 percent in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 reflecting lower remittances, trade and tourism, and broader disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“A prolonged outbreak of COVID-19 would impact growth significantly with a further deceleration or contraction in services and industrial production,” reads the report. The bank predicts that economic growth during FY21 is also likely to remain subdued due to the lingering effects of the pandemic with some recovery expected in FY2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“We are closely monitoring how the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving across Nepal. Our immediate priority is to coordinate our action with the government, private sector and international development partners to ensure that health supplies and equipment are readily available and that a comprehensive recovery package is in place to support the poor and most vulnerable,” a statement issued by the World Bank quoted the bank’s Country Manager for Nepal Faris Hadad-Zervos, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The report anticipates a sharp economic slump in each of the region’s eight countries, caused by halting economic activity, collapsing trade, and greater stress in the financial and banking sectors. “In this fast-changing and uncertain context, the report presents a range forecast, estimating that regional growth will fall to a range between 1.8 and 2.8 percent in 2020, down from 6.3 percent projected six months ago. That would be the region’s worst performance in the last 40 years, with temporary contractions in all South Asian countries,” says the statement. Furthermore, in case of prolonged and broad national lockdowns, the report warns of a worst-case scenario in which the entire region would experience a negative growth rate this year, according to the statement. World Bank says that this deteriorated forecast will linger in 2021, with growth projected to hover between 3.1 and 4.0 percent, down from the previous 6.7 percent estimate. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The bank urges that, amid the mounting human toll and global economic fallout triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian governments must ramp up action to curb the health emergency, protect their people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and set the stage now for fast economic recovery,</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“The impact of the pandemic will hit low-income people hard, especially informal workers in the hospitality, retail trade, and transport sectors who have limited or no access to healthcare or social safety nets,” says the bank. The report notes that the COVID-19 shock will likely reinforce inequality in South Asia. As played out across the region, the sudden and large-scale loss of low paid work has driven a mass exodus of migrant workers from cities to rural areas, spiking fear that many of them will fall back into poverty. The bank warned that while there are no signs yet of widespread food shortages, the report warns that a protracted COVID-19 crisis may threaten food security, especially for the most vulnerable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">In the short term, the report recommends preparing weak healthcare systems for greater COVID-19 impacts, as well as providing safety nets and securing access to food, medical supplies, and necessities for the most vulnerable. “To minimize short-term economic pain, the report calls for establishing temporary work programs for unemployed migrant workers, enacting debt relief measures for businesses and individuals, and easing inter-regional customs clearance to speed up import and export of essential goods,” the report suggests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the World Bank, once lockdown restrictions are loosened, South Asian governments should adopt expansionary fiscal policies combined with monetary stimulus to keep credit flowing in their economies. “Since many South Asian countries have limited fiscal space, these policies should target people worst hit by the freeze on economic activity,” says the bank. The report urges governments to adopt temporary spending measures and coordinate with international financial partners to avoid unsustainable long-term debt levels and fiscal deficits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“After tackling the immediate COVID-19 threat, South Asian countries must keep their sovereign debt sustainable through fiscal prudence and debt relief initiatives,” the statement quoted Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region, as saying. “And looking beyond the present crisis, lie great opportunities to expand digital technologies for payment systems and distant learning to unlock remote areas in South Asia.” </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the statement, economic circumstances within countries and regions are fluid and change on a day-by-day basis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank informs that analysis in the report is based on the latest country-level data available as of April 7, 2020.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“The World Bank Group is taking broad, fast action</span><span style="font-family:Arial"> to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response, increase disease surveillance, improve public health interventions, and help the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs,” reads the statement. The bank further says that it is deploying up to USD 160 billion in financial support over the next 15 months to help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11666', 'image' => '20200412122707_pic(4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Army to Present Quotations from India, China to Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Nepalese Army had been entrusted by the government to bring in medicines and equipment under G2G model to handle the cases of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In this regard, the army had corresponded with five countries for the supplies. It had sent letters to the governments of China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Israel through the military attaches at the embassies in the respective countries for the supply of medical kits and medicines.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In response, India said on Friday that it can send only medicines at present. India said that it is unable to send medical equipment and kits as the country itself is facing problems of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, China has agreed to supply both medicines and medical equipment to Nepal, informed army spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey. He further said that the two countries are willing to supply medicines and equipment as per the demand of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">South Korea has also provided the name of the name of the supplier company but not the details. Brigadier General Panedy informed New Business Age that the quotation provided by the countries will be presented to the government and the Council of Ministers will release the budget accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A cabinet meeting on March 29 had decided to entrust the Nepalese Army to purchase medical supplies through G2G agreements after the government’s initial bid to bring the supplies through a private company drew widespread criticism for alleged financial irregularities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">।</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11665', 'image' => '20200412122922_CWQx7dOXIAEwYbe.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:28:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Containers Stockpiled at Birgunj Dry Port ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of containers entering to the port is as usual. However, due to the lack of custom clearance, the containers are not able to leave the port. According to Animesh Kumar, senior officer of Himalayan Terminal, the company authorized to operate the dry port, the containers are piling up because of the problem is customs clearance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of piled up containers were 2,870 till Saturday. “Birgunj Dry Port is capable to handle 1,542 containers,” said Animesh Kumar. He said that 15 days ago, there were only 1,500 containers at the dry port. The number has become almost double now, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Altogether 23 cargo trains which left from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam are on their way and will arrive at the port by next week. According to Umesh Shrestha, chief of the customs office at the port, the customs clearance of 100 containers is being done every day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Himalayan Terminal estimates that provided the lockdown extends, the number of containers will reach 4,000 in one week. “The container has been crammed more than the capacity of the port. Overloading more containers might be risky,” said Animesh Kumar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Normally, 300-350 containers are cleared by the customs office per day. “Reduction of customs clearance has also affected the revenue collection of the customs office,” an official.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11664', 'image' => '20200412115856_1586641507.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 11:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lockdown will not End Soon: PM Oli', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. PM Oli talked to the chief ministers through video conferencing from the Action Room at Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On the occasion, Oli termed the ongoing efforts against COVID-19 as positive and stressed the need for moving ahead in a coordinated way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa, the PM said that the ongoing lockdown order will not end anytime soon and mobility along the border will be further restricted adding that negligence in the guise of sentimentalism was not acceptable. “Ending the lockdown here while seeing rising number of infections in India cannot happen,” Thapa quoted the PM as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the PM refused the formation of a separate mechanism adding that the government itself was working by exercising its rights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Prime Minister was of the view that the volunteers should work selflessly and they should seek no benefit out of the service. He also raised concerns on the administration’s carelessness during the lockdown and directed the administration and police to be cautious to prevent the gathering of people in the name of fairs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Saying that there was no option to maintaining physical distancing, the PM urged the citizens not to be swayed by unnecessary illusion and misinformation adding that the government was focused to work effectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Country’s health care sector will make qualitative stride and special progress will be achieved in laboratory, equipment and health materials, and management of the skilled human resources till the control of coronavirus infection in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the four-hour-long meeting, the chief ministers shared their initiatives and steps taken for the control of the COVID-19 in their respective provinces. