The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week,…
The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week,…
Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade…
November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking…
November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate…
November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to…
November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the…
November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank…
November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights…
Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake…
Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal…
The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points…
November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the…
November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are…
November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant…
November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from…
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However, despite the index's upward trajectory, the turnover amount decreased compared to yesterday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Stock analysts and investors attribute today's market rise to a decrease in the prices of listed stocks, making them cheaper for buyers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on loan drop and regulators relax polices pertaining to the margin loans,” said one investor.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">During today’s trading, as many as 288 scrips were traded in the market through 30,364 transactions. A total of 3,157,062 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 78 crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sonapur Oils and Minerals And Oil Limited (SONA) had the highest turnover of 5.61 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 273 per share. Global IME Lagghubitta Bitiya Sanstha Ltd.(GILB) gained the highest 8.07%, while Corporate Development Bank(CORBL) lost the highest 6.38%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">In terms of sector indices, Manufacturing And Processing gained the highest 1.16%, while Hotels And Tourism Index lost the highest 0.64%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sensitive Index gained 0.05%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float Index gained 0.21% and 0.01% respectively.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19170', 'image' => '20231108042233_collage (43).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 16:17:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI President Chandra Prasad Dhakal Calls for Increased South Korean Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Speaking at the Nepal-Korea Investment Conference, Dhakal highlighted the substantial trade deficit between the two nations, with Nepal's exports to South Korea being considerably lower than its imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> He encouraged increased South Korean investment in Nepal, particularly in the energy, tourism, agricultural processing, and information and communications sectors, all of which are vital to Nepal's economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal noted the presence of over 350 Korea-funded enterprises in Nepal, underscoring Nepal's appeal as an attractive investment destination for South Korea. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He suggested that Nepal could harness its natural and human resources by adopting modern technology from Korea, benefiting both countries and facilitating South Korea's trade expansion in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, Dhakal stressed the importance of Nepal's partnership with South Korea in diversifying its developing economy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He called for the swift approval of Nepali banks to operate branches in South Korea, as this would foster trade and investment growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal also encouraged Korean investors to explore opportunities for joint investments in technical and vocational education in Nepal, given the significant number of Nepali workers in South Korea. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19169', 'image' => '20231108054143_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 17:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cash Flow Starts Returning to Banking System after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Rastra Bank, the total deposits of banks and financial institutions have reached Rs 5900 billion as of Sunday. The total deposits of banks had reached Rs 5915 billion in mid-October. After that, the deposits decreased to Rs 5868 billion by October 26. Post Dashain, deposits of Rs 32 billion have been added to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In Dashain, a total of Rs 76 billion flowed into the market from the banking system. On October 3, cash equivalent to Rs 6020 billion was in circulation in the market, which increased to Rs 6096 billion by October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits in the bank have been increasing as remittance inflow has increased recently. Similarly, the bank's loan investment has also started to improve. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of Sunday, the total credit disbursement of banks and financial institutions reached Rs 4977 billion. Loan disbursement increased by Rs 2 billion on Sunday compared to Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow of banks stood at Rs 4971 billion on October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Bankers Association President Sunil KC said that there are signs of improvement in the internal condition of the economy along with the improvement in the external conditions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, bank deposits and credit flow have both improved compared to last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This indicates that economic activities has started to improve in the domestic market," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers' Association said deposits in commercial banks increased by Rs 121 billion as of Monday, while credit flow expanded by Rs 92 billion. During the same period of the last fiscal year, when bank deposits increased by Rs 84 billion, while credit flow expanded by Rs 47 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the growth of deposits is higher than that of credit flow, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks has decreased. On Sunday, the average CD ratio of banks remained at 81.53 per cent. In mid-October, it was 81.74 per cent. According to the provision of NRB, commercial banks must maintain a CD ratio of up to 90 per cent for credit disbursement. Accordingly, banks have loan disbursement capacity of about Rs 587 billion at present.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in deposits in the banks, the interbank interest rate has also started to decrease. The interbank interest rate, which was maintained at 4.58 per cent on October 27, dropped to 3.22 per cent on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19168', 'image' => '20231108033835_banknotes.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 15:37:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies Reluctant to Invest in Real Estate Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector. Nepal Insurance Authority opened the door for insurance companies to invest in the real estate by amending the regulations. But the authority informed that not a single company invested in the real estate sector in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority, insurance companies have invested more than Rs 650 billion in various sectors. Records of NIA show that insurance companies invested Rs 658.93 billion in fixed deposits, listed public limited companies, bonds, debentures, citizen investment funds, etc in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Life insurance companies have the largest share in the total investment from this sector. The share of life insurance companies in the total investment is 86 percent ie Rs 568.14 billion. The share of non-life insurance company in the total investment is 9 percent ie Rs 58.85 billion. The remaining 5 percent investment is from reinsurance companies. According to the authority, they invested Rs 29.97 billion. Even though micro insurance companies have invested in various sectors, the amount is insignificant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Insurance companies have been investing in various sectors as per the investment guidelines issued by the authority. It seems that insurance companies do not want to invest in real estate. The authority said that only one insurance company, National Life Insurance Company invested Rs 362.4 million in real estate in the year 2078/79. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the authority, reinsurance, life insurance and non-life insurance companies can invest a maximum of 10 percent of their total investment in the real estate while there is a rule that micro insurance companies cannot invest in real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chairman of the Authority, Chiranjeevi Chapagain assesses that companies are not investing in real estate due to risk. He said, “The price of real estate is high now. Due to this, the risk is also high, so the companies are not willing to invest.” Chapagain said that since the real estate is not a liquid asset, the authority had set limits for insurance companies to invest in this sector during his tenure. He added that there is an international practice of determining the limit of investment in real estate because it cannot be converted into cash immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19167', 'image' => '20231108023921_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 14:38:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumers Forced to Pay Fare of Rs 120 and Stay in Queue for Hours to Avail Two Kilos of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the consumers are facing bitter pain at present to buy sugar that adds sweetness to the daily life. Consumers complain that they have to spend Rs 120 on transportation fare and have to wait in queue for hours just to buy two kilograms of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not easily available in the market at the moment. Even if it is available at some stores, people have to either stand in long queue for hours or pay a very high price. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation sells sugar to the general public at a subsidized rate but provides only two kilograms per person. Shyam Sunder Pokharel of Jorpati was found in a queue to buy sugar at Kalimati-based Salt Trading Corporation on Tuesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">My bus fare costs Rs 120 to travel from Jorpati to here. If we add the cost of lunch, it will be more than Rs 200," he told New Business Age, adding, "It is so difficult to buy sugar that costs Rs 97 per kilogram. I had to come here because I couldn't get sugar in the shops near my home for a week.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Another consumer, Ajay Maharjan, said that he had to stand in line for two hours to buy two kilograms of sugar. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"I finally managed to get two kilos of sugar. It will last for a month,” he said, adding, “I can't live without tea, I can't even eat without sugar." </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Due to the shortage of sugar in the market, consumers from far and wide are also forced to come to the Salt Trading Corporation and stand in line for hours. In order to make it easier for the consumers, Salt Trading Corporation has started giving up to 10 bags of sugar to the retailers as a government initiative. However, this has not changed anything for the consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Kumar Rajbhandari, the spokesperson of Salt Trading Corporation, said that the state-owned company has supplied sugar to the retailers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the traders are creating an artificial shortage of sugar in the market and selling it at high prices. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not available in most of the shops. Even if it is available, they charge up to Rs 150 per kg. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Department of Commerce is also working hard to control artificial scarcity and black marketing. The government also demanded 50,000 tons of sugar from India to facilitate the supply of sugar. The government plans to import sugar through the government-to-government process.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Government sources said that India sent an email to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on November 2 and informed that it would provide 25,000 tons of sugar. Gajendra Thakur, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the Salt Trading Corporation and the Food Management and Trading Company will be entrusted with supplying 10,000 tons of sugar each. He said that efforts are being made to remove the shortage by importing sugar as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Consumer rights activists say that the fault lies with the government for the current crisis of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">President of the National Consumer Forum, Premlal Maharjan, holds the Ministry of Finance responsible for the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He said that although the Ministry of Supply had written a letter to the Finance Ministry seeking permission to import sugar in July, the Finance Ministry deliberately did not give the permission on time. He said that the consumers are at the receiving end due to the lack of coordination between the government agencies. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said that they are taking diplomatic initiatives for easy availability of sugar in the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19166', 'image' => '20231108010349_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 13:02:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IFRC Releases Rs 100 Million Assistance for Earthquake Survivors ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fund was released a few days ago to the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) through the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF). The assistance amount is equivalent to Rs 100 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFRC General Secretary Jagan Chapagain announced this on social media, expressing full solidarity with the people affected. "The IFRC is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready for any assistance that may be required," Chapagain said. He appealed to Red Cross volunteers to be there on the ground for the support of the survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Reminding of the 2015 major earthquake that struck Nepal to its core, the IFRC General Secretary highlighted the need of more support to meet urgent needs of the affected, and importantly for recovery and reconstruction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Over 90 volunteers from the NRCS are presently in Jajarkot and Rukum West, the districts most affected by the late night quake last Friday for the rescue and relief efforts, the society said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale at 11:47 pm on Friday, with its epicenter in Jajarkot, resulted in significant casualties and property damage in the districts of the Karnali Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the preliminary reports, so far over 150 have been confirmed dead in these two districts with 345 injured. Likewise, 12,006 families have been displaced, 38,705 have been affected while 9,483 houses were completely damaged by the disaster causing partial damages on 19,286 houses. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRCS said it has till date distributed 700 mattresses, 1,500 tarpaulins, equal number of blankets and other necessary items in the disaster-affected areas. The action will continue, it said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19165', 'image' => '20231108123954_HK-Jajarkot-IMG_9219 (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:39:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Debts of Microfinance Institutions Rise above Seven Percent', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Report Suggests Microfinance Companies to Mend Institutional Governance ', 'summary' => 'November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A study report released by the central bank on Tuesday states that the ratio of NPL of microfinance companies crossed 7 per cent in the last fiscal year while it used to be less than three percent in the previous years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following complaints against microfinance institutions in the recent months and public disappointments in some districts, the central bank had formed a seven-member study committee under the leadership of its Executive Director Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha to identify the problems of microfinance institutions and recommend suggestions to resolve them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has mentioned that decreasing profit and rising non-performing loans have created pressure on the microfinance institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRB has stated that the status of microfinance institutions in the country has been deteriorating due to their excessive focus on profitmaking, poor internal control mechanism and poor institutional governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, lack of training of the employees, heavy concentration of microfinance institutions on the urban areas and limited access to the rural community have been identified as some of the challenges faced by this sector, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A report further mentioned that excessive loan to a few clients, excessive expanded system, weak institutional governance, failing credit discipline, economic slowdown and deviation from the organizational goals have created problems and pressures on the microfinance sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has offered more than 180 recommendations in 20 main themes for short-term, mid-term and long-term. The key recommendations are in the credit system, interest rate, microcredit and target community, customer protection, internal control mechanism and others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, presence of microfinance companies has centered in comparatively developed areas having more economic activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of branches of the microfinance institutions is high in the districts of Tarai and low in the remote and mountainous districts. The branches of the microfinances are in all districts but their presence is not in almost 100 local levels so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Concentration of the microfinances based on credit, branch and other indicators is high in the districts of Bardiya, Morang, Bara, Rupandehi and few others. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19164', 'image' => '20231108120244_badloan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:01:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNESCO Issues Guideline on Governance of Digital Platform', 'sub_title' => 'The UN Body Underscores FoE and Multi-Stakeholders Approach ', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, the UNESCO released the 'Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms' with special focus on protection of freedom of expression and access to information and the adoption of multi-stakeholder approach. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Digital technology has enabled immense progress on freedom of speech. But social media platforms have also accelerated and amplified the spread of false information and hate speech, posing major risks to societal cohesion, peace and stability. To protect access to information, we must regulate these platforms without delay, while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights," observed Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to her, restriction of speech is an appalling measure. "Having media outlets and information tools that are independent, qualitative and free, is best long-term response to disinformation," asserts the UNESCO Director-General. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines aim at cultivating an internet of trust, warranting attention and engagement from various stakeholders ranging from government to civil society, academia and technical community. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Importantly, the document has set principles and urged all sides for their true respect. The seven fundamental principles to be respected while governing digital platforms are- human rights and multi-stakeholders approach in decision-making; establishment of independent, public regulators; close coordination for wider network; feasible and effective content moderation; accountable and transparent platforms’ algorithms; platforms' initiative to educate users; and stronger measures by regulators and platforms during sensitive moments like elections and crises. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines were prepared after massive consultations, collecting over 10,000 comments from 134 countries. Inclusive participation was fostered in the worldwide consultations, thereby ensuring diverse voices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 2023, the number of people using social media has reached 4.75 billion across the globe. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In this connection, election related misinformation has been a severe concern. More than a dozen countries are holding election in 2024. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is a coincidence that government bodies in Nepal including Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police held a discussion with international representatives of TikTok on November 3, seeking collaboration with TikTok Singapore Office so that the government would take measure to control 'misuse of social media'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A press statement released by the Home Ministry mentioned, "With this discussion, it has been easy to remove the contents on TikTok that breach social harmony; spread hatred; cast aspersion on dignitaries; jeopardize ethnic, religious, and social harmony; and indecent things, and to find and bring to book the people involved such activities." -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19163', 'image' => '20231108111747_RTR350QH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 11:16:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jyoti Bikash Bank Provides Rs 0.5 Million to Jajarkot Quake Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank’s manager of Jyoti Bikas Bank in Jajarkot, Birendra Bahadur Eidi handed over the funds to the Chief District Officer of Jajarkot, Mr. Suresh Sunar, and the Deputy Chief District Officer, Mr. Harischandra Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In addition to providing financial assistance to the earthquake victims, the bank has been actively involved in coordinating and supporting various programs in different sectors through institutional social responsibility. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank has been delivering its services through 121 branch offices, 3 extended counters, and 75 ATMs in various locations across the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19162', 'image' => '20231108062110_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 06:19:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IME Group Donates Rs 15 Million to PM's Disaster Relief Fund', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This generous contribution is earmarked for the earthquake-affected people in Jajarkot and Rukum Paschim, providing essential monetary relief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The donation is a collective effort of the companies affiliated with the IME Group and the IME Foundation, aimed at aiding earthquake victims.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat and Chief Secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal were also present on the occasion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, IME Group and IME Foundation have expressed their commitment to offer additional relief assistance to those affected by the earthquake. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19161', 'image' => '20231107051138_collage (42).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 17:10:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Posts Double-Digit Gain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stock market experts and analysts attributed to the today’s rise to the current sharp fall, which brought the index to a crucial support zone. “The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on the loan drop and Nepal Rastra Bank relaxes its policies related to the stock market,” said one investor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading, as many as 285 scrips were traded in the market through 40,600 transactions. A total of 4,331,229 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 99.65 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Himalayan Bank Limited Promoter(HBLPO) had the highest turnover of 9 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 300. Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. (LLBS) gained the highest 8.16%, while Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SMFBS) experienced the highest loss of 8.26%, closing at a market price of Rs 955. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors, except Non-Life Insurance, closed in the green territory. Investment Index gained the highest 1.51%, while Banking Subindex gained the least 0.20%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sensitive Index gained 0.60%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float experienced a gain of 0.48% and 0.61% respectively. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19160', 'image' => '20231107035213_collage (41).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:49:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Urges International Community to Invest in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Speaking at the inauguration of the </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">th Conference of the Asia Pacific Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), which started in Kathmandu from Monday, President Paudel called for increasing investment in hydropower, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing sector and information and technology sector (IT) of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the opening session of the conference, which began with the participation of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> businessmen from the Asia Pacific region, he urged to bring investment to Nepal. In addition, he said that Nepal is making legal arrangements and policies conducive for investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the conference is timely and relevant for joint efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Asia-Pacific is a rapidly expanding economic region," he said, "Nepal is also a member of organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC for trade and enterprise connectivity, so there is no lack of market access."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that this conference will increase the confidence of entrepreneurs and businessmen. "The earthquake of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2072</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, corona virus and external conditions caused some problems in the country's economy," said Mahat, "But I am confident that it is improving and this conference will boost the country's economy." He said that investment in Nepal has a good track record. He added that multinational companies and investors are also making profit in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said the growing middle class and emerging consumer market are the strength of Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the conference, the president of Federation of Nepalese Industry and Commerce Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that the conference will be beneficial for expanding business networks and exchanging ideas. Stating that Nepal will be an attractive investment destination for the entrepreneurs of the Asia Pacific region, he mentioned that hydropower, tourism, information technology and manufacturing sectors, tourism infrastructure, hotels, cable cars, hill stations, etc will give good returns. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The two</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">day conference organized by the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry will conclude on today (Tuesday). CACCI is a member organization of industry associations from </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">26 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">countries in the Asia Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19159', 'image' => '20231107033042_KB-KTM-0U3A2940.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:29:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Banks at a Level that can be Managed: Bankers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable. According to them, the increase in the amount to be set aside for risk management has led to an increase in bad loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the end of the last fiscal year (FY), the average bad loan of commercial banks was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.98</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent, but in the current fiscal year, it has reached </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.61</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent," said Sunil KC, president of Nepal Bankers Association, in a press conference held on Monday, adding, “Banks have to be careful.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claimed that Nepali banks have less bad loans compared to South Asian countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President KC said that the economic activities have declined due to the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, and the banking sector has also been affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the effect of restructuring and rescheduling of loans in the aftermath of the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic is gradually surfacing now. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until last year, Nepal Rastra Bank had facilitated loan restructuring and rescheduling. However, it has given the facility to reschedule only the loans that have flowed in the construction sector and the loans that are less than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. Similarly, bankers have said that when there is a decline in economic activities, there is also a problem in loan recovery.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the profit of commercial banks has decreased in the first quarter of the current year compared to the previous year after a long time. NBA President KC said that the profit of banks decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in the first quarter of the current FY compared to the same period of last year. He informed that in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the profit of one bank was negative, that of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">13</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">banks declined and six increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During this period, the amount that banks have to set aside for risk management has increased by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion and this will strengthen the banks, KC claimed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press conference, the Chief Executive Officer of Himalayan Bank, Ashoke Rana, said that bad loans of banks will not increase any further. He suggested that the government should take a special policy to manage bad loans of banks. He demanded to bring provisions to create asset-management companies for long-term solution of bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, NBA said during the press conference that it has started collecting relief from banks to help the victims of the Jajarkot earthquake.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NBA, it has already received a commitment of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">as of Monday. Similarly, KC also informed that the association has completed all necessary preparations to hold the Asian Banking Conference in Nepal on Thursday and Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19158', 'image' => '20231107025333_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:52:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19429', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'MCA Nepal Claims to Complete MCC Project within 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The MCA Nepal, which is responsible for implementing the MCC agreement signed between the governments of the USA and Nepal, has not specified when the new tender bids will be issued even though the time is running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The officials of MCA Nepal said that with the entry into force of the MCC Nepal Compact on August 30, the preparations have been made so that the projects under it can be completed within five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal claimed it has made extensive preparations before starting the implementation to ensure that the projects are completed within the five-year deadline starting from August 30.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, as part of the road maintenance project, four laboratories have been set up in the Department of Roads and the engineers of the department have been given training on full depth reclamation and super-pave asphalt technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal has selected an engineering consultancy to supervise the work of the construction company that will be in charge of transmission line and substation related work under the electricity transmission project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the work related to land acquisition in the nine districts affected by the project is being carried forward rapidly. Meanwhile, MCA Nepal informed that nine district level sub-committees have been formed and meetings have been held to determine the compensation amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In order to fulfill an important task regarding the replanting of trees under the Forest Act of Nepal, forest consultants have started field work in five districts in coordination with MCA Nepal and Divisional Forest Offices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the tender bids received under the advanced procurement process for the transmission line have been rejected, while the procurement process for the construction of the substation is ongoing. According to officials, this contract process has been canceled as per the MCC Program Procurement Guidelines (PPG). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The cost mentioned in the bid received for the construction of the power transmission line was much higher than the estimated budget. The difference is so vast that it cannot be resolved even after discussion with the bidder. Therefore, the MCA Nepal reached a conclusion to cancel the contract," said MCA Nepal in a written response to queries made by New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “MCA Nepal has not faced any significant obstacles after entering into the implementation of MCC Nepal Compact.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal is expecting to receive support from the relevant ministries to facilitate the process of implementing the projects under this program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The initial agreement for the project was signed between the Finance Ministry and the US government representatives on September 14, 2017.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the MCC was delayed due to widespread protest by a section of the society on the pretext that the grant agreement was allegedly a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the US government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After much debate and deliberations, the House of Representatives finally ratified the MCC grant agreement on February 27, 2022 with a 12-point explanatory note clarifying that the project should not be associated with any military alliance and that the grant agreement must abide by the Constitution of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the initial agreement, the United States was supposed to provide US$ 500 million to Nepal for construction of cross-border transmission line and upgrading of roads while Nepal would have to contribute US$ 130 million for the project, expecting the total cost of the MCC project to remain at US$ 630 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But the 'supplemental agreement' over the MCC that was signed last year, demands the government to bear additional cost of US$ 67 million, seeking its total contribution of US$ 197 million for the enforcement of the agreement. In the beginning, Nepal was supposed to take up 20.63 per cent financial responsibility for the MCC project and now it has increased to 28.26 percent. The increased responsibility amount is equivalent to Rs 900 million. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19157', 'image' => '20231107023356_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:33:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19428', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists from USA, UK Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, since the beginning of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, visitors from the USA and UK have overtaken Chinese tourists.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">117</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">306</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal. There was a significant increase in the number of visitors from the United States and the UK during the review month. Altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">879</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived here from the USA in October and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8,217</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain. In the review month, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6,880</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from China arrived in Nepal by air, according to the data of the Nepal Tourism Board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the board, the number of tourists from America and the UK increased in October compared to September, while the number of arrivals from India and China decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that there has been an improvement in the arrival of tourists since the beginning of the tourist season in the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs say that the tourists mostly come for mountain climbing at this time of year as it is the main season for trekking/hiking. General Secretary of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Sajan Shakya said that more British and Americans come for trekking. He says that this season is considered suitable for trekking, so more tourists come here for this specific purpose.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data published by the board, India, the USA, the UK and China are the countries with the highest number of tourists in October. Apart from these countries, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">075 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists arrived in Nepal from Australia, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">916 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Germany, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">271 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from France, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">292 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Bangladesh, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">507 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Sri Lanka and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">467 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Italy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19156', 'image' => '20231107125910_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 12:58:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Posts Minimal Gain to Close at 1863.94', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week, Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">November 8: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week, Wednesday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The secondary benchmark index has recorded gains for the third consecutive day. However, despite the index's upward trajectory, the turnover amount decreased compared to yesterday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Stock analysts and investors attribute today's market rise to a decrease in the prices of listed stocks, making them cheaper for buyers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on loan drop and regulators relax polices pertaining to the margin loans,” said one investor.