March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent…
March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent…
March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers.…
March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16).…
March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP…
March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned…
March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on…
March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits.…
The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social…
Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance…
March 15: Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year.…
Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World…
March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year.…
Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha of Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday.…
March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office…
March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next…
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Such companies, which collect the demand for employees from various organizations and companies and provide jobs to the aspirants, informed that the demand for new human resources has decreased significantly due to the economic crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kumari Job, which has been working in this field for a long time, claimed that the demand has decreased by 40 to 60 percent compared to the past. Kumari Job’s Managing Director Sandesh Bhandari said that due to the financial problems faced by the employers, the demand for employees is very low.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Managing Director Bhandari told New Business Age that their regular customers say there is no need to add new employees when their business has slowed down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to reduce the financial burden, some employers are also reducing their staff.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Bhandari, 500 to 800 people apply every day through Kumari Job's website, but only 15 to 20 people get jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Foxjob, another company which is active in the field of job placement, says that the demand for new employees has reduced. According to Bimal Kandel, managing director of Foxjob, the lowest demand is currently in the automobile sector. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The demand for steel, cement and paint industries has also decreased," he said. He says that there was a sudden surge in demand for employees after the coronavirus pandemic but it has been continuously declining now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the job placement companies, although the employers are demanding low-level workers and employees, the demand for middle and high-level employees is negligible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Contrary to this scenario, companies looking for employees in the information technology (IT) sector say that they are facing shortage of manpower. Jaidev Kalouni, managing director of Neko Job, said that it is difficult to get human resources as per their requirement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a high demand for manpower in the IT sector in Nepal. After the lockdown aimed at stopping the coronavirus, this demand has increased at a rapid rate. However, we lack skilled manpower," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Kalouni, skilled IT personnel in Nepal either go abroad or stay here and work for foreign companies. He says that even though most of those who apply for employment in Nepal have a university degree, they lack practical knowledge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to government data, about 500,000 people enter Nepal's labor market every year. However, neither the private sector nor the government agencies have the data on how many jobs the private sector creates annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The National Planning Commissions member Ram Kumar Phuyal said that although such data is necessary, the government has not prepared it yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Some of the people who are looking for employment lack higher education, while some have theoretical knowledge but do not have the ability to work when they enter the field.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Many have lost their jobs after the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension. The development of industry in the country is taking place at a snail’s and even those that exist are shutting down due to high interest rates and liquidity problem. In this situation, the aspiring job seekers have to either go to India or abroad for jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of people going abroad for employment also indicates that it is difficult to find employment in the country. It is mentioned in the latest report of Nepal Rastra Bank that more than 314,000 youth went abroad with work permit from last July to January in the current fiscal year. This means that around 1,500 labour force is going abroad for the first time with a labor permit. During this period, more than 167,000 Nepalese have renewed their labour permits. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17025', 'image' => '20230316044827_1678930256.13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 16:47:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17286', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Warn of Agitation if the Decision to Cut Subsidy on Fertilizers is not Withdrawn', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF), National Farmers' Group Federation and Nepal National Democratic Farmers' Organization held a joint press conference in Kathmandu on Wednesday and demanded that the government's decision to reduce the subsidy on fertilizers should be withdrawn immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers’ organisations said that they will protest from March 17 if the government does not withdraw the decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As mentioned in the conference, a memorandum will be submitted to the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on March 17 and after that a joint farmers’ struggle committee will be formed at the local level. The struggle program will be conducted on needs basis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government made a ministerial-level decision on March 10 and reduced the subsidy given to farmers for the purchase of chemical fertilizers from 70.82 percent to 59.4 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A joint statement issued by all the three organizations reads, “The farmers' organization has drawn serious attention to the decision of the government. The decision to cut this kind of subsidy on fertilizer will increase the cost of agricultural production and increase the price of agricultural produce.