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11663', 'image' => '20200412100619_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 10:05:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Maintenance of Hydropower Projects Halted due to Lockdown ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Promoters of such private hydropower projects are concerned that the life span of the projects will be reduced due to the lack of timely repair works.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The operation of hydropower projects can continue only if they are repaired on a timely basis. However, if the projects are not repaired, it may affect their life span.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kumar Pandey, vice president of Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) said that if the dams need to be repaired anyhow later.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">But, if repaired later, it will affect their life span and add extra expenses to the project, he added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pandey, continuous oepration of the turbines without repair and maintenance is harmful for the machines.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Project operators believe that March, April and May are the best period for maintenance of hydropower projects as there is less flow of water in the rivers and all units are not in operation.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the repair work of all hydropower projects have been halted after the government announced the lockdown on March 24 to control the coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that there are altogether 85 hydropower projects operated by the private sector and maintenance of all the projects have been stalled due to the lockdown. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to IPPAN, this is the right time to do the repair works of the dams, machines, and other infrastructure.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The project cannot be repaired later as the flow of water will rise during the monsoon starting from June. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that the repair work of the projects have been currently halted mainly due to the problem in supply of construction materials such as cement and rods because of the lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11662', 'image' => '20200410023742_1586468380.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:36:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Zonta Club Kathmandu Helping Daily Wage Earners to Cope with COVID-19 Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. The package comprises of rice, lentils, pulses, cooking oil, beaten rice, salt, sugar and tea.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Till date, Zonta has distributed 1,000 food packages to daily wage earners in Bijeshwori, Budhanilkantha, Dhalko, Jagritinagar, Jorpati, Lele, Mahankal, Nagarjun, Sankhamool, Sinamangal, Thali, Thapathali, Tokha Municipalities and in Teku (Bangmati Area). The club says it has partnered with organizations like Bikalpa, Nepal Mahila Samaj, Food for Life, ICDO, Sky Foundation and friends for the cause. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“In these challenging times they have joined hands with Zonta by getting necessary permits and distributing the packages to daily wage earners who are unable to work due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the club said in a statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta expresses heartfelt gratitude to all Zonta’s Family and Friends, Rotary Club of Midtown, SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council (SCWEC), Shangrila Toastmasters, Dr Sanjib Das, Sanskriti School Teachers, DS Store and Helena’s Café for caring for the plight of the people and helping them to reach out to over 2,400 families. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“Initially we started targeting to reach 300 families and with the incredible response and support we have received, our reach will be eight time more. Zonta will continue distributing the food packages in the coming days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta International, founded in 1919, is a leading global organization of professionals, empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. Under the umbrella of Zonta International, Zonta Club of Kathmandu was established in 2012. It is a legally registered NGO in Kathmandu and has been working on the advancement of the status of women with the objective to improve the economic, education, health, and issues related to youth and violence against women at the national and local level through service and advocacy. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-11', 'modified' => '2020-04-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11661', 'image' => '20200411093815_Picture(2) 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-11 09:37:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two held on Charge of Posting Misleading info of VIPs on Social Site ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those arrested in this connection are 36-year-old Tara Nachhiring of Ainselukharka, Khotang, currently living in Budhanilkantha of Kathmandu and 46-year-old Ram Kumar Shrestha of Ward Number 5 of Panauti Municipality, the Cyber Crime Bureau of Nepal Police said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A team from the bureau arrested both of them after discovering that Shrestha had committed an indecent act using PM Oli's photo to the effect of tarnishing his reputation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The bureau said the two were arrested on Thursday and they would be tried under the Electronic Transaction Act, 2063 and the existing laws governing the electronic media. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11660', 'image' => '20200410024628_20190329012355_oli (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:45:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, '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' => '11924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Approves Immediate Debt Relief for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to Nepal. The Washington DC-based lender has said that 25 under-developed nations including Nepal will receive immediate grant-based debt service relief from IMF. “Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads a press statement issued by Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of IMF. According to the statement, this provides grants to IMF’s poorest and most vulnerable members will help the countries to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The CCRT can currently provide about USD 500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent USD185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and USD 100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. “Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions,” Georgieva said. She urged other donors to help replenish CCRT’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to the poorest member countries of IMF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Besides Nepal, Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen are the recipients of the debt service relief.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">The latest move of IMF is one of the several steps the Fund has taken over the last few months to help its members to face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF has been focusing its efforts to help poorer nations coordinating with the World Bank. The two organisations have asked developed nations to halt collection of debt payments from poor countries until June 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-14', 'modified' => '2020-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11674', 'image' => '20200414115244_IMF.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-14 11:51:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Introduce E-Passes from April 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The Ministry of Home Affairs informed in a press conference on Monday that the government will start issuing e-passes for the transportation of food stuffs, ambulances and other essential services or for emergency from Tuesday onward after filling an online form. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The applicants must enter the details for the e-pass at the home ministry’s website http://epass.moha.gov.np/. The ministry has instructed the District Administration Office to provide e-pass only for essential purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Introducing the new system, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa said that the government has initiated a new process to make passes available for the general public in case of emergency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The minister said anyone can fill the form but made it clear that passes will be provided to only those in need of emergency. -RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11673', 'image' => '20200413033255_1586769752.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:31:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Experts Demand Separate Mechanism for Improving Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">They emphasized that a separate mechanism should be developed in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank and the Central Statistics Bureau for the economy to recover. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the experts, a separate body such as the National Reconstruction Authority which was formed to rebuild the country after the 2015 earthquake, should be established to overcome the economic crisis.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Addressing a video conference organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Society (SEJON) on Sunday, April 12, economist duo Bishwambher Pyakhurel and Rameshwar Khanal informed that a separate mechanism is necessary to overcome the economic impacts of corona.