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">During today’s trading, as many as 288 scrips were traded in the market through 30,364 transactions. A total of 3,157,062 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 78 crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sonapur Oils and Minerals And Oil Limited (SONA) had the highest turnover of 5.61 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 273 per share. Global IME Lagghubitta Bitiya Sanstha Ltd.(GILB) gained the highest 8.07%, while Corporate Development Bank(CORBL) lost the highest 6.38%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">In terms of sector indices, Manufacturing And Processing gained the highest 1.16%, while Hotels And Tourism Index lost the highest 0.64%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sensitive Index gained 0.05%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float Index gained 0.21% and 0.01% respectively.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19170', 'image' => '20231108042233_collage (43).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 16:17:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI President Chandra Prasad Dhakal Calls for Increased South Korean Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Speaking at the Nepal-Korea Investment Conference, Dhakal highlighted the substantial trade deficit between the two nations, with Nepal's exports to South Korea being considerably lower than its imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> He encouraged increased South Korean investment in Nepal, particularly in the energy, tourism, agricultural processing, and information and communications sectors, all of which are vital to Nepal's economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal noted the presence of over 350 Korea-funded enterprises in Nepal, underscoring Nepal's appeal as an attractive investment destination for South Korea. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He suggested that Nepal could harness its natural and human resources by adopting modern technology from Korea, benefiting both countries and facilitating South Korea's trade expansion in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, Dhakal stressed the importance of Nepal's partnership with South Korea in diversifying its developing economy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He called for the swift approval of Nepali banks to operate branches in South Korea, as this would foster trade and investment growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal also encouraged Korean investors to explore opportunities for joint investments in technical and vocational education in Nepal, given the significant number of Nepali workers in South Korea. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19169', 'image' => '20231108054143_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 17:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cash Flow Starts Returning to Banking System after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Rastra Bank, the total deposits of banks and financial institutions have reached Rs 5900 billion as of Sunday. The total deposits of banks had reached Rs 5915 billion in mid-October. After that, the deposits decreased to Rs 5868 billion by October 26. Post Dashain, deposits of Rs 32 billion have been added to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In Dashain, a total of Rs 76 billion flowed into the market from the banking system. On October 3, cash equivalent to Rs 6020 billion was in circulation in the market, which increased to Rs 6096 billion by October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits in the bank have been increasing as remittance inflow has increased recently. Similarly, the bank's loan investment has also started to improve. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of Sunday, the total credit disbursement of banks and financial institutions reached Rs 4977 billion. Loan disbursement increased by Rs 2 billion on Sunday compared to Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow of banks stood at Rs 4971 billion on October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Bankers Association President Sunil KC said that there are signs of improvement in the internal condition of the economy along with the improvement in the external conditions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, bank deposits and credit flow have both improved compared to last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This indicates that economic activities has started to improve in the domestic market," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers' Association said deposits in commercial banks increased by Rs 121 billion as of Monday, while credit flow expanded by Rs 92 billion. During the same period of the last fiscal year, when bank deposits increased by Rs 84 billion, while credit flow expanded by Rs 47 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the growth of deposits is higher than that of credit flow, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks has decreased. On Sunday, the average CD ratio of banks remained at 81.53 per cent. In mid-October, it was 81.74 per cent. According to the provision of NRB, commercial banks must maintain a CD ratio of up to 90 per cent for credit disbursement. Accordingly, banks have loan disbursement capacity of about Rs 587 billion at present.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in deposits in the banks, the interbank interest rate has also started to decrease. The interbank interest rate, which was maintained at 4.58 per cent on October 27, dropped to 3.22 per cent on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19168', 'image' => '20231108033835_banknotes.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 15:37:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies Reluctant to Invest in Real Estate Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector. Nepal Insurance Authority opened the door for insurance companies to invest in the real estate by amending the regulations. But the authority informed that not a single company invested in the real estate sector in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority, insurance companies have invested more than Rs 650 billion in various sectors. Records of NIA show that insurance companies invested Rs 658.93 billion in fixed deposits, listed public limited companies, bonds, debentures, citizen investment funds, etc in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Life insurance companies have the largest share in the total investment from this sector. The share of life insurance companies in the total investment is 86 percent ie Rs 568.14 billion. The share of non-life insurance company in the total investment is 9 percent ie Rs 58.85 billion. The remaining 5 percent investment is from reinsurance companies. According to the authority, they invested Rs 29.97 billion. Even though micro insurance companies have invested in various sectors, the amount is insignificant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Insurance companies have been investing in various sectors as per the investment guidelines issued by the authority. It seems that insurance companies do not want to invest in real estate. The authority said that only one insurance company, National Life Insurance Company invested Rs 362.4 million in real estate in the year 2078/79. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the authority, reinsurance, life insurance and non-life insurance companies can invest a maximum of 10 percent of their total investment in the real estate while there is a rule that micro insurance companies cannot invest in real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chairman of the Authority, Chiranjeevi Chapagain assesses that companies are not investing in real estate due to risk. He said, “The price of real estate is high now. Due to this, the risk is also high, so the companies are not willing to invest.” Chapagain said that since the real estate is not a liquid asset, the authority had set limits for insurance companies to invest in this sector during his tenure. He added that there is an international practice of determining the limit of investment in real estate because it cannot be converted into cash immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19167', 'image' => '20231108023921_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 14:38:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumers Forced to Pay Fare of Rs 120 and Stay in Queue for Hours to Avail Two Kilos of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the consumers are facing bitter pain at present to buy sugar that adds sweetness to the daily life. Consumers complain that they have to spend Rs 120 on transportation fare and have to wait in queue for hours just to buy two kilograms of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not easily available in the market at the moment. Even if it is available at some stores, people have to either stand in long queue for hours or pay a very high price. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation sells sugar to the general public at a subsidized rate but provides only two kilograms per person. Shyam Sunder Pokharel of Jorpati was found in a queue to buy sugar at Kalimati-based Salt Trading Corporation on Tuesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">My bus fare costs Rs 120 to travel from Jorpati to here. If we add the cost of lunch, it will be more than Rs 200," he told New Business Age, adding, "It is so difficult to buy sugar that costs Rs 97 per kilogram. I had to come here because I couldn't get sugar in the shops near my home for a week.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Another consumer, Ajay Maharjan, said that he had to stand in line for two hours to buy two kilograms of sugar. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"I finally managed to get two kilos of sugar. It will last for a month,” he said, adding, “I can't live without tea, I can't even eat without sugar." </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Due to the shortage of sugar in the market, consumers from far and wide are also forced to come to the Salt Trading Corporation and stand in line for hours. In order to make it easier for the consumers, Salt Trading Corporation has started giving up to 10 bags of sugar to the retailers as a government initiative. However, this has not changed anything for the consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Kumar Rajbhandari, the spokesperson of Salt Trading Corporation, said that the state-owned company has supplied sugar to the retailers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the traders are creating an artificial shortage of sugar in the market and selling it at high prices. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not available in most of the shops. Even if it is available, they charge up to Rs 150 per kg. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Department of Commerce is also working hard to control artificial scarcity and black marketing. The government also demanded 50,000 tons of sugar from India to facilitate the supply of sugar. The government plans to import sugar through the government-to-government process.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Government sources said that India sent an email to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on November 2 and informed that it would provide 25,000 tons of sugar. Gajendra Thakur, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the Salt Trading Corporation and the Food Management and Trading Company will be entrusted with supplying 10,000 tons of sugar each. He said that efforts are being made to remove the shortage by importing sugar as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Consumer rights activists say that the fault lies with the government for the current crisis of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">President of the National Consumer Forum, Premlal Maharjan, holds the Ministry of Finance responsible for the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He said that although the Ministry of Supply had written a letter to the Finance Ministry seeking permission to import sugar in July, the Finance Ministry deliberately did not give the permission on time. He said that the consumers are at the receiving end due to the lack of coordination between the government agencies. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said that they are taking diplomatic initiatives for easy availability of sugar in the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19166', 'image' => '20231108010349_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 13:02:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IFRC Releases Rs 100 Million Assistance for Earthquake Survivors ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fund was released a few days ago to the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) through the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF). The assistance amount is equivalent to Rs 100 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFRC General Secretary Jagan Chapagain announced this on social media, expressing full solidarity with the people affected. "The IFRC is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready for any assistance that may be required," Chapagain said. He appealed to Red Cross volunteers to be there on the ground for the support of the survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Reminding of the 2015 major earthquake that struck Nepal to its core, the IFRC General Secretary highlighted the need of more support to meet urgent needs of the affected, and importantly for recovery and reconstruction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Over 90 volunteers from the NRCS are presently in Jajarkot and Rukum West, the districts most affected by the late night quake last Friday for the rescue and relief efforts, the society said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale at 11:47 pm on Friday, with its epicenter in Jajarkot, resulted in significant casualties and property damage in the districts of the Karnali Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the preliminary reports, so far over 150 have been confirmed dead in these two districts with 345 injured. Likewise, 12,006 families have been displaced, 38,705 have been affected while 9,483 houses were completely damaged by the disaster causing partial damages on 19,286 houses. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRCS said it has till date distributed 700 mattresses, 1,500 tarpaulins, equal number of blankets and other necessary items in the disaster-affected areas. The action will continue, it said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19165', 'image' => '20231108123954_HK-Jajarkot-IMG_9219 (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:39:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Debts of Microfinance Institutions Rise above Seven Percent', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Report Suggests Microfinance Companies to Mend Institutional Governance ', 'summary' => 'November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A study report released by the central bank on Tuesday states that the ratio of NPL of microfinance companies crossed 7 per cent in the last fiscal year while it used to be less than three percent in the previous years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following complaints against microfinance institutions in the recent months and public disappointments in some districts, the central bank had formed a seven-member study committee under the leadership of its Executive Director Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha to identify the problems of microfinance institutions and recommend suggestions to resolve them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has mentioned that decreasing profit and rising non-performing loans have created pressure on the microfinance institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRB has stated that the status of microfinance institutions in the country has been deteriorating due to their excessive focus on profitmaking, poor internal control mechanism and poor institutional governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, lack of training of the employees, heavy concentration of microfinance institutions on the urban areas and limited access to the rural community have been identified as some of the challenges faced by this sector, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A report further mentioned that excessive loan to a few clients, excessive expanded system, weak institutional governance, failing credit discipline, economic slowdown and deviation from the organizational goals have created problems and pressures on the microfinance sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has offered more than 180 recommendations in 20 main themes for short-term, mid-term and long-term. The key recommendations are in the credit system, interest rate, microcredit and target community, customer protection, internal control mechanism and others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, presence of microfinance companies has centered in comparatively developed areas having more economic activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of branches of the microfinance institutions is high in the districts of Tarai and low in the remote and mountainous districts. The branches of the microfinances are in all districts but their presence is not in almost 100 local levels so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Concentration of the microfinances based on credit, branch and other indicators is high in the districts of Bardiya, Morang, Bara, Rupandehi and few others. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19164', 'image' => '20231108120244_badloan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:01:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNESCO Issues Guideline on Governance of Digital Platform', 'sub_title' => 'The UN Body Underscores FoE and Multi-Stakeholders Approach ', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, the UNESCO released the 'Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms' with special focus on protection of freedom of expression and access to information and the adoption of multi-stakeholder approach. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Digital technology has enabled immense progress on freedom of speech. But social media platforms have also accelerated and amplified the spread of false information and hate speech, posing major risks to societal cohesion, peace and stability. To protect access to information, we must regulate these platforms without delay, while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights," observed Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to her, restriction of speech is an appalling measure. "Having media outlets and information tools that are independent, qualitative and free, is best long-term response to disinformation," asserts the UNESCO Director-General. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines aim at cultivating an internet of trust, warranting attention and engagement from various stakeholders ranging from government to civil society, academia and technical community. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Importantly, the document has set principles and urged all sides for their true respect. The seven fundamental principles to be respected while governing digital platforms are- human rights and multi-stakeholders approach in decision-making; establishment of independent, public regulators; close coordination for wider network; feasible and effective content moderation; accountable and transparent platforms’ algorithms; platforms' initiative to educate users; and stronger measures by regulators and platforms during sensitive moments like elections and crises. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines were prepared after massive consultations, collecting over 10,000 comments from 134 countries. Inclusive participation was fostered in the worldwide consultations, thereby ensuring diverse voices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 2023, the number of people using social media has reached 4.75 billion across the globe. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In this connection, election related misinformation has been a severe concern. More than a dozen countries are holding election in 2024. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is a coincidence that government bodies in Nepal including Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police held a discussion with international representatives of TikTok on November 3, seeking collaboration with TikTok Singapore Office so that the government would take measure to control 'misuse of social media'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A press statement released by the Home Ministry mentioned, "With this discussion, it has been easy to remove the contents on TikTok that breach social harmony; spread hatred; cast aspersion on dignitaries; jeopardize ethnic, religious, and social harmony; and indecent things, and to find and bring to book the people involved such activities." -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19163', 'image' => '20231108111747_RTR350QH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 11:16:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jyoti Bikash Bank Provides Rs 0.5 Million to Jajarkot Quake Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank’s manager of Jyoti Bikas Bank in Jajarkot, Birendra Bahadur Eidi handed over the funds to the Chief District Officer of Jajarkot, Mr. Suresh Sunar, and the Deputy Chief District Officer, Mr. Harischandra Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In addition to providing financial assistance to the earthquake victims, the bank has been actively involved in coordinating and supporting various programs in different sectors through institutional social responsibility. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank has been delivering its services through 121 branch offices, 3 extended counters, and 75 ATMs in various locations across the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19162', 'image' => '20231108062110_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 06:19:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IME Group Donates Rs 15 Million to PM's Disaster Relief Fund', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This generous contribution is earmarked for the earthquake-affected people in Jajarkot and Rukum Paschim, providing essential monetary relief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The donation is a collective effort of the companies affiliated with the IME Group and the IME Foundation, aimed at aiding earthquake victims.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat and Chief Secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal were also present on the occasion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, IME Group and IME Foundation have expressed their commitment to offer additional relief assistance to those affected by the earthquake. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19161', 'image' => '20231107051138_collage (42).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 17:10:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Posts Double-Digit Gain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stock market experts and analysts attributed to the today’s rise to the current sharp fall, which brought the index to a crucial support zone. “The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on the loan drop and Nepal Rastra Bank relaxes its policies related to the stock market,” said one investor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading, as many as 285 scrips were traded in the market through 40,600 transactions. A total of 4,331,229 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 99.65 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Himalayan Bank Limited Promoter(HBLPO) had the highest turnover of 9 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 300. Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. (LLBS) gained the highest 8.16%, while Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SMFBS) experienced the highest loss of 8.26%, closing at a market price of Rs 955. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors, except Non-Life Insurance, closed in the green territory. Investment Index gained the highest 1.51%, while Banking Subindex gained the least 0.20%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sensitive Index gained 0.60%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float experienced a gain of 0.48% and 0.61% respectively. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19160', 'image' => '20231107035213_collage (41).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:49:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Urges International Community to Invest in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Speaking at the inauguration of the </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">th Conference of the Asia Pacific Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), which started in Kathmandu from Monday, President Paudel called for increasing investment in hydropower, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing sector and information and technology sector (IT) of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the opening session of the conference, which began with the participation of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> businessmen from the Asia Pacific region, he urged to bring investment to Nepal. In addition, he said that Nepal is making legal arrangements and policies conducive for investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the conference is timely and relevant for joint efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Asia-Pacific is a rapidly expanding economic region," he said, "Nepal is also a member of organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC for trade and enterprise connectivity, so there is no lack of market access."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that this conference will increase the confidence of entrepreneurs and businessmen. "The earthquake of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2072</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, corona virus and external conditions caused some problems in the country's economy," said Mahat, "But I am confident that it is improving and this conference will boost the country's economy." He said that investment in Nepal has a good track record. He added that multinational companies and investors are also making profit in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said the growing middle class and emerging consumer market are the strength of Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the conference, the president of Federation of Nepalese Industry and Commerce Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that the conference will be beneficial for expanding business networks and exchanging ideas. Stating that Nepal will be an attractive investment destination for the entrepreneurs of the Asia Pacific region, he mentioned that hydropower, tourism, information technology and manufacturing sectors, tourism infrastructure, hotels, cable cars, hill stations, etc will give good returns. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The two</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">day conference organized by the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry will conclude on today (Tuesday). CACCI is a member organization of industry associations from </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">26 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">countries in the Asia Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19159', 'image' => '20231107033042_KB-KTM-0U3A2940.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:29:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Banks at a Level that can be Managed: Bankers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable. According to them, the increase in the amount to be set aside for risk management has led to an increase in bad loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the end of the last fiscal year (FY), the average bad loan of commercial banks was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.98</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent, but in the current fiscal year, it has reached </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.61</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent," said Sunil KC, president of Nepal Bankers Association, in a press conference held on Monday, adding, “Banks have to be careful.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claimed that Nepali banks have less bad loans compared to South Asian countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President KC said that the economic activities have declined due to the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, and the banking sector has also been affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the effect of restructuring and rescheduling of loans in the aftermath of the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic is gradually surfacing now. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until last year, Nepal Rastra Bank had facilitated loan restructuring and rescheduling. However, it has given the facility to reschedule only the loans that have flowed in the construction sector and the loans that are less than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. Similarly, bankers have said that when there is a decline in economic activities, there is also a problem in loan recovery.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the profit of commercial banks has decreased in the first quarter of the current year compared to the previous year after a long time. NBA President KC said that the profit of banks decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in the first quarter of the current FY compared to the same period of last year. He informed that in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the profit of one bank was negative, that of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">13</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">banks declined and six increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During this period, the amount that banks have to set aside for risk management has increased by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion and this will strengthen the banks, KC claimed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press conference, the Chief Executive Officer of Himalayan Bank, Ashoke Rana, said that bad loans of banks will not increase any further. He suggested that the government should take a special policy to manage bad loans of banks. He demanded to bring provisions to create asset-management companies for long-term solution of bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, NBA said during the press conference that it has started collecting relief from banks to help the victims of the Jajarkot earthquake.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NBA, it has already received a commitment of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">as of Monday. Similarly, KC also informed that the association has completed all necessary preparations to hold the Asian Banking Conference in Nepal on Thursday and Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19158', 'image' => '20231107025333_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:52:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19429', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'MCA Nepal Claims to Complete MCC Project within 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The MCA Nepal, which is responsible for implementing the MCC agreement signed between the governments of the USA and Nepal, has not specified when the new tender bids will be issued even though the time is running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The officials of MCA Nepal said that with the entry into force of the MCC Nepal Compact on August 30, the preparations have been made so that the projects under it can be completed within five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal claimed it has made extensive preparations before starting the implementation to ensure that the projects are completed within the five-year deadline starting from August 30.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, as part of the road maintenance project, four laboratories have been set up in the Department of Roads and the engineers of the department have been given training on full depth reclamation and super-pave asphalt technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal has selected an engineering consultancy to supervise the work of the construction company that will be in charge of transmission line and substation related work under the electricity transmission project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the work related to land acquisition in the nine districts affected by the project is being carried forward rapidly. Meanwhile, MCA Nepal informed that nine district level sub-committees have been formed and meetings have been held to determine the compensation amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In order to fulfill an important task regarding the replanting of trees under the Forest Act of Nepal, forest consultants have started field work in five districts in coordination with MCA Nepal and Divisional Forest Offices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the tender bids received under the advanced procurement process for the transmission line have been rejected, while the procurement process for the construction of the substation is ongoing. According to officials, this contract process has been canceled as per the MCC Program Procurement Guidelines (PPG). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The cost mentioned in the bid received for the construction of the power transmission line was much higher than the estimated budget. The difference is so vast that it cannot be resolved even after discussion with the bidder. Therefore, the MCA Nepal reached a conclusion to cancel the contract," said MCA Nepal in a written response to queries made by New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “MCA Nepal has not faced any significant obstacles after entering into the implementation of MCC Nepal Compact.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal is expecting to receive support from the relevant ministries to facilitate the process of implementing the projects under this program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The initial agreement for the project was signed between the Finance Ministry and the US government representatives on September 14, 2017.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the MCC was delayed due to widespread protest by a section of the society on the pretext that the grant agreement was allegedly a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the US government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After much debate and deliberations, the House of Representatives finally ratified the MCC grant agreement on February 27, 2022 with a 12-point explanatory note clarifying that the project should not be associated with any military alliance and that the grant agreement must abide by the Constitution of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the initial agreement, the United States was supposed to provide US$ 500 million to Nepal for construction of cross-border transmission line and upgrading of roads while Nepal would have to contribute US$ 130 million for the project, expecting the total cost of the MCC project to remain at US$ 630 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But the 'supplemental agreement' over the MCC that was signed last year, demands the government to bear additional cost of US$ 67 million, seeking its total contribution of US$ 197 million for the enforcement of the agreement. In the beginning, Nepal was supposed to take up 20.63 per cent financial responsibility for the MCC project and now it has increased to 28.26 percent. The increased responsibility amount is equivalent to Rs 900 million. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19157', 'image' => '20231107023356_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:33:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19428', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists from USA, UK Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, since the beginning of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, visitors from the USA and UK have overtaken Chinese tourists.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">117</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">306</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal. There was a significant increase in the number of visitors from the United States and the UK during the review month. Altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">879</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived here from the USA in October and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8,217</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain. In the review month, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6,880</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from China arrived in Nepal by air, according to the data of the Nepal Tourism Board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the board, the number of tourists from America and the UK increased in October compared to September, while the number of arrivals from India and China decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that there has been an improvement in the arrival of tourists since the beginning of the tourist season in the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs say that the tourists mostly come for mountain climbing at this time of year as it is the main season for trekking/hiking. General Secretary of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Sajan Shakya said that more British and Americans come for trekking. He says that this season is considered suitable for trekking, so more tourists come here for this specific purpose.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data published by the board, India, the USA, the UK and China are the countries with the highest number of tourists in October. Apart from these countries, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">075 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists arrived in Nepal from Australia, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">916 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Germany, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">271 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from France, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">292 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Bangladesh, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">507 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Sri Lanka and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">467 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Italy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19156', 'image' => '20231107125910_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 12:58:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Posts Minimal Gain to Close at 1863.94', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week, Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">November 8: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week, Wednesday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The secondary benchmark index has recorded gains for the third consecutive day. However, despite the index's upward trajectory, the turnover amount decreased compared to yesterday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Stock analysts and investors attribute today's market rise to a decrease in the prices of listed stocks, making them cheaper for buyers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on loan drop and regulators relax polices pertaining to the margin loans,” said one investor.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">During today’s trading, as many as 288 scrips were traded in the market through 30,364 transactions. A total of 3,157,062 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 78 crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sonapur Oils and Minerals And Oil Limited (SONA) had the highest turnover of 5.61 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 273 per share. Global IME Lagghubitta Bitiya Sanstha Ltd.(GILB) gained the highest 8.07%, while Corporate Development Bank(CORBL) lost the highest 6.38%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">In terms of sector indices, Manufacturing And Processing gained the highest 1.16%, while Hotels And Tourism Index lost the highest 0.64%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sensitive Index gained 0.05%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float Index gained 0.21% and 0.01% respectively.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19170', 'image' => '20231108042233_collage (43).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 16:17:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI President Chandra Prasad Dhakal Calls for Increased South Korean Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Speaking at the Nepal-Korea Investment Conference, Dhakal highlighted the substantial trade deficit between the two nations, with Nepal's exports to South Korea being considerably lower than its imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> He encouraged increased South Korean investment in Nepal, particularly in the energy, tourism, agricultural processing, and information and communications sectors, all of which are vital to Nepal's economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal noted the presence of over 350 Korea-funded enterprises in Nepal, underscoring Nepal's appeal as an attractive investment destination for South Korea. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He suggested that Nepal could harness its natural and human resources by adopting modern technology from Korea, benefiting both countries and facilitating South Korea's trade expansion in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, Dhakal stressed the importance of Nepal's partnership with South Korea in diversifying its developing economy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He called for the swift approval of Nepali banks to operate branches in South Korea, as this would foster trade and investment growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal also encouraged Korean investors to explore opportunities for joint investments in technical and vocational education in Nepal, given the significant number of Nepali workers in South Korea. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19169', 'image' => '20231108054143_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 17:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cash Flow Starts Returning to Banking System after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Rastra Bank, the total deposits of banks and financial institutions have reached Rs 5900 billion as of Sunday. The total deposits of banks had reached Rs 5915 billion in mid-October. After that, the deposits decreased to Rs 5868 billion by October 26. Post Dashain, deposits of Rs 32 billion have been added to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In Dashain, a total of Rs 76 billion flowed into the market from the banking system. On October 3, cash equivalent to Rs 6020 billion was in circulation in the market, which increased to Rs 6096 billion by October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits in the bank have been increasing as remittance inflow has increased recently. Similarly, the bank's loan investment has also started to improve. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of Sunday, the total credit disbursement of banks and financial institutions reached Rs 4977 billion. Loan disbursement increased by Rs 2 billion on Sunday compared to Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow of banks stood at Rs 4971 billion on October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Bankers Association President Sunil KC said that there are signs of improvement in the internal condition of the economy along with the improvement in the external conditions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, bank deposits and credit flow have both improved compared to last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This indicates that economic activities has started to improve in the domestic market," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers' Association said deposits in commercial banks increased by Rs 121 billion as of Monday, while credit flow expanded by Rs 92 billion. During the same period of the last fiscal year, when bank deposits increased by Rs 84 billion, while credit flow expanded by Rs 47 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the growth of deposits is higher than that of credit flow, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks has decreased. On Sunday, the average CD ratio of banks remained at 81.53 per cent. In mid-October, it was 81.74 per cent. According to the provision of NRB, commercial banks must maintain a CD ratio of up to 90 per cent for credit disbursement. Accordingly, banks have loan disbursement capacity of about Rs 587 billion at present.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in deposits in the banks, the interbank interest rate has also started to decrease. The interbank interest rate, which was maintained at 4.58 per cent on October 27, dropped to 3.22 per cent on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19168', 'image' => '20231108033835_banknotes.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 15:37:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies Reluctant to Invest in Real Estate Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector. Nepal Insurance Authority opened the door for insurance companies to invest in the real estate by amending the regulations. But the authority informed that not a single company invested in the real estate sector in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority, insurance companies have invested more than Rs 650 billion in various sectors. Records of NIA show that insurance companies invested Rs 658.93 billion in fixed deposits, listed public limited companies, bonds, debentures, citizen investment funds, etc in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Life insurance companies have the largest share in the total investment from this sector. The share of life insurance companies in the total investment is 86 percent ie Rs 568.14 billion. The share of non-life insurance company in the total investment is 9 percent ie Rs 58.85 billion. The remaining 5 percent investment is from reinsurance companies. According to the authority, they invested Rs 29.97 billion. Even though micro insurance companies have invested in various sectors, the amount is insignificant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Insurance companies have been investing in various sectors as per the investment guidelines issued by the authority. It seems that insurance companies do not want to invest in real estate. The authority said that only one insurance company, National Life Insurance Company invested Rs 362.4 million in real estate in the year 2078/79. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the authority, reinsurance, life insurance and non-life insurance companies can invest a maximum of 10 percent of their total investment in the real estate while there is a rule that micro insurance companies cannot invest in real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chairman of the Authority, Chiranjeevi Chapagain assesses that companies are not investing in real estate due to risk. He said, “The price of real estate is high now. Due to this, the risk is also high, so the companies are not willing to invest.” Chapagain said that since the real estate is not a liquid asset, the authority had set limits for insurance companies to invest in this sector during his tenure. He added that there is an international practice of determining the limit of investment in real estate because it cannot be converted into cash immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19167', 'image' => '20231108023921_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 14:38:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumers Forced to Pay Fare of Rs 120 and Stay in Queue for Hours to Avail Two Kilos of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the consumers are facing bitter pain at present to buy sugar that adds sweetness to the daily life. Consumers complain that they have to spend Rs 120 on transportation fare and have to wait in queue for hours just to buy two kilograms of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not easily available in the market at the moment. Even if it is available at some stores, people have to either stand in long queue for hours or pay a very high price. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation sells sugar to the general public at a subsidized rate but provides only two kilograms per person. Shyam Sunder Pokharel of Jorpati was found in a queue to buy sugar at Kalimati-based Salt Trading Corporation on Tuesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">My bus fare costs Rs 120 to travel from Jorpati to here. If we add the cost of lunch, it will be more than Rs 200," he told New Business Age, adding, "It is so difficult to buy sugar that costs Rs 97 per kilogram. I had to come here because I couldn't get sugar in the shops near my home for a week.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Another consumer, Ajay Maharjan, said that he had to stand in line for two hours to buy two kilograms of sugar. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"I finally managed to get two kilos of sugar. It will last for a month,” he said, adding, “I can't live without tea, I can't even eat without sugar." </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Due to the shortage of sugar in the market, consumers from far and wide are also forced to come to the Salt Trading Corporation and stand in line for hours. In order to make it easier for the consumers, Salt Trading Corporation has started giving up to 10 bags of sugar to the retailers as a government initiative. However, this has not changed anything for the consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Kumar Rajbhandari, the spokesperson of Salt Trading Corporation, said that the state-owned company has supplied sugar to the retailers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the traders are creating an artificial shortage of sugar in the market and selling it at high prices. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not available in most of the shops. Even if it is available, they charge up to Rs 150 per kg. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Department of Commerce is also working hard to control artificial scarcity and black marketing. The government also demanded 50,000 tons of sugar from India to facilitate the supply of sugar. The government plans to import sugar through the government-to-government process.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Government sources said that India sent an email to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on November 2 and informed that it would provide 25,000 tons of sugar. Gajendra Thakur, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the Salt Trading Corporation and the Food Management and Trading Company will be entrusted with supplying 10,000 tons of sugar each. He said that efforts are being made to remove the shortage by importing sugar as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Consumer rights activists say that the fault lies with the government for the current crisis of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">President of the National Consumer Forum, Premlal Maharjan, holds the Ministry of Finance responsible for the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He said that although the Ministry of Supply had written a letter to the Finance Ministry seeking permission to import sugar in July, the Finance Ministry deliberately did not give the permission on time. He said that the consumers are at the receiving end due to the lack of coordination between the government agencies. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said that they are taking diplomatic initiatives for easy availability of sugar in the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19166', 'image' => '20231108010349_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 13:02:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IFRC Releases Rs 100 Million Assistance for Earthquake Survivors ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fund was released a few days ago to the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) through the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF). The assistance amount is equivalent to Rs 100 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFRC General Secretary Jagan Chapagain announced this on social media, expressing full solidarity with the people affected. "The IFRC is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready for any assistance that may be required," Chapagain said. He appealed to Red Cross volunteers to be there on the ground for the support of the survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Reminding of the 2015 major earthquake that struck Nepal to its core, the IFRC General Secretary highlighted the need of more support to meet urgent needs of the affected, and importantly for recovery and reconstruction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Over 90 volunteers from the NRCS are presently in Jajarkot and Rukum West, the districts most affected by the late night quake last Friday for the rescue and relief efforts, the society said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale at 11:47 pm on Friday, with its epicenter in Jajarkot, resulted in significant casualties and property damage in the districts of the Karnali Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the preliminary reports, so far over 150 have been confirmed dead in these two districts with 345 injured. Likewise, 12,006 families have been displaced, 38,705 have been affected while 9,483 houses were completely damaged by the disaster causing partial damages on 19,286 houses. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRCS said it has till date distributed 700 mattresses, 1,500 tarpaulins, equal number of blankets and other necessary items in the disaster-affected areas. The action will continue, it said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19165', 'image' => '20231108123954_HK-Jajarkot-IMG_9219 (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:39:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Debts of Microfinance Institutions Rise above Seven Percent', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Report Suggests Microfinance Companies to Mend Institutional Governance ', 'summary' => 'November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A study report released by the central bank on Tuesday states that the ratio of NPL of microfinance companies crossed 7 per cent in the last fiscal year while it used to be less than three percent in the previous years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following complaints against microfinance institutions in the recent months and public disappointments in some districts, the central bank had formed a seven-member study committee under the leadership of its Executive Director Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha to identify the problems of microfinance institutions and recommend suggestions to resolve them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has mentioned that decreasing profit and rising non-performing loans have created pressure on the microfinance institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRB has stated that the status of microfinance institutions in the country has been deteriorating due to their excessive focus on profitmaking, poor internal control mechanism and poor institutional governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, lack of training of the employees, heavy concentration of microfinance institutions on the urban areas and limited access to the rural community have been identified as some of the challenges faced by this sector, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A report further mentioned that excessive loan to a few clients, excessive expanded system, weak institutional governance, failing credit discipline, economic slowdown and deviation from the organizational goals have created problems and pressures on the microfinance sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has offered more than 180 recommendations in 20 main themes for short-term, mid-term and long-term. The key recommendations are in the credit system, interest rate, microcredit and target community, customer protection, internal control mechanism and others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, presence of microfinance companies has centered in comparatively developed areas having more economic activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of branches of the microfinance institutions is high in the districts of Tarai and low in the remote and mountainous districts. The branches of the microfinances are in all districts but their presence is not in almost 100 local levels so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Concentration of the microfinances based on credit, branch and other indicators is high in the districts of Bardiya, Morang, Bara, Rupandehi and few others. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19164', 'image' => '20231108120244_badloan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:01:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNESCO Issues Guideline on Governance of Digital Platform', 'sub_title' => 'The UN Body Underscores FoE and Multi-Stakeholders Approach ', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, the UNESCO released the 'Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms' with special focus on protection of freedom of expression and access to information and the adoption of multi-stakeholder approach. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Digital technology has enabled immense progress on freedom of speech. But social media platforms have also accelerated and amplified the spread of false information and hate speech, posing major risks to societal cohesion, peace and stability. To protect access to information, we must regulate these platforms without delay, while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights," observed Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to her, restriction of speech is an appalling measure. "Having media outlets and information tools that are independent, qualitative and free, is best long-term response to disinformation," asserts the UNESCO Director-General. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines aim at cultivating an internet of trust, warranting attention and engagement from various stakeholders ranging from government to civil society, academia and technical community. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Importantly, the document has set principles and urged all sides for their true respect. The seven fundamental principles to be respected while governing digital platforms are- human rights and multi-stakeholders approach in decision-making; establishment of independent, public regulators; close coordination for wider network; feasible and effective content moderation; accountable and transparent platforms’ algorithms; platforms' initiative to educate users; and stronger measures by regulators and platforms during sensitive moments like elections and crises. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines were prepared after massive consultations, collecting over 10,000 comments from 134 countries. Inclusive participation was fostered in the worldwide consultations, thereby ensuring diverse voices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 2023, the number of people using social media has reached 4.75 billion across the globe. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In this connection, election related misinformation has been a severe concern. More than a dozen countries are holding election in 2024. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is a coincidence that government bodies in Nepal including Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police held a discussion with international representatives of TikTok on November 3, seeking collaboration with TikTok Singapore Office so that the government would take measure to control 'misuse of social media'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A press statement released by the Home Ministry mentioned, "With this discussion, it has been easy to remove the contents on TikTok that breach social harmony; spread hatred; cast aspersion on dignitaries; jeopardize ethnic, religious, and social harmony; and indecent things, and to find and bring to book the people involved such activities." -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19163', 'image' => '20231108111747_RTR350QH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 11:16:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jyoti Bikash Bank Provides Rs 0.5 Million to Jajarkot Quake Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank’s manager of Jyoti Bikas Bank in Jajarkot, Birendra Bahadur Eidi handed over the funds to the Chief District Officer of Jajarkot, Mr. Suresh Sunar, and the Deputy Chief District Officer, Mr. Harischandra Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In addition to providing financial assistance to the earthquake victims, the bank has been actively involved in coordinating and supporting various programs in different sectors through institutional social responsibility. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank has been delivering its services through 121 branch offices, 3 extended counters, and 75 ATMs in various locations across the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19162', 'image' => '20231108062110_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 06:19:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IME Group Donates Rs 15 Million to PM's Disaster Relief Fund', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This generous contribution is earmarked for the earthquake-affected people in Jajarkot and Rukum Paschim, providing essential monetary relief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The donation is a collective effort of the companies affiliated with the IME Group and the IME Foundation, aimed at aiding earthquake victims.