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the press conference, Prem Dangal, president of the All Nepal Peasants' Federation said that the decision to cut the subsidy has discouraged the farmers, who are always suffering from lack of fertilizer during farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ganesh Timilsina, president of Nepal Peasants’ Federation commented that instead of bringing a program to encourage and protect farmers, the government decided to cut subsidies to further trouble them.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17024', 'image' => '20230316035851_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 15:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17285', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DDC Hikes Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). The DDC sent the milk packets with the new prices to the market on Thursday. According to DDC deputy general manager and information officer, Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, the revised prices will be implemented across the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">As per the decision of the Council of Ministers on March 3, the government has fixed the minimum purchase price of raw milk containing four units of fat at Rs 65 per litre for the farmers. The DDC said suppliers of raw milk have been already paid the adjusted price of their products and consumers are required to pay the increased price. The price of DDC standard milk which is available in a blue packet which is the most-selling milk has increased by Rs 11 per liter to reach Rs 97, according to the DDC. This price is in effect in Kathmandu, Biratngar, Janakpur and Hetauda. Likewise the price of milk has been fixed at Rs 94 in Butwal and Rs 92 in Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17023', 'image' => '20230316025946_20224110824_milkddc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 14:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17284', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Embattled Credit Suisse Seeks $54 Billion Lifeline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span><br /> <span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, Switzerland's second biggest bank, already mired in a slew of scandals, has come under pressure this week as the failure of two US regional lenders has rocked the sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hours before European stock markets were due to open, Credit Suisse issued a statement saying it was "taking decisive action to preemptively strengthen its liquidity" by exercising its option to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also announced a debt buyback of up to three billion francs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"These measures demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders," AFP quoted the bank’s CEO Ulrich Koerner as saying in the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"My team and I are resolved to move forward rapidly to deliver a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, shares in Credit Suisse fell 24% on Wednesday after it said it had found "weakness" in its financial reporting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Fears of a wider banking crisis sparked steep falls on stock markets, with Asian shares dropping, added the British news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Problems in the banking sector surfaced in the US last week with the shock collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the country's 16th-largest lender, followed two days later by the failure of New York's Signature Bank, said the BBC, adding, “Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, insisted Credit Suisse had the money it needed, but stressed it was ready to step in and help further if required.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported that Credit Suisse is one of 30 banks globally deemed too big to fail, forcing it to set aside more cash to weather a crisis.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17022', 'image' => '20230316020040_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17283', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Term of Air Crash Probe Commission Extended ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting held on March 14 took a decision to this effect, said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed a five-member probe commission under the coordination of former-Secretary, Nagendra Ghimire, to find out the truth behind the Yeti airline plane crash in Pokhara on January 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initially, the commission was given 45 days to submit its report but the deadline has now been extended by another 45 days. Aviation experts—Deepak Prakash Bastola (retired major general), Sunil Thapa (retired captain) and aeronautical engineer Yekraj Jung Thapa are the members of the commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane is the member-secretary of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A preliminary report of the commission after studying the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had pointed out that the aircraft did not have thrust in the engines which caused the plane to stall minutes before landing in Pokhara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All 72 people on board the ill-fated aircraft were killed in one of the worst aviation disasters in the domestic segment in the history of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17021', 'image' => '20230316011051_yeti.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Tourism Kicks off in Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Better Statistics for Improving Tourism Industry', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday with an objective of making common concept for sustainable tourism development of Asia Pacific Region and South Asia. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the three-day workshop organized by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board and United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">stakeholders will discuss various issues including the search for new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of COVID-affected tourism industry, its diversification, development of tourism infrastructure and increasing investment in this sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Representatives of 11 different countries including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Maldives, Indonesia, Iran, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos a well as UNWTO representatives are attending the workshop with the objective of preparing better statistics for better tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO, which has been organising such-type of programmes in different sector in order to hold discussion on different dimensions of global tourism and to make tourism industry dynamic, organised the regional workshop in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the workshop, Tourism Minister Sudan Kirati pointed out the need of paying attention to development and diversification by searching new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of the tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He opined that investment in tourism sector should be increased as well as tourism industry should be developed and expanded up to rural areas. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati thanked the UNWTO for organising the workshop in Nepal. The organisers expect that the workshop would help in understanding the new dimensions of global tourism, to exchange experiences and to make common concept for sustainable tourism development. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion Director of External Relations of the UN World Tourism Organization, Beka Zakeli, said that quality data was necessary for the development of tourism development plans and promotional activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Jongtae K-park of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, speaking virtually, expressed the hope that the program would be fruitful in working on quality data and from exchange of experiences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Nepal Tourism Board, Dr Dhananjaya Regmi, said the event would help develop new approaches towards tourism and tourism-related statistics. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17020', 'image' => '20230316115716_FrRGyhMXwBAANpD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:56:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17281', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministers, High-Ranking Officials will have only Essential Foreign Trips ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday took a decision to this effect. </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"">Analysts say that such measures were taken due to the government’s failure to meet the revenue collection target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the government approved the foreign trips of secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Forest and Environment, and Ministry of Health and Population. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has formed an Implementation Facilitation Committee under the coordination of a secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers for the implementation of the report prepared by Leelamani Paudyal-led High-Level Salary and Benefits Commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma stated that participation of the Minister for Water Supply to the "The United Nations 2023 Water Conference" has been approved. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting's decision also includes promotion and deputation of Nepalese Army's colonels and brigadier generals. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also decided to allow the use of national forest area for the construction of 132 KV transmission line of the Lower Likhu Hydropower Project and upgradation of 10-bed Rampur Health Post, Udayapur into a hospital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to accept a grant aid of Rs 14.31 billion from the British government for the Nepal local infrastructure support program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma shared that the government also fixed the minimum purchase price of milk at Rs 65 per litre. </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"">Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting appointed Joint Attorney General Uddhav Prasad Pudasaini as a member of the Foreign Employment Tribunal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17019', 'image' => '20230316112309_Picture_2_Travel.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:22:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17280', 'article_category_id' => '275', 'title' => 'Two-year Labour Permit Provision For Foreign Employment Removed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 16: The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. <br /> The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A new provision has been made to issue labour permit on the basis of contract permit to work in the destination country and on the basis of the contract signed between the employers and workers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Earlier, the government had been issuing two-year work permit to all individuals going for overseas employment. The government has made arrangement to provide re-labour permit from Nepali diplomatic missions in destination countries, said Spokesperson at the Ministry, Danduraj Ghimire. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepali migrant workers in the destination countries had to face many problems for lack of effective implementation of re-labour permit provision. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17018', 'image' => '20230316064603_collage (23).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 06:43:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Siddhartha Insurance And Premier Insurance Company Limited Start Integrated Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insurance Authority Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal inaugurated the integrated business transaction of the Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited in a ceremony held by the insurance company on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mr. Sureshlal Shrestha has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the merged entity. Likewise, Mr. Birendra Bahadur Baidawar Chhetry is the Chief Executive Officer of the merged entity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Two non-life insurance companies had finalized their merger with the swap ratio of 1:1. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the merger, the total paid-up capital of Siddhartha Premier Insurance has reached 2.80 billion. The merged entity’s total insurance fund has reached Rs 2.34 billion. Similarly, the insurance has the total assets worth Rs 10.25 billion while its market capitalization is around 18.23 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insurance company will be providing its services from 125 branches across the country. The merged entity has issued as many as 4,17,182 insurance policies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17017', 'image' => '20230316060316_collage (22).