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“We need relief and rehabilitation packages soon, but, the packages should be distributed only after analyzing the impact and setting priority,” Khanal said.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Khanal added that inflow of remittance is shrinking and foreign exchange from tourism is declining.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He opined that Nepal will not receive foreign aid and foreign investment, as committed by donors and development partners, because coronavirus has impacted the entire global economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"So, it will also affect the foreign exchange reserves of the country and the money invested in the financial sector as well as liquidity," Khanal added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, economist Pyakhurel informed that the pandemic has impacted the small-scale and cottage industry the most. He says small and cottage industry has the highest contribution to the country’s economy. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that if the decline in domestic production and rise in price and unemployment increases, then the cost and expenditure will rise unbearably.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11672', 'image' => '20200413030531_coronavirus-economy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:04:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Clears CGT', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the Large Tax Payers’ Office, Ncell submitted the amount on Sunday (April 12). Before this, Ncell had paid Rs 4.6 billion CGT to the office last Tuesday as per its commitment to clear the dues in installments. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Chief of the LTO Jhalak Ram Adhikari informed New Business Age that Ncell has paid Rs 4.5 billion on December 31 as the first installment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The LTO had last year sought Rs 60.71 billion from Ncell as CGT when the company changed hands some years ago. The LTO said it had only received 21.54 billion from Ncell and demanded Rs 39 billion from the company on April 16 last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">But the company filed a petition at the Supreme Court <span style="font-family:Times">on April 22, alleging the LTO of charging excessive tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:Times">In the petition, Ncell had argued that the LTO asked it to pay more than Rs 39 billion against the existing laws and previous verdict of the apex court when it is liable to pay only Rs 14.36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">Ncell said it has already paid Rs 21.54 billion as CGT to the Large Taxpayers’ Office in two installments on May 8, 2016 and June 4, 2017. It also paid Rs 2.2 billion as late fee.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">The Supreme Court finally put the matter to rest in November last year ruling that Ncell is liable to pay 21.1 billion CGT, which the company cleared with the payment of the last installment on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11671', 'image' => '20200413113018_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:29:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Construction Materials at 2 Int’l Airports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">April 13: </span><span style="font-family:Arial">COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Due to lack of essential equipment coming from foreign countries and shortage of construction material, these two international airports are being made with the limited available resources, said Rajan Pokharel, director general at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The construction has also been affected due to lack of workers. Currently, around 100 Nepali workers and 28 foreign workers have been working in GBIA. “Earlier we had 200 workers. Now, the workers inside the camp are only engaged,” said Prawesh Adhikari, chief of the Airport Construction Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Similarly, shortage of cement which is imported from India has hit the construction of PRIA. Due to lack of equipment and delay in supply of other materials, the construction work has been affected, said Binesh Munkarmi, chief of the airport project. According to him, the equipment needed for the construction are stuck in Kolkata port. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11670', 'image' => '20200413031316_1586727960.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '3 New Cases of Coronavirus Confirmed in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. However, all of the three newly infected persons are reportedly Indian nationals who have been admitted to Narayani Hospital in Parsa, which shares border with India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Informed sources said that Hetauda-based Vector Borne Disease Research and Training Center had sent three swab samples of the suspects to Kathmandu for further testing as it couldn't independently confirm the results. However, after testing at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory, the three samples were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Although doctors at the lab had confirmed the cases on Saturday itself, the government had covered up the cases announcing publicly that no new cases have been reported within a week.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">The the Ministry of Health and Population is yet to officially make an announcement about the new cases by the time this report was prepared but the data prepared by Worldometer, which provides authentic updates of coronavirus cases worldwide, has already increased the number of infected cases in Nepal from 9 to 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">According to Worldometer, 1,784,751 people have so far been infected with the virus that is believed to have originated in Wuhan of China in late December last year. The deadly disease has already claimed 110,000 lives and has spread to 210 countries and territories around the world.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200328091941_548_12722_111.jpg" style="height:600px; width:800px" /></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11669', 'image' => '20200412030634_20200329113323_corona2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 15:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Income to Fall due to Low Consumption of Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity. The consumption of electricity has decreased due to the ongoing lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Industries, commercial buildings and hotels consumes electricity is high amount but those sectors have remained closed for the past three weeks due to the lockdown. This has resulted in less consumption of electricity. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The revenue collected from the consumption of electricity of is the main source of income of the NEA. However, the demand and consumption of electricity has decreased tremendously due to the lockdown and officials at the NEA believe that it will make an adverse impact on the annual profit in the current fiscal year. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Normally, the consumption of electricity during the months of March, April and May is around 20,020,000 units. However, the consumption of the electricity currently is 1,060,000 units only, according to NEA. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kathmandu, the capital city, has the highest demand for electricity across the country. However, the consumption of electricity in Kathmandu itself has declined tremendously, NEA informed. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kulman Ghising, CEO of NEA said that consumers analyzing the shortage of LPG have started to use induction stoves. But still, the consumption of electricity is not as high as during the normal days, he added. </span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11668', 'image' => '20200413113817_1586641381.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Expecting Decline in Profit due to Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. But BFIs have not been able to provide any service except urgent services since a month due to the lockdown. Therefore, they are expecting decline in income and profit as their business has almost come to a halt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Banks have not been able to function properly as the customers are unable to visit the banks due to the lockdown. On one hand, our business has come to a complete halt while the government has extended the time for payment of dues till mid-July,” said Bhuvan Kumar Dahal, chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The income and profit of BFIs will be directly affected this year as the government has announced 10 percent discount to anyone paying their dues and installment within April 13,” he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Dahal says banks have not been able to render their services effectively due to the lockdown. Its impact will be clearly reflected in the third quarterly report, he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs have been encouraging the use of digital transaction during lockdown. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of NMB Bank Sunil KC says banks transactions with industries, tourism sector, transportation entrepreneurs among others have been halted. They have not been able to collect deposits and have also not provided new loans. Therefore the profit is expected to decline in the third quarterly report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Earlier, we used to follow up to collect loans. But that has not been possible since a month now,” said KC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs are discussing about preparing the third quarterly report and presenting them to the Nepal Rastra Bank. But they are not willing to make the report public this time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, NRB Spokesperson Gunakar Bhatta says BFIs cannot go against the law.