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat and Chief Secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal were also present on the occasion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, IME Group and IME Foundation have expressed their commitment to offer additional relief assistance to those affected by the earthquake. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19161', 'image' => '20231107051138_collage (42).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 17:10:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Posts Double-Digit Gain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stock market experts and analysts attributed to the today’s rise to the current sharp fall, which brought the index to a crucial support zone. “The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on the loan drop and Nepal Rastra Bank relaxes its policies related to the stock market,” said one investor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading, as many as 285 scrips were traded in the market through 40,600 transactions. A total of 4,331,229 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 99.65 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Himalayan Bank Limited Promoter(HBLPO) had the highest turnover of 9 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 300. Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. (LLBS) gained the highest 8.16%, while Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SMFBS) experienced the highest loss of 8.26%, closing at a market price of Rs 955. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors, except Non-Life Insurance, closed in the green territory. Investment Index gained the highest 1.51%, while Banking Subindex gained the least 0.20%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sensitive Index gained 0.60%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float experienced a gain of 0.48% and 0.61% respectively. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19160', 'image' => '20231107035213_collage (41).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:49:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Urges International Community to Invest in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Speaking at the inauguration of the </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">th Conference of the Asia Pacific Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), which started in Kathmandu from Monday, President Paudel called for increasing investment in hydropower, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing sector and information and technology sector (IT) of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the opening session of the conference, which began with the participation of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> businessmen from the Asia Pacific region, he urged to bring investment to Nepal. In addition, he said that Nepal is making legal arrangements and policies conducive for investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the conference is timely and relevant for joint efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Asia-Pacific is a rapidly expanding economic region," he said, "Nepal is also a member of organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC for trade and enterprise connectivity, so there is no lack of market access."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that this conference will increase the confidence of entrepreneurs and businessmen. "The earthquake of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2072</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, corona virus and external conditions caused some problems in the country's economy," said Mahat, "But I am confident that it is improving and this conference will boost the country's economy." He said that investment in Nepal has a good track record. He added that multinational companies and investors are also making profit in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said the growing middle class and emerging consumer market are the strength of Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the conference, the president of Federation of Nepalese Industry and Commerce Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that the conference will be beneficial for expanding business networks and exchanging ideas. Stating that Nepal will be an attractive investment destination for the entrepreneurs of the Asia Pacific region, he mentioned that hydropower, tourism, information technology and manufacturing sectors, tourism infrastructure, hotels, cable cars, hill stations, etc will give good returns. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The two</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">day conference organized by the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry will conclude on today (Tuesday). CACCI is a member organization of industry associations from </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">26 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">countries in the Asia Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19159', 'image' => '20231107033042_KB-KTM-0U3A2940.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:29:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Banks at a Level that can be Managed: Bankers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable. According to them, the increase in the amount to be set aside for risk management has led to an increase in bad loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the end of the last fiscal year (FY), the average bad loan of commercial banks was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.98</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent, but in the current fiscal year, it has reached </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.61</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent," said Sunil KC, president of Nepal Bankers Association, in a press conference held on Monday, adding, “Banks have to be careful.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claimed that Nepali banks have less bad loans compared to South Asian countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President KC said that the economic activities have declined due to the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, and the banking sector has also been affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the effect of restructuring and rescheduling of loans in the aftermath of the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic is gradually surfacing now. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until last year, Nepal Rastra Bank had facilitated loan restructuring and rescheduling. However, it has given the facility to reschedule only the loans that have flowed in the construction sector and the loans that are less than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. Similarly, bankers have said that when there is a decline in economic activities, there is also a problem in loan recovery.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the profit of commercial banks has decreased in the first quarter of the current year compared to the previous year after a long time. NBA President KC said that the profit of banks decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in the first quarter of the current FY compared to the same period of last year. He informed that in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the profit of one bank was negative, that of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">13</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">banks declined and six increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During this period, the amount that banks have to set aside for risk management has increased by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion and this will strengthen the banks, KC claimed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press conference, the Chief Executive Officer of Himalayan Bank, Ashoke Rana, said that bad loans of banks will not increase any further. He suggested that the government should take a special policy to manage bad loans of banks. He demanded to bring provisions to create asset-management companies for long-term solution of bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, NBA said during the press conference that it has started collecting relief from banks to help the victims of the Jajarkot earthquake.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NBA, it has already received a commitment of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">as of Monday. Similarly, KC also informed that the association has completed all necessary preparations to hold the Asian Banking Conference in Nepal on Thursday and Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19158', 'image' => '20231107025333_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:52:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19429', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'MCA Nepal Claims to Complete MCC Project within 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The MCA Nepal, which is responsible for implementing the MCC agreement signed between the governments of the USA and Nepal, has not specified when the new tender bids will be issued even though the time is running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The officials of MCA Nepal said that with the entry into force of the MCC Nepal Compact on August 30, the preparations have been made so that the projects under it can be completed within five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal claimed it has made extensive preparations before starting the implementation to ensure that the projects are completed within the five-year deadline starting from August 30.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, as part of the road maintenance project, four laboratories have been set up in the Department of Roads and the engineers of the department have been given training on full depth reclamation and super-pave asphalt technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal has selected an engineering consultancy to supervise the work of the construction company that will be in charge of transmission line and substation related work under the electricity transmission project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the work related to land acquisition in the nine districts affected by the project is being carried forward rapidly. Meanwhile, MCA Nepal informed that nine district level sub-committees have been formed and meetings have been held to determine the compensation amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In order to fulfill an important task regarding the replanting of trees under the Forest Act of Nepal, forest consultants have started field work in five districts in coordination with MCA Nepal and Divisional Forest Offices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the tender bids received under the advanced procurement process for the transmission line have been rejected, while the procurement process for the construction of the substation is ongoing. According to officials, this contract process has been canceled as per the MCC Program Procurement Guidelines (PPG). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The cost mentioned in the bid received for the construction of the power transmission line was much higher than the estimated budget. The difference is so vast that it cannot be resolved even after discussion with the bidder. Therefore, the MCA Nepal reached a conclusion to cancel the contract," said MCA Nepal in a written response to queries made by New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “MCA Nepal has not faced any significant obstacles after entering into the implementation of MCC Nepal Compact.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal is expecting to receive support from the relevant ministries to facilitate the process of implementing the projects under this program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The initial agreement for the project was signed between the Finance Ministry and the US government representatives on September 14, 2017.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the MCC was delayed due to widespread protest by a section of the society on the pretext that the grant agreement was allegedly a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the US government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After much debate and deliberations, the House of Representatives finally ratified the MCC grant agreement on February 27, 2022 with a 12-point explanatory note clarifying that the project should not be associated with any military alliance and that the grant agreement must abide by the Constitution of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the initial agreement, the United States was supposed to provide US$ 500 million to Nepal for construction of cross-border transmission line and upgrading of roads while Nepal would have to contribute US$ 130 million for the project, expecting the total cost of the MCC project to remain at US$ 630 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But the 'supplemental agreement' over the MCC that was signed last year, demands the government to bear additional cost of US$ 67 million, seeking its total contribution of US$ 197 million for the enforcement of the agreement. In the beginning, Nepal was supposed to take up 20.63 per cent financial responsibility for the MCC project and now it has increased to 28.26 percent. The increased responsibility amount is equivalent to Rs 900 million. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19157', 'image' => '20231107023356_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:33:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19428', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists from USA, UK Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, since the beginning of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, visitors from the USA and UK have overtaken Chinese tourists.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">117</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">306</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal. There was a significant increase in the number of visitors from the United States and the UK during the review month. Altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">879</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived here from the USA in October and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8,217</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain. In the review month, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6,880</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from China arrived in Nepal by air, according to the data of the Nepal Tourism Board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the board, the number of tourists from America and the UK increased in October compared to September, while the number of arrivals from India and China decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that there has been an improvement in the arrival of tourists since the beginning of the tourist season in the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs say that the tourists mostly come for mountain climbing at this time of year as it is the main season for trekking/hiking. General Secretary of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Sajan Shakya said that more British and Americans come for trekking. He says that this season is considered suitable for trekking, so more tourists come here for this specific purpose.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data published by the board, India, the USA, the UK and China are the countries with the highest number of tourists in October. Apart from these countries, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">075 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists arrived in Nepal from Australia, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">916 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Germany, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">271 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from France, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">292 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Bangladesh, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">507 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Sri Lanka and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">467 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Italy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19156', 'image' => '20231107125910_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 12:58:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19442', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Posts Minimal Gain to Close at 1863.94', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week, Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px">November 8: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index gained a minimal 5.17 points or 0.27%, closing at 1863.94 points on the fourth trading day of the week, Wednesday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">The secondary benchmark index has recorded gains for the third consecutive day. However, despite the index's upward trajectory, the turnover amount decreased compared to yesterday.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Stock analysts and investors attribute today's market rise to a decrease in the prices of listed stocks, making them cheaper for buyers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">“The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on loan drop and regulators relax polices pertaining to the margin loans,” said one investor.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">During today’s trading, as many as 288 scrips were traded in the market through 30,364 transactions. A total of 3,157,062 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 78 crores.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sonapur Oils and Minerals And Oil Limited (SONA) had the highest turnover of 5.61 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 273 per share. Global IME Lagghubitta Bitiya Sanstha Ltd.(GILB) gained the highest 8.07%, while Corporate Development Bank(CORBL) lost the highest 6.38%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">In terms of sector indices, Manufacturing And Processing gained the highest 1.16%, while Hotels And Tourism Index lost the highest 0.64%.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px">Sensitive Index gained 0.05%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float Index gained 0.21% and 0.01% respectively.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19170', 'image' => '20231108042233_collage (43).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 16:17:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19443', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI President Chandra Prasad Dhakal Calls for Increased South Korean Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), emphasized the need to boost bilateral investment cooperation between Nepal and South Korea to address a growing trade imbalance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Speaking at the Nepal-Korea Investment Conference, Dhakal highlighted the substantial trade deficit between the two nations, with Nepal's exports to South Korea being considerably lower than its imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> He encouraged increased South Korean investment in Nepal, particularly in the energy, tourism, agricultural processing, and information and communications sectors, all of which are vital to Nepal's economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal noted the presence of over 350 Korea-funded enterprises in Nepal, underscoring Nepal's appeal as an attractive investment destination for South Korea. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He suggested that Nepal could harness its natural and human resources by adopting modern technology from Korea, benefiting both countries and facilitating South Korea's trade expansion in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, Dhakal stressed the importance of Nepal's partnership with South Korea in diversifying its developing economy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He called for the swift approval of Nepali banks to operate branches in South Korea, as this would foster trade and investment growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dhakal also encouraged Korean investors to explore opportunities for joint investments in technical and vocational education in Nepal, given the significant number of Nepali workers in South Korea. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19169', 'image' => '20231108054143_collage (44).