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“There is a provision in the law according to which BFIs have to compulsorily publish their report on daily newspapers. BFIs cannot hide their information. They must maintain transparency,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11667', 'image' => '20200412024512_20160909042218_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 14:44:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s GDP Growth to Range Between 1.5%-2.8% in 2020: World Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank. The Washington DC-based multilateral development agency in its latest twice-a-year-regional update South Asia Economic Focus expects Nepal’s growth to fall to a range between 1.5 and 2.8 percent in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 reflecting lower remittances, trade and tourism, and broader disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“A prolonged outbreak of COVID-19 would impact growth significantly with a further deceleration or contraction in services and industrial production,” reads the report. The bank predicts that economic growth during FY21 is also likely to remain subdued due to the lingering effects of the pandemic with some recovery expected in FY2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“We are closely monitoring how the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving across Nepal. Our immediate priority is to coordinate our action with the government, private sector and international development partners to ensure that health supplies and equipment are readily available and that a comprehensive recovery package is in place to support the poor and most vulnerable,” a statement issued by the World Bank quoted the bank’s Country Manager for Nepal Faris Hadad-Zervos, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The report anticipates a sharp economic slump in each of the region’s eight countries, caused by halting economic activity, collapsing trade, and greater stress in the financial and banking sectors. “In this fast-changing and uncertain context, the report presents a range forecast, estimating that regional growth will fall to a range between 1.8 and 2.8 percent in 2020, down from 6.3 percent projected six months ago. That would be the region’s worst performance in the last 40 years, with temporary contractions in all South Asian countries,” says the statement. Furthermore, in case of prolonged and broad national lockdowns, the report warns of a worst-case scenario in which the entire region would experience a negative growth rate this year, according to the statement. World Bank says that this deteriorated forecast will linger in 2021, with growth projected to hover between 3.1 and 4.0 percent, down from the previous 6.7 percent estimate. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The bank urges that, amid the mounting human toll and global economic fallout triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian governments must ramp up action to curb the health emergency, protect their people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and set the stage now for fast economic recovery,</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“The impact of the pandemic will hit low-income people hard, especially informal workers in the hospitality, retail trade, and transport sectors who have limited or no access to healthcare or social safety nets,” says the bank. The report notes that the COVID-19 shock will likely reinforce inequality in South Asia. As played out across the region, the sudden and large-scale loss of low paid work has driven a mass exodus of migrant workers from cities to rural areas, spiking fear that many of them will fall back into poverty. The bank warned that while there are no signs yet of widespread food shortages, the report warns that a protracted COVID-19 crisis may threaten food security, especially for the most vulnerable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">In the short term, the report recommends preparing weak healthcare systems for greater COVID-19 impacts, as well as providing safety nets and securing access to food, medical supplies, and necessities for the most vulnerable. “To minimize short-term economic pain, the report calls for establishing temporary work programs for unemployed migrant workers, enacting debt relief measures for businesses and individuals, and easing inter-regional customs clearance to speed up import and export of essential goods,” the report suggests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the World Bank, once lockdown restrictions are loosened, South Asian governments should adopt expansionary fiscal policies combined with monetary stimulus to keep credit flowing in their economies. “Since many South Asian countries have limited fiscal space, these policies should target people worst hit by the freeze on economic activity,” says the bank. The report urges governments to adopt temporary spending measures and coordinate with international financial partners to avoid unsustainable long-term debt levels and fiscal deficits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“After tackling the immediate COVID-19 threat, South Asian countries must keep their sovereign debt sustainable through fiscal prudence and debt relief initiatives,” the statement quoted Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region, as saying. “And looking beyond the present crisis, lie great opportunities to expand digital technologies for payment systems and distant learning to unlock remote areas in South Asia.” </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the statement, economic circumstances within countries and regions are fluid and change on a day-by-day basis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank informs that analysis in the report is based on the latest country-level data available as of April 7, 2020.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“The World Bank Group is taking broad, fast action</span><span style="font-family:Arial"> to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response, increase disease surveillance, improve public health interventions, and help the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs,” reads the statement. The bank further says that it is deploying up to USD 160 billion in financial support over the next 15 months to help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11666', 'image' => '20200412122707_pic(4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Army to Present Quotations from India, China to Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Nepalese Army had been entrusted by the government to bring in medicines and equipment under G2G model to handle the cases of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In this regard, the army had corresponded with five countries for the supplies. It had sent letters to the governments of China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Israel through the military attaches at the embassies in the respective countries for the supply of medical kits and medicines.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In response, India said on Friday that it can send only medicines at present. India said that it is unable to send medical equipment and kits as the country itself is facing problems of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, China has agreed to supply both medicines and medical equipment to Nepal, informed army spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey. He further said that the two countries are willing to supply medicines and equipment as per the demand of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">South Korea has also provided the name of the name of the supplier company but not the details. Brigadier General Panedy informed New Business Age that the quotation provided by the countries will be presented to the government and the Council of Ministers will release the budget accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A cabinet meeting on March 29 had decided to entrust the Nepalese Army to purchase medical supplies through G2G agreements after the government’s initial bid to bring the supplies through a private company drew widespread criticism for alleged financial irregularities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">।</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11665', 'image' => '20200412122922_CWQx7dOXIAEwYbe.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:28:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Containers Stockpiled at Birgunj Dry Port ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of containers entering to the port is as usual. However, due to the lack of custom clearance, the containers are not able to leave the port. According to Animesh Kumar, senior officer of Himalayan Terminal, the company authorized to operate the dry port, the containers are piling up because of the problem is customs clearance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of piled up containers were 2,870 till Saturday. “Birgunj Dry Port is capable to handle 1,542 containers,” said Animesh Kumar. He said that 15 days ago, there were only 1,500 containers at the dry port. The number has become almost double now, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Altogether 23 cargo trains which left from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam are on their way and will arrive at the port by next week. According to Umesh Shrestha, chief of the customs office at the port, the customs clearance of 100 containers is being done every day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Himalayan Terminal estimates that provided the lockdown extends, the number of containers will reach 4,000 in one week. “The container has been crammed more than the capacity of the port. Overloading more containers might be risky,” said Animesh Kumar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Normally, 300-350 containers are cleared by the customs office per day. “Reduction of customs clearance has also affected the revenue collection of the customs office,” an official.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11664', 'image' => '20200412115856_1586641507.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 11:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lockdown will not End Soon: PM Oli', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. PM Oli talked to the chief ministers through video conferencing from the Action Room at Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On the occasion, Oli termed the ongoing efforts against COVID-19 as positive and stressed the need for moving ahead in a coordinated way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa, the PM said that the ongoing lockdown order will not end anytime soon and mobility along the border will be further restricted adding that negligence in the guise of sentimentalism was not acceptable. “Ending the lockdown here while seeing rising number of infections in India cannot happen,” Thapa quoted the PM as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the PM refused the formation of a separate mechanism adding that the government itself was working by exercising its rights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Prime Minister was of the view that the volunteers should work selflessly and they should seek no benefit out of the service. He also raised concerns on the administration’s carelessness during the lockdown and directed the administration and police to be cautious to prevent the gathering of people in the name of fairs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Saying that there was no option to maintaining physical distancing, the PM urged the citizens not to be swayed by unnecessary illusion and misinformation adding that the government was focused to work effectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Country’s health care sector will make qualitative stride and special progress will be achieved in laboratory, equipment and health materials, and management of the skilled human resources till the control of coronavirus infection in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the four-hour-long meeting, the chief ministers shared their initiatives and steps taken for the control of the COVID-19 in their respective provinces. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11663', 'image' => '20200412100619_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 10:05:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Maintenance of Hydropower Projects Halted due to Lockdown ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Promoters of such private hydropower projects are concerned that the life span of the projects will be reduced due to the lack of timely repair works.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The operation of hydropower projects can continue only if they are repaired on a timely basis. However, if the projects are not repaired, it may affect their life span.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kumar Pandey, vice president of Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) said that if the dams need to be repaired anyhow later.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">But, if repaired later, it will affect their life span and add extra expenses to the project, he added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pandey, continuous oepration of the turbines without repair and maintenance is harmful for the machines.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Project operators believe that March, April and May are the best period for maintenance of hydropower projects as there is less flow of water in the rivers and all units are not in operation.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the repair work of all hydropower projects have been halted after the government announced the lockdown on March 24 to control the coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that there are altogether 85 hydropower projects operated by the private sector and maintenance of all the projects have been stalled due to the lockdown. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to IPPAN, this is the right time to do the repair works of the dams, machines, and other infrastructure.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The project cannot be repaired later as the flow of water will rise during the monsoon starting from June. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that the repair work of the projects have been currently halted mainly due to the problem in supply of construction materials such as cement and rods because of the lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11662', 'image' => '20200410023742_1586468380.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:36:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Zonta Club Kathmandu Helping Daily Wage Earners to Cope with COVID-19 Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. The package comprises of rice, lentils, pulses, cooking oil, beaten rice, salt, sugar and tea.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Till date, Zonta has distributed 1,000 food packages to daily wage earners in Bijeshwori, Budhanilkantha, Dhalko, Jagritinagar, Jorpati, Lele, Mahankal, Nagarjun, Sankhamool, Sinamangal, Thali, Thapathali, Tokha Municipalities and in Teku (Bangmati Area). The club says it has partnered with organizations like Bikalpa, Nepal Mahila Samaj, Food for Life, ICDO, Sky Foundation and friends for the cause. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“In these challenging times they have joined hands with Zonta by getting necessary permits and distributing the packages to daily wage earners who are unable to work due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the club said in a statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta expresses heartfelt gratitude to all Zonta’s Family and Friends, Rotary Club of Midtown, SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council (SCWEC), Shangrila Toastmasters, Dr Sanjib Das, Sanskriti School Teachers, DS Store and Helena’s Café for caring for the plight of the people and helping them to reach out to over 2,400 families. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“Initially we started targeting to reach 300 families and with the incredible response and support we have received, our reach will be eight time more. Zonta will continue distributing the food packages in the coming days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta International, founded in 1919, is a leading global organization of professionals, empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. Under the umbrella of Zonta International, Zonta Club of Kathmandu was established in 2012. It is a legally registered NGO in Kathmandu and has been working on the advancement of the status of women with the objective to improve the economic, education, health, and issues related to youth and violence against women at the national and local level through service and advocacy. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-11', 'modified' => '2020-04-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11661', 'image' => '20200411093815_Picture(2) 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-11 09:37:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two held on Charge of Posting Misleading info of VIPs on Social Site ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those arrested in this connection are 36-year-old Tara Nachhiring of Ainselukharka, Khotang, currently living in Budhanilkantha of Kathmandu and 46-year-old Ram Kumar Shrestha of Ward Number 5 of Panauti Municipality, the Cyber Crime Bureau of Nepal Police said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A team from the bureau arrested both of them after discovering that Shrestha had committed an indecent act using PM Oli's photo to the effect of tarnishing his reputation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The bureau said the two were arrested on Thursday and they would be tried under the Electronic Transaction Act, 2063 and the existing laws governing the electronic media. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11660', 'image' => '20200410024628_20190329012355_oli (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:45:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, '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' => '11924', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Approves Immediate Debt Relief for Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 14: In a bid to help Nepal combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to provide financial support to Nepal. The Washington DC-based lender has said that 25 under-developed nations including Nepal will receive immediate grant-based debt service relief from IMF. “Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads a press statement issued by Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of IMF. According to the statement, this provides grants to IMF’s poorest and most vulnerable members will help the countries to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The CCRT can currently provide about USD 500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent USD185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and USD 100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. “Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions,” Georgieva said. She urged other donors to help replenish CCRT’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to the poorest member countries of IMF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Besides Nepal, Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen are the recipients of the debt service relief.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">The latest move of IMF is one of the several steps the Fund has taken over the last few months to help its members to face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF has been focusing its efforts to help poorer nations coordinating with the World Bank. The two organisations have asked developed nations to halt collection of debt payments from poor countries until June 2021.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-14', 'modified' => '2020-04-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11674', 'image' => '20200414115244_IMF.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-14 11:51:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11923', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Introduce E-Passes from April 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: The government is preparing to introduce e-passes for the operation of vehicles for essential services from Tuesday (April 14).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The Ministry of Home Affairs informed in a press conference on Monday that the government will start issuing e-passes for the transportation of food stuffs, ambulances and other essential services or for emergency from Tuesday onward after filling an online form. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The applicants must enter the details for the e-pass at the home ministry’s website http://epass.moha.gov.np/. The ministry has instructed the District Administration Office to provide e-pass only for essential purpose.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Introducing the new system, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa said that the government has initiated a new process to make passes available for the general public in case of emergency.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The minister said anyone can fill the form but made it clear that passes will be provided to only those in need of emergency. -RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11673', 'image' => '20200413033255_1586769752.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:31:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11921', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Experts Demand Separate Mechanism for Improving Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: Economists have suggested that a strong mechanism is needed to reduce the impacts of coronavirus on the country's economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">They emphasized that a separate mechanism should be developed in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank and the Central Statistics Bureau for the economy to recover. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the experts, a separate body such as the National Reconstruction Authority which was formed to rebuild the country after the 2015 earthquake, should be established to overcome the economic crisis.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Addressing a video conference organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Society (SEJON) on Sunday, April 12, economist duo Bishwambher Pyakhurel and Rameshwar Khanal informed that a separate mechanism is necessary to overcome the economic impacts of corona.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“We need relief and rehabilitation packages soon, but, the packages should be distributed only after analyzing the impact and setting priority,” Khanal said.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Khanal added that inflow of remittance is shrinking and foreign exchange from tourism is declining.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He opined that Nepal will not receive foreign aid and foreign investment, as committed by donors and development partners, because coronavirus has impacted the entire global economy.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"So, it will also affect the foreign exchange reserves of the country and the money invested in the financial sector as well as liquidity," Khanal added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, economist Pyakhurel informed that the pandemic has impacted the small-scale and cottage industry the most. He says small and cottage industry has the highest contribution to the country’s economy. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that if the decline in domestic production and rise in price and unemployment increases, then the cost and expenditure will rise unbearably.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11672', 'image' => '20200413030531_coronavirus-economy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:04:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11919', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ncell Clears CGT', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 13: Ncell Limited, a leading private telecommunication company of Nepal, has submitted Rs 14.33 billion capital gains tax (CGT) to the government to clear all its dues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the Large Tax Payers’ Office, Ncell submitted the amount on Sunday (April 12). Before this, Ncell had paid Rs 4.6 billion CGT to the office last Tuesday as per its commitment to clear the dues in installments. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:Arial">Chief of the LTO Jhalak Ram Adhikari informed New Business Age that Ncell has paid Rs 4.5 billion on December 31 as the first installment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times">The LTO had last year sought Rs 60.71 billion from Ncell as CGT when the company changed hands some years ago. The LTO said it had only received 21.54 billion from Ncell and demanded Rs 39 billion from the company on April 16 last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">But the company filed a petition at the Supreme Court <span style="font-family:Times">on April 22, alleging the LTO of charging excessive tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:Times">In the petition, Ncell had argued that the LTO asked it to pay more than Rs 39 billion against the existing laws and previous verdict of the apex court when it is liable to pay only Rs 14.36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">Ncell said it has already paid Rs 21.54 billion as CGT to the Large Taxpayers’ Office in two installments on May 8, 2016 and June 4, 2017. It also paid Rs 2.2 billion as late fee.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Times">The Supreme Court finally put the matter to rest in November last year ruling that Ncell is liable to pay 21.1 billion CGT, which the company cleared with the payment of the last installment on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11671', 'image' => '20200413113018_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:29:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11922', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shortage of Construction Materials at 2 Int’l Airports', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:"Mangal","serif"">April 13: </span><span style="font-family:Arial">COVID 19 lockdown has affected the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) and Pokhara Regional and International Airport (PRIA). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Due to lack of essential equipment coming from foreign countries and shortage of construction material, these two international airports are being made with the limited available resources, said Rajan Pokharel, director general at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The construction has also been affected due to lack of workers. Currently, around 100 Nepali workers and 28 foreign workers have been working in GBIA. “Earlier we had 200 workers. Now, the workers inside the camp are only engaged,” said Prawesh Adhikari, chief of the Airport Construction Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Similarly, shortage of cement which is imported from India has hit the construction of PRIA. Due to lack of equipment and delay in supply of other materials, the construction work has been affected, said Binesh Munkarmi, chief of the airport project. According to him, the equipment needed for the construction are stuck in Kolkata port. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11670', 'image' => '20200413031316_1586727960.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '3 New Cases of Coronavirus Confirmed in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria">April 12: Three new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Nepal on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 12. However, all of the three newly infected persons are reportedly Indian nationals who have been admitted to Narayani Hospital in Parsa, which shares border with India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Informed sources said that Hetauda-based Vector Borne Disease Research and Training Center had sent three swab samples of the suspects to Kathmandu for further testing as it couldn't independently confirm the results. However, after testing at the Teku-based National Public Health Laboratory, the three samples were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">Although doctors at the lab had confirmed the cases on Saturday itself, the government had covered up the cases announcing publicly that no new cases have been reported within a week.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">The the Ministry of Health and Population is yet to officially make an announcement about the new cases by the time this report was prepared but the data prepared by Worldometer, which provides authentic updates of coronavirus cases worldwide, has already increased the number of infected cases in Nepal from 9 to 12.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:Georgia">According to Worldometer, 1,784,751 people have so far been infected with the virus that is believed to have originated in Wuhan of China in late December last year. The deadly disease has already claimed 110,000 lives and has spread to 210 countries and territories around the world.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200328091941_548_12722_111.jpg" style="height:600px; width:800px" /></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11669', 'image' => '20200412030634_20200329113323_corona2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 15:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11920', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA’s Income to Fall due to Low Consumption of Electricity ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 13: The income of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to decrease this year due to less consumption of electricity. The consumption of electricity has decreased due to the ongoing lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Industries, commercial buildings and hotels consumes electricity is high amount but those sectors have remained closed for the past three weeks due to the lockdown. This has resulted in less consumption of electricity. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The revenue collected from the consumption of electricity of is the main source of income of the NEA. However, the demand and consumption of electricity has decreased tremendously due to the lockdown and officials at the NEA believe that it will make an adverse impact on the annual profit in the current fiscal year. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Normally, the consumption of electricity during the months of March, April and May is around 20,020,000 units. However, the consumption of the electricity currently is 1,060,000 units only, according to NEA. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kathmandu, the capital city, has the highest demand for electricity across the country. However, the consumption of electricity in Kathmandu itself has declined tremendously, NEA informed. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kulman Ghising, CEO of NEA said that consumers analyzing the shortage of LPG have started to use induction stoves. But still, the consumption of electricity is not as high as during the normal days, he added. </span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span></h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-13', 'modified' => '2020-04-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11668', 'image' => '20200413113817_1586641381.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-13 11:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Expecting Decline in Profit due to Lockdown', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are under pressure to prepare the third quarterly report at this period of year. But BFIs have not been able to provide any service except urgent services since a month due to the lockdown. Therefore, they are expecting decline in income and profit as their business has almost come to a halt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Banks have not been able to function properly as the customers are unable to visit the banks due to the lockdown. On one hand, our business has come to a complete halt while the government has extended the time for payment of dues till mid-July,” said Bhuvan Kumar Dahal, chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“The income and profit of BFIs will be directly affected this year as the government has announced 10 percent discount to anyone paying their dues and installment within April 13,” he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Dahal says banks have not been able to render their services effectively due to the lockdown. Its impact will be clearly reflected in the third quarterly report, he added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs have been encouraging the use of digital transaction during lockdown. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CEO of NMB Bank Sunil KC says banks transactions with industries, tourism sector, transportation entrepreneurs among others have been halted. They have not been able to collect deposits and have also not provided new loans. Therefore the profit is expected to decline in the third quarterly report.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“Earlier, we used to follow up to collect loans. But that has not been possible since a month now,” said KC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">BFIs are discussing about preparing the third quarterly report and presenting them to the Nepal Rastra Bank. But they are not willing to make the report public this time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">However, NRB Spokesperson Gunakar Bhatta says BFIs cannot go against the law.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“There is a provision in the law according to which BFIs have to compulsorily publish their report on daily newspapers. BFIs cannot hide their information. They must maintain transparency,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11667', 'image' => '20200412024512_20160909042218_nrb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 14:44:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s GDP Growth to Range Between 1.5%-2.8% in 2020: World Bank ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will cause a sharp contraction in Nepal’s economic growth, according to new report published by the World Bank. The Washington DC-based multilateral development agency in its latest twice-a-year-regional update South Asia Economic Focus expects Nepal’s growth to fall to a range between 1.5 and 2.8 percent in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 reflecting lower remittances, trade and tourism, and broader disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“A prolonged outbreak of COVID-19 would impact growth significantly with a further deceleration or contraction in services and industrial production,” reads the report. The bank predicts that economic growth during FY21 is also likely to remain subdued due to the lingering effects of the pandemic with some recovery expected in FY2022.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“We are closely monitoring how the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving across Nepal. Our immediate priority is to coordinate our action with the government, private sector and international development partners to ensure that health supplies and equipment are readily available and that a comprehensive recovery package is in place to support the poor and most vulnerable,” a statement issued by the World Bank quoted the bank’s Country Manager for Nepal Faris Hadad-Zervos, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The report anticipates a sharp economic slump in each of the region’s eight countries, caused by halting economic activity, collapsing trade, and greater stress in the financial and banking sectors. “In this fast-changing and uncertain context, the report presents a range forecast, estimating that regional growth will fall to a range between 1.8 and 2.8 percent in 2020, down from 6.3 percent projected six months ago. That would be the region’s worst performance in the last 40 years, with temporary contractions in all South Asian countries,” says the statement. Furthermore, in case of prolonged and broad national lockdowns, the report warns of a worst-case scenario in which the entire region would experience a negative growth rate this year, according to the statement. World Bank says that this deteriorated forecast will linger in 2021, with growth projected to hover between 3.1 and 4.0 percent, down from the previous 6.7 percent estimate. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">The bank urges that, amid the mounting human toll and global economic fallout triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian governments must ramp up action to curb the health emergency, protect their people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and set the stage now for fast economic recovery,</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“The impact of the pandemic will hit low-income people hard, especially informal workers in the hospitality, retail trade, and transport sectors who have limited or no access to healthcare or social safety nets,” says the bank. The report notes that the COVID-19 shock will likely reinforce inequality in South Asia. As played out across the region, the sudden and large-scale loss of low paid work has driven a mass exodus of migrant workers from cities to rural areas, spiking fear that many of them will fall back into poverty. The bank warned that while there are no signs yet of widespread food shortages, the report warns that a protracted COVID-19 crisis may threaten food security, especially for the most vulnerable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">In the short term, the report recommends preparing weak healthcare systems for greater COVID-19 impacts, as well as providing safety nets and securing access to food, medical supplies, and necessities for the most vulnerable. “To minimize short-term economic pain, the report calls for establishing temporary work programs for unemployed migrant workers, enacting debt relief measures for businesses and individuals, and easing inter-regional customs clearance to speed up import and export of essential goods,” the report suggests. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the World Bank, once lockdown restrictions are loosened, South Asian governments should adopt expansionary fiscal policies combined with monetary stimulus to keep credit flowing in their economies. “Since many South Asian countries have limited fiscal space, these policies should target people worst hit by the freeze on economic activity,” says the bank. The report urges governments to adopt temporary spending measures and coordinate with international financial partners to avoid unsustainable long-term debt levels and fiscal deficits.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"> <span style="font-family:Arial">“After tackling the immediate COVID-19 threat, South Asian countries must keep their sovereign debt sustainable through fiscal prudence and debt relief initiatives,” the statement quoted Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region, as saying. “And looking beyond the present crisis, lie great opportunities to expand digital technologies for payment systems and distant learning to unlock remote areas in South Asia.” </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">According to the statement, economic circumstances within countries and regions are fluid and change on a day-by-day basis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank informs that analysis in the report is based on the latest country-level data available as of April 7, 2020.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:Arial">“The World Bank Group is taking broad, fast action</span><span style="font-family:Arial"> to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response, increase disease surveillance, improve public health interventions, and help the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs,” reads the statement. The bank further says that it is deploying up to USD 160 billion in financial support over the next 15 months to help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11666', 'image' => '20200412122707_pic(4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:24:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Army to Present Quotations from India, China to Government', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Nepalese Army has informed that China is willing to supply medical equipment as well as medicines while India is interested in supplying only medicines to help Nepal fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Nepalese Army had been entrusted by the government to bring in medicines and equipment under G2G model to handle the cases of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In this regard, the army had corresponded with five countries for the supplies. It had sent letters to the governments of China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Israel through the military attaches at the embassies in the respective countries for the supply of medical kits and medicines.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In response, India said on Friday that it can send only medicines at present. India said that it is unable to send medical equipment and kits as the country itself is facing problems of coronavirus. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, China has agreed to supply both medicines and medical equipment to Nepal, informed army spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey. He further said that the two countries are willing to supply medicines and equipment as per the demand of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">South Korea has also provided the name of the name of the supplier company but not the details. Brigadier General Panedy informed New Business Age that the quotation provided by the countries will be presented to the government and the Council of Ministers will release the budget accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A cabinet meeting on March 29 had decided to entrust the Nepalese Army to purchase medical supplies through G2G agreements after the government’s initial bid to bring the supplies through a private company drew widespread criticism for alleged financial irregularities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">।</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11665', 'image' => '20200412122922_CWQx7dOXIAEwYbe.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 12:28:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Containers Stockpiled at Birgunj Dry Port ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">April 12: Goods imported from India and third countries have been stockpiled at the Birgunj Dry Port due to the lockdown imposed by the government.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of containers entering to the port is as usual. However, due to the lack of custom clearance, the containers are not able to leave the port. According to Animesh Kumar, senior officer of Himalayan Terminal, the company authorized to operate the dry port, the containers are piling up because of the problem is customs clearance. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">The number of piled up containers were 2,870 till Saturday. “Birgunj Dry Port is capable to handle 1,542 containers,” said Animesh Kumar. He said that 15 days ago, there were only 1,500 containers at the dry port. The number has become almost double now, he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Altogether 23 cargo trains which left from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam are on their way and will arrive at the port by next week. According to Umesh Shrestha, chief of the customs office at the port, the customs clearance of 100 containers is being done every day. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Himalayan Terminal estimates that provided the lockdown extends, the number of containers will reach 4,000 in one week. “The container has been crammed more than the capacity of the port. Overloading more containers might be risky,” said Animesh Kumar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-family:Arial">Normally, 300-350 containers are cleared by the customs office per day. “Reduction of customs clearance has also affected the revenue collection of the customs office,” an official.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11664', 'image' => '20200412115856_1586641507.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 11:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lockdown will not End Soon: PM Oli', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 12: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held talks with the chief ministers of all seven provinces on Saturday to make the ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of coronavirus. PM Oli talked to the chief ministers through video conferencing from the Action Room at Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On the occasion, Oli termed the ongoing efforts against COVID-19 as positive and stressed the need for moving ahead in a coordinated way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa, the PM said that the ongoing lockdown order will not end anytime soon and mobility along the border will be further restricted adding that negligence in the guise of sentimentalism was not acceptable. “Ending the lockdown here while seeing rising number of infections in India cannot happen,” Thapa quoted the PM as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Furthermore, the PM refused the formation of a separate mechanism adding that the government itself was working by exercising its rights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The Prime Minister was of the view that the volunteers should work selflessly and they should seek no benefit out of the service. He also raised concerns on the administration’s carelessness during the lockdown and directed the administration and police to be cautious to prevent the gathering of people in the name of fairs. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Saying that there was no option to maintaining physical distancing, the PM urged the citizens not to be swayed by unnecessary illusion and misinformation adding that the government was focused to work effectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Country’s health care sector will make qualitative stride and special progress will be achieved in laboratory, equipment and health materials, and management of the skilled human resources till the control of coronavirus infection in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">During the four-hour-long meeting, the chief ministers shared their initiatives and steps taken for the control of the COVID-19 in their respective provinces. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-12', 'modified' => '2020-04-12', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11663', 'image' => '20200412100619_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-12 10:05:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Maintenance of Hydropower Projects Halted due to Lockdown ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.', 'content' => '<h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">April 10: The repair and maintenance of hydropower projects run by the private sector has been halted due to the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Promoters of such private hydropower projects are concerned that the life span of the projects will be reduced due to the lack of timely repair works.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The operation of hydropower projects can continue only if they are repaired on a timely basis. However, if the projects are not repaired, it may affect their life span.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kumar Pandey, vice president of Independent Power Producers' Association Nepal (IPPAN) said that if the dams need to be repaired anyhow later.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">But, if repaired later, it will affect their life span and add extra expenses to the project, he added.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pandey, continuous oepration of the turbines without repair and maintenance is harmful for the machines.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Project operators believe that March, April and May are the best period for maintenance of hydropower projects as there is less flow of water in the rivers and all units are not in operation.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, the repair work of all hydropower projects have been halted after the government announced the lockdown on March 24 to control the coronavirus outbreak.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that there are altogether 85 hydropower projects operated by the private sector and maintenance of all the projects have been stalled due to the lockdown. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to IPPAN, this is the right time to do the repair works of the dams, machines, and other infrastructure.</span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The project cannot be repaired later as the flow of water will rise during the monsoon starting from June. </span></span></h1> <h1><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">IPPAN informed that the repair work of the projects have been currently halted mainly due to the problem in supply of construction materials such as cement and rods because of the lockdown.</span></span></h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> <h1> </h1> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11662', 'image' => '20200410023742_1586468380.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:36:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Zonta Club Kathmandu Helping Daily Wage Earners to Cope with COVID-19 Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">April 11: Zonta Club of Kathmandu is helping the daily wage earners to cope with the COVID-19 crisis by distributing food packages. The package comprises of rice, lentils, pulses, cooking oil, beaten rice, salt, sugar and tea.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Till date, Zonta has distributed 1,000 food packages to daily wage earners in Bijeshwori, Budhanilkantha, Dhalko, Jagritinagar, Jorpati, Lele, Mahankal, Nagarjun, Sankhamool, Sinamangal, Thali, Thapathali, Tokha Municipalities and in Teku (Bangmati Area). The club says it has partnered with organizations like Bikalpa, Nepal Mahila Samaj, Food for Life, ICDO, Sky Foundation and friends for the cause. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“In these challenging times they have joined hands with Zonta by getting necessary permits and distributing the packages to daily wage earners who are unable to work due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the club said in a statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta expresses heartfelt gratitude to all Zonta’s Family and Friends, Rotary Club of Midtown, SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council (SCWEC), Shangrila Toastmasters, Dr Sanjib Das, Sanskriti School Teachers, DS Store and Helena’s Café for caring for the plight of the people and helping them to reach out to over 2,400 families. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">“Initially we started targeting to reach 300 families and with the incredible response and support we have received, our reach will be eight time more. Zonta will continue distributing the food packages in the coming days.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="font-family:"Tw Cen MT"">Zonta International, founded in 1919, is a leading global organization of professionals, empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. Under the umbrella of Zonta International, Zonta Club of Kathmandu was established in 2012. It is a legally registered NGO in Kathmandu and has been working on the advancement of the status of women with the objective to improve the economic, education, health, and issues related to youth and violence against women at the national and local level through service and advocacy. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-11', 'modified' => '2020-04-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11661', 'image' => '20200411093815_Picture(2) 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-11 09:37:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '20' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '11911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two held on Charge of Posting Misleading info of VIPs on Social Site ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">April 10: Police have taken two people under control on the charge of posting misleading information related to distinguished persons, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Facebook. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Those arrested in this connection are 36-year-old Tara Nachhiring of Ainselukharka, Khotang, currently living in Budhanilkantha of Kathmandu and 46-year-old Ram Kumar Shrestha of Ward Number 5 of Panauti Municipality, the Cyber Crime Bureau of Nepal Police said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A team from the bureau arrested both of them after discovering that Shrestha had committed an indecent act using PM Oli's photo to the effect of tarnishing his reputation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The bureau said the two were arrested on Thursday and they would be tried under the Electronic Transaction Act, 2063 and the existing laws governing the electronic media. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2020-04-10', 'modified' => '2020-04-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '11660', 'image' => '20200410024628_20190329012355_oli (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2020-04-10 14:45:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, '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