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 17:40:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19440', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cash Flow Starts Returning to Banking System after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Deposits withdrawn from banks and financial institutions before Dashain have started to return to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of Nepal Rastra Bank, the total deposits of banks and financial institutions have reached Rs 5900 billion as of Sunday. The total deposits of banks had reached Rs 5915 billion in mid-October. After that, the deposits decreased to Rs 5868 billion by October 26. Post Dashain, deposits of Rs 32 billion have been added to the banking system.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In Dashain, a total of Rs 76 billion flowed into the market from the banking system. On October 3, cash equivalent to Rs 6020 billion was in circulation in the market, which increased to Rs 6096 billion by October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits in the bank have been increasing as remittance inflow has increased recently. Similarly, the bank's loan investment has also started to improve. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of Sunday, the total credit disbursement of banks and financial institutions reached Rs 4977 billion. Loan disbursement increased by Rs 2 billion on Sunday compared to Saturday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Credit flow of banks stood at Rs 4971 billion on October 26.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal Bankers Association President Sunil KC said that there are signs of improvement in the internal condition of the economy along with the improvement in the external conditions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, bank deposits and credit flow have both improved compared to last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"This indicates that economic activities has started to improve in the domestic market," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepal Bankers' Association said deposits in commercial banks increased by Rs 121 billion as of Monday, while credit flow expanded by Rs 92 billion. During the same period of the last fiscal year, when bank deposits increased by Rs 84 billion, while credit flow expanded by Rs 47 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the growth of deposits is higher than that of credit flow, the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of banks has decreased. On Sunday, the average CD ratio of banks remained at 81.53 per cent. In mid-October, it was 81.74 per cent. According to the provision of NRB, commercial banks must maintain a CD ratio of up to 90 per cent for credit disbursement. Accordingly, banks have loan disbursement capacity of about Rs 587 billion at present.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the increase in deposits in the banks, the interbank interest rate has also started to decrease. The interbank interest rate, which was maintained at 4.58 per cent on October 27, dropped to 3.22 per cent on Sunday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19168', 'image' => '20231108033835_banknotes.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 15:37:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19439', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Insurance Companies Reluctant to Invest in Real Estate Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">November 8: Insurance companies are found to be reluctant to invest in the real estate sector. Nepal Insurance Authority opened the door for insurance companies to invest in the real estate by amending the regulations. But the authority informed that not a single company invested in the real estate sector in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the authority, insurance companies have invested more than Rs 650 billion in various sectors. Records of NIA show that insurance companies invested Rs 658.93 billion in fixed deposits, listed public limited companies, bonds, debentures, citizen investment funds, etc in the fiscal year 2079/80.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Life insurance companies have the largest share in the total investment from this sector. The share of life insurance companies in the total investment is 86 percent ie Rs 568.14 billion. The share of non-life insurance company in the total investment is 9 percent ie Rs 58.85 billion. The remaining 5 percent investment is from reinsurance companies. According to the authority, they invested Rs 29.97 billion. Even though micro insurance companies have invested in various sectors, the amount is insignificant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Insurance companies have been investing in various sectors as per the investment guidelines issued by the authority. It seems that insurance companies do not want to invest in real estate. The authority said that only one insurance company, National Life Insurance Company invested Rs 362.4 million in real estate in the year 2078/79. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the authority, reinsurance, life insurance and non-life insurance companies can invest a maximum of 10 percent of their total investment in the real estate while there is a rule that micro insurance companies cannot invest in real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Former Chairman of the Authority, Chiranjeevi Chapagain assesses that companies are not investing in real estate due to risk. He said, “The price of real estate is high now. Due to this, the risk is also high, so the companies are not willing to invest.” Chapagain said that since the real estate is not a liquid asset, the authority had set limits for insurance companies to invest in this sector during his tenure. He added that there is an international practice of determining the limit of investment in real estate because it cannot be converted into cash immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19167', 'image' => '20231108023921_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 14:38:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19438', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Consumers Forced to Pay Fare of Rs 120 and Stay in Queue for Hours to Avail Two Kilos of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">November 8: Many families have a tradition of offering tea to the guests while people meet friends for conversation over a cup of tea. Just as tea adds sweetness to the relationship, sugar adds sweetness to tea. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the consumers are facing bitter pain at present to buy sugar that adds sweetness to the daily life. Consumers complain that they have to spend Rs 120 on transportation fare and have to wait in queue for hours just to buy two kilograms of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not easily available in the market at the moment. Even if it is available at some stores, people have to either stand in long queue for hours or pay a very high price. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation sells sugar to the general public at a subsidized rate but provides only two kilograms per person. Shyam Sunder Pokharel of Jorpati was found in a queue to buy sugar at Kalimati-based Salt Trading Corporation on Tuesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">My bus fare costs Rs 120 to travel from Jorpati to here. If we add the cost of lunch, it will be more than Rs 200," he told New Business Age, adding, "It is so difficult to buy sugar that costs Rs 97 per kilogram. I had to come here because I couldn't get sugar in the shops near my home for a week.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Another consumer, Ajay Maharjan, said that he had to stand in line for two hours to buy two kilograms of sugar. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"I finally managed to get two kilos of sugar. It will last for a month,” he said, adding, “I can't live without tea, I can't even eat without sugar." </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Due to the shortage of sugar in the market, consumers from far and wide are also forced to come to the Salt Trading Corporation and stand in line for hours. In order to make it easier for the consumers, Salt Trading Corporation has started giving up to 10 bags of sugar to the retailers as a government initiative. However, this has not changed anything for the consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Kumar Rajbhandari, the spokesperson of Salt Trading Corporation, said that the state-owned company has supplied sugar to the retailers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the traders are creating an artificial shortage of sugar in the market and selling it at high prices. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Sugar is not available in most of the shops. Even if it is available, they charge up to Rs 150 per kg. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The Department of Commerce is also working hard to control artificial scarcity and black marketing. The government also demanded 50,000 tons of sugar from India to facilitate the supply of sugar. The government plans to import sugar through the government-to-government process.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Government sources said that India sent an email to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on November 2 and informed that it would provide 25,000 tons of sugar. Gajendra Thakur, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the Salt Trading Corporation and the Food Management and Trading Company will be entrusted with supplying 10,000 tons of sugar each. He said that efforts are being made to remove the shortage by importing sugar as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Consumer rights activists say that the fault lies with the government for the current crisis of sugar.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">President of the National Consumer Forum, Premlal Maharjan, holds the Ministry of Finance responsible for the current situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">He said that although the Ministry of Supply had written a letter to the Finance Ministry seeking permission to import sugar in July, the Finance Ministry deliberately did not give the permission on time. He said that the consumers are at the receiving end due to the lack of coordination between the government agencies. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said that they are taking diplomatic initiatives for easy availability of sugar in the market. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19166', 'image' => '20231108010349_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 13:02:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19437', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IFRC Releases Rs 100 Million Assistance for Earthquake Survivors ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the November 3 earthquake in Karnali Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released emergency funds to support humanitarian action on the ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The fund was released a few days ago to the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) through the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF). The assistance amount is equivalent to Rs 100 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFRC General Secretary Jagan Chapagain announced this on social media, expressing full solidarity with the people affected. "The IFRC is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready for any assistance that may be required," Chapagain said. He appealed to Red Cross volunteers to be there on the ground for the support of the survivors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Reminding of the 2015 major earthquake that struck Nepal to its core, the IFRC General Secretary highlighted the need of more support to meet urgent needs of the affected, and importantly for recovery and reconstruction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Over 90 volunteers from the NRCS are presently in Jajarkot and Rukum West, the districts most affected by the late night quake last Friday for the rescue and relief efforts, the society said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale at 11:47 pm on Friday, with its epicenter in Jajarkot, resulted in significant casualties and property damage in the districts of the Karnali Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the preliminary reports, so far over 150 have been confirmed dead in these two districts with 345 injured. Likewise, 12,006 families have been displaced, 38,705 have been affected while 9,483 houses were completely damaged by the disaster causing partial damages on 19,286 houses. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRCS said it has till date distributed 700 mattresses, 1,500 tarpaulins, equal number of blankets and other necessary items in the disaster-affected areas. The action will continue, it said. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19165', 'image' => '20231108123954_HK-Jajarkot-IMG_9219 (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:39:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19436', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Debts of Microfinance Institutions Rise above Seven Percent', 'sub_title' => 'NRB Report Suggests Microfinance Companies to Mend Institutional Governance ', 'summary' => 'November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: The Non-Performing Loans (NPL) of microfinance institutions has crossed seven percent, according to a study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A study report released by the central bank on Tuesday states that the ratio of NPL of microfinance companies crossed 7 per cent in the last fiscal year while it used to be less than three percent in the previous years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following complaints against microfinance institutions in the recent months and public disappointments in some districts, the central bank had formed a seven-member study committee under the leadership of its Executive Director Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha to identify the problems of microfinance institutions and recommend suggestions to resolve them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has mentioned that decreasing profit and rising non-performing loans have created pressure on the microfinance institutions.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NRB has stated that the status of microfinance institutions in the country has been deteriorating due to their excessive focus on profitmaking, poor internal control mechanism and poor institutional governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, lack of training of the employees, heavy concentration of microfinance institutions on the urban areas and limited access to the rural community have been identified as some of the challenges faced by this sector, the report states.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A report further mentioned that excessive loan to a few clients, excessive expanded system, weak institutional governance, failing credit discipline, economic slowdown and deviation from the organizational goals have created problems and pressures on the microfinance sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report has offered more than 180 recommendations in 20 main themes for short-term, mid-term and long-term. The key recommendations are in the credit system, interest rate, microcredit and target community, customer protection, internal control mechanism and others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the report, presence of microfinance companies has centered in comparatively developed areas having more economic activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of branches of the microfinance institutions is high in the districts of Tarai and low in the remote and mountainous districts. The branches of the microfinances are in all districts but their presence is not in almost 100 local levels so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Concentration of the microfinances based on credit, branch and other indicators is high in the districts of Bardiya, Morang, Bara, Rupandehi and few others. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19164', 'image' => '20231108120244_badloan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 12:01:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19435', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNESCO Issues Guideline on Governance of Digital Platform', 'sub_title' => 'The UN Body Underscores FoE and Multi-Stakeholders Approach ', 'summary' => 'November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">November 8: In response to the surge of online disinformation and misinformation, hate speech and conspiracies taking toll across the globe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released a guideline on how the digital platforms could be governed by respecting human rights online. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Monday, the UNESCO released the 'Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms' with special focus on protection of freedom of expression and access to information and the adoption of multi-stakeholder approach. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Digital technology has enabled immense progress on freedom of speech. But social media platforms have also accelerated and amplified the spread of false information and hate speech, posing major risks to societal cohesion, peace and stability. To protect access to information, we must regulate these platforms without delay, while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights," observed Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to her, restriction of speech is an appalling measure. "Having media outlets and information tools that are independent, qualitative and free, is best long-term response to disinformation," asserts the UNESCO Director-General. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines aim at cultivating an internet of trust, warranting attention and engagement from various stakeholders ranging from government to civil society, academia and technical community. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Importantly, the document has set principles and urged all sides for their true respect. The seven fundamental principles to be respected while governing digital platforms are- human rights and multi-stakeholders approach in decision-making; establishment of independent, public regulators; close coordination for wider network; feasible and effective content moderation; accountable and transparent platforms’ algorithms; platforms' initiative to educate users; and stronger measures by regulators and platforms during sensitive moments like elections and crises. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The guidelines were prepared after massive consultations, collecting over 10,000 comments from 134 countries. Inclusive participation was fostered in the worldwide consultations, thereby ensuring diverse voices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 2023, the number of people using social media has reached 4.75 billion across the globe. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In this connection, election related misinformation has been a severe concern. More than a dozen countries are holding election in 2024. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is a coincidence that government bodies in Nepal including Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police held a discussion with international representatives of TikTok on November 3, seeking collaboration with TikTok Singapore Office so that the government would take measure to control 'misuse of social media'. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A press statement released by the Home Ministry mentioned, "With this discussion, it has been easy to remove the contents on TikTok that breach social harmony; spread hatred; cast aspersion on dignitaries; jeopardize ethnic, religious, and social harmony; and indecent things, and to find and bring to book the people involved such activities." -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19163', 'image' => '20231108111747_RTR350QH.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 11:16:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19434', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jyoti Bikash Bank Provides Rs 0.5 Million to Jajarkot Quake Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 8: Jyoti Bikas Bank has provided financial assistance for the relief of earthquake victims in Jajarkot. The bank has handed over Rs. 5 lakhs to the Jajarkot District Administration Office's Earthquake Relief Fund for the rescue and support of earthquake victims. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank’s manager of Jyoti Bikas Bank in Jajarkot, Birendra Bahadur Eidi handed over the funds to the Chief District Officer of Jajarkot, Mr. Suresh Sunar, and the Deputy Chief District Officer, Mr. Harischandra Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In addition to providing financial assistance to the earthquake victims, the bank has been actively involved in coordinating and supporting various programs in different sectors through institutional social responsibility. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bank has been delivering its services through 121 branch offices, 3 extended counters, and 75 ATMs in various locations across the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-08', 'modified' => '2023-11-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19162', 'image' => '20231108062110_collage (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-08 06:19:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19433', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IME Group Donates Rs 15 Million to PM's Disaster Relief Fund', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group and Global IME Bank, handed over a cheque for Rs 15 million to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This generous contribution is earmarked for the earthquake-affected people in Jajarkot and Rukum Paschim, providing essential monetary relief.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The donation is a collective effort of the companies affiliated with the IME Group and the IME Foundation, aimed at aiding earthquake victims.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat and Chief Secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal were also present on the occasion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Furthermore, IME Group and IME Foundation have expressed their commitment to offer additional relief assistance to those affected by the earthquake. (RSS) </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19161', 'image' => '20231107051138_collage (42).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 17:10:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19432', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Posts Double-Digit Gain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">November 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded gain on the second consecutive second day as well on the third trading day of the week, Tuesday. The secondary benchmark index gained 11.21 points or 0.60%, closing at 1858.76 points today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stock market experts and analysts attributed to the today’s rise to the current sharp fall, which brought the index to a crucial support zone. “The market will pick up the momentum if the interest rates on the loan drop and Nepal Rastra Bank relaxes its policies related to the stock market,” said one investor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading, as many as 285 scrips were traded in the market through 40,600 transactions. A total of 4,331,229 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to Rs 99.65 crores. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Himalayan Bank Limited Promoter(HBLPO) had the highest turnover of 9 crores, closing at a market price of Rs 300. Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. (LLBS) gained the highest 8.16%, while Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SMFBS) experienced the highest loss of 8.26%, closing at a market price of Rs 955. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors, except Non-Life Insurance, closed in the green territory. Investment Index gained the highest 1.51%, while Banking Subindex gained the least 0.20%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sensitive Index gained 0.60%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float experienced a gain of 0.48% and 0.61% respectively. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19160', 'image' => '20231107035213_collage (41).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:49:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19431', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Urges International Community to Invest in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: President Ramchandra Paudel has called upon the international community to invest in Nepal stating that investment opportunities have increased in the country. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Speaking at the inauguration of the </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">37</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">th Conference of the Asia Pacific Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), which started in Kathmandu from Monday, President Paudel called for increasing investment in hydropower, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing sector and information and technology sector (IT) of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the opening session of the conference, which began with the participation of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">60</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> businessmen from the Asia Pacific region, he urged to bring investment to Nepal. In addition, he said that Nepal is making legal arrangements and policies conducive for investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the conference is timely and relevant for joint efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Asia-Pacific is a rapidly expanding economic region," he said, "Nepal is also a member of organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC for trade and enterprise connectivity, so there is no lack of market access."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that this conference will increase the confidence of entrepreneurs and businessmen. "The earthquake of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2072</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, corona virus and external conditions caused some problems in the country's economy," said Mahat, "But I am confident that it is improving and this conference will boost the country's economy." He said that investment in Nepal has a good track record. He added that multinational companies and investors are also making profit in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said the growing middle class and emerging consumer market are the strength of Nepal. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the conference, the president of Federation of Nepalese Industry and Commerce Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that the conference will be beneficial for expanding business networks and exchanging ideas. Stating that Nepal will be an attractive investment destination for the entrepreneurs of the Asia Pacific region, he mentioned that hydropower, tourism, information technology and manufacturing sectors, tourism infrastructure, hotels, cable cars, hill stations, etc will give good returns. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The two</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">day conference organized by the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry will conclude on today (Tuesday). CACCI is a member organization of industry associations from </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">26 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">countries in the Asia Pacific region.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19159', 'image' => '20231107033042_KB-KTM-0U3A2940.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 15:29:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19430', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Banks at a Level that can be Managed: Bankers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: The bankers have claimed that the bad loans of the banks which have increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year are manageable. According to them, the increase in the amount to be set aside for risk management has led to an increase in bad loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the end of the last fiscal year (FY), the average bad loan of commercial banks was </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2.98</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent, but in the current fiscal year, it has reached </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">3.61</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent," said Sunil KC, president of Nepal Bankers Association, in a press conference held on Monday, adding, “Banks have to be careful.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claimed that Nepali banks have less bad loans compared to South Asian countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President KC said that the economic activities have declined due to the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, and the banking sector has also been affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that the effect of restructuring and rescheduling of loans in the aftermath of the Covid-</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">19</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">pandemic is gradually surfacing now. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until last year, Nepal Rastra Bank had facilitated loan restructuring and rescheduling. However, it has given the facility to reschedule only the loans that have flowed in the construction sector and the loans that are less than Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> million. Similarly, bankers have said that when there is a decline in economic activities, there is also a problem in loan recovery.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the profit of commercial banks has decreased in the first quarter of the current year compared to the previous year after a long time. NBA President KC said that the profit of banks decreased by </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">28</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> percent in the first quarter of the current FY compared to the same period of last year. He informed that in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the profit of one bank was negative, that of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">13</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">banks declined and six increased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During this period, the amount that banks have to set aside for risk management has increased by Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">16</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> billion and this will strengthen the banks, KC claimed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press conference, the Chief Executive Officer of Himalayan Bank, Ashoke Rana, said that bad loans of banks will not increase any further. He suggested that the government should take a special policy to manage bad loans of banks. He demanded to bring provisions to create asset-management companies for long-term solution of bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, NBA said during the press conference that it has started collecting relief from banks to help the victims of the Jajarkot earthquake.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to NBA, it has already received a commitment of Rs </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">0 million</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">as of Monday. Similarly, KC also informed that the association has completed all necessary preparations to hold the Asian Banking Conference in Nepal on Thursday and Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19158', 'image' => '20231107025333_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:52:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19429', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'MCA Nepal Claims to Complete MCC Project within 5 Years', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">November 7: Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal) claimed to complete the US-funded Mission Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project within deadline of five years despite the cancellation of the tender process of the 400 KV power transmission line to be built under the grant agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The MCA Nepal, which is responsible for implementing the MCC agreement signed between the governments of the USA and Nepal, has not specified when the new tender bids will be issued even though the time is running out.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The officials of MCA Nepal said that with the entry into force of the MCC Nepal Compact on August 30, the preparations have been made so that the projects under it can be completed within five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal claimed it has made extensive preparations before starting the implementation to ensure that the projects are completed within the five-year deadline starting from August 30.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, as part of the road maintenance project, four laboratories have been set up in the Department of Roads and the engineers of the department have been given training on full depth reclamation and super-pave asphalt technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal has selected an engineering consultancy to supervise the work of the construction company that will be in charge of transmission line and substation related work under the electricity transmission project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the work related to land acquisition in the nine districts affected by the project is being carried forward rapidly. Meanwhile, MCA Nepal informed that nine district level sub-committees have been formed and meetings have been held to determine the compensation amount.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In order to fulfill an important task regarding the replanting of trees under the Forest Act of Nepal, forest consultants have started field work in five districts in coordination with MCA Nepal and Divisional Forest Offices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to MCA Nepal, the tender bids received under the advanced procurement process for the transmission line have been rejected, while the procurement process for the construction of the substation is ongoing. According to officials, this contract process has been canceled as per the MCC Program Procurement Guidelines (PPG). </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"The cost mentioned in the bid received for the construction of the power transmission line was much higher than the estimated budget. The difference is so vast that it cannot be resolved even after discussion with the bidder. Therefore, the MCA Nepal reached a conclusion to cancel the contract," said MCA Nepal in a written response to queries made by New Business Age.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> “MCA Nepal has not faced any significant obstacles after entering into the implementation of MCC Nepal Compact.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">MCA Nepal is expecting to receive support from the relevant ministries to facilitate the process of implementing the projects under this program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The initial agreement for the project was signed between the Finance Ministry and the US government representatives on September 14, 2017.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the MCC was delayed due to widespread protest by a section of the society on the pretext that the grant agreement was allegedly a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the US government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">After much debate and deliberations, the House of Representatives finally ratified the MCC grant agreement on February 27, 2022 with a 12-point explanatory note clarifying that the project should not be associated with any military alliance and that the grant agreement must abide by the Constitution of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the initial agreement, the United States was supposed to provide US$ 500 million to Nepal for construction of cross-border transmission line and upgrading of roads while Nepal would have to contribute US$ 130 million for the project, expecting the total cost of the MCC project to remain at US$ 630 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But the 'supplemental agreement' over the MCC that was signed last year, demands the government to bear additional cost of US$ 67 million, seeking its total contribution of US$ 197 million for the enforcement of the agreement. In the beginning, Nepal was supposed to take up 20.63 per cent financial responsibility for the MCC project and now it has increased to 28.26 percent. The increased responsibility amount is equivalent to Rs 900 million. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19157', 'image' => '20231107023356_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 14:33:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '19428', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Tourists from USA, UK Increasing', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">November 7: Data show that India tourists top the list of foreign tourists visiting Nepal followed by tourists from China.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, since the beginning of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, visitors from the USA and UK have overtaken Chinese tourists.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In October </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2023</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, a total of </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">117</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">306</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived in Nepal. There was a significant increase in the number of visitors from the United States and the UK during the review month. Altogether </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">14</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">879</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> tourists arrived here from the USA in October and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">8,217</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Britain. In the review month, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6,880</span></span> <span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists from China arrived in Nepal by air, according to the data of the Nepal Tourism Board.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the board, the number of tourists from America and the UK increased in October compared to September, while the number of arrivals from India and China decreased. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessmen say that there has been an improvement in the arrival of tourists since the beginning of the tourist season in the country.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneurs say that the tourists mostly come for mountain climbing at this time of year as it is the main season for trekking/hiking. General Secretary of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Sajan Shakya said that more British and Americans come for trekking. He says that this season is considered suitable for trekking, so more tourists come here for this specific purpose.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data published by the board, India, the USA, the UK and China are the countries with the highest number of tourists in October. Apart from these countries, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">6</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">075 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">tourists arrived in Nepal from Australia, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">916 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Germany, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">5</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">271 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from France, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">4</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">292 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Bangladesh, </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">507 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Sri Lanka and </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">2</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">,</span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">467 </span></span><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">from Italy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-11-07', 'modified' => '2023-11-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '19156', 'image' => '20231107125910_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-11-07 12:58:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