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 05:58:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Revenue Collection Target of Government Remains Unfulfilled', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">March 15: </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. According to the Inland Revenue Department, the collection is just around 80 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The department had set a target of raising Rs 353.91 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (FY 2022-23). But the inland revenue collection in the review period was just Rs 281.99 billion which is 79.78 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The collection in each sector except education was less than the total revenue collection in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The income tax accumulation till March 14 was Rs 117.07 billion against the target of Rs 158.25 billion. The collection was just 73.98 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The Value Added Tax (VAT) collection was also less than the target as the target was Rs 82.43 billion in the given period, but the collection stood at Rs 68.77 billion, which is less by three percentage points than the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Although there has been a slight improvement in revenue collection from excise duty this year than in the previous year, the target for the given period still remained unmet. The department said its target of collection of excise duty was Rs 76.82 billion till mid-March, but the achievement was around 84.36 percent or Rs 64.81 billion. The collection, however, is more by around four percentage points compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">In the second quarter, the collection of house rent tax stood at 78.81 percent of the estimate at Rs 1.69 billion against the target of Rs 2.14 billion and it is less by 10 percentage point compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Likewise, the health service tax collection stood at 97.11 percent of the target. The department registered the tax collection of Rs 4.71 billion in the given period against the target of Rs 4.85 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">However, the collection of education tax surpassed the target to reach Rs 1.6 billion while the target was Rs 1.04 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17016', 'image' => '20230315064949_20221220085637_IRDD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 18:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17277', 'article_category_id' => '243', 'title' => ' Prices of Maize, Wheat, Rice Drop Worldwide ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> <br /> March 15: Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Corn prices are down by six percent in the review period, compared to the two weeks ago. Wheat prices have fallen by 7 percent, while the value of the rice is down by two percent. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the same period last year, the price of the wheat was cheaper by 15 percent though. Prices of maize and wheat have become dearer by 24 and 7 percent respectively compared to the January of 2021, said the World Bank. Rice, however, has become cheaper by 3 percent.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Prices of agricultural products and food have dropped by 2 and 5 percent respectively compared to the value of two weeks ago. (Agencies) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17015', 'image' => '20230315052620_collage - 2023-03-15T162423.447.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 17:22:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Microfinance Companies Increases by 1.74 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. Due to the decline in economic activities, the ability of customers to pay loan installments has decreased. In addition to this, the movement that started with the demand of microfinance loan waiver has affected the recovery of bad debt.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), by the end of December of the current fiscal year (FY), non-performing loans of microfinance finance companies have reached 4.68 percent. As of December 2022, microfinance institutions have disbursed a total credit of Rs 391.21 billion, and the bad loans stand at Rs 18.33 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In December 2021, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.94 percent. Similarly, in June 2022, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.56 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the reduction in economic activities mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension, the collection of microfinance has also been affected. Similarly, Prakashraj Sharma, president of Nepal Micro Finance Bankers Association, says that non-performing loans are increasing due to the recent agitations by microfinance clients demanding waiver of their loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, 64 microfinance institutions have formed 1,381 groups and are providing financial services to 59,88,000 people. Among them, 3.2 million members have taken loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Profits of microfinance companies also decreased in January after loan investment and recovery were affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By forming a group of ordinary people who do not have access to banks and financial institutions, microfinance can invest up to Rs 1.5 million with collateral and up to Rs 700,000 without collateral. There is a provision that microfinance companies can charge a maximum of 15 percent interest and 1.5 percent service charge on loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had issued a directive on December 25 that bars an individual from taking loans microfinance company from receiving credit from banks. The NRB stated that the problem has arisen because the same person has taken a loan from more than one microfinance institution.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank has also arranged that if microfinance proposes to distribute dividends more than 15 percent annually, 50 percent of the proposed dividend above 15 percent should be deposited in the general reserve fund and 10 percent in the institutional social responsibility fund. Similarly, the central bank has instructed that the minimum interest rate of deposits/savings should be at least 50 percent of the maximum interest rate of loans provided by microfinance financial institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17014', 'image' => '20230315043117_Bad Loan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 16:30:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Participates In Qatar International Agricultural Expo', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha of Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">March 15: Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha, Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The expo will run till March 19. Federation office secretary Dipesh Ghimire said a 21-member team led by Federation Vice-President Govinda Prasad Ghimire is attending the event. Nepal will be presenting tea products, herbs, cardamom, ginger, dairy products and so in the event. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alternative Herbal Products Pvt Ltd, Himalayan Bio Trade, Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Ilam Tea Production Company, Everest Large Cardamom and Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited will represent Nepal in the expo. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Qatar has also taken part in the six-day fair jointly organised by the Government of Qatar, the Nepali Embassy in Qatar and the Federation. The fair aims to promote Nepali organic and original productions. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, B2B meeting and business agreements between Nepal and Qatar would take place, said the Federation. The expo and business agreements between the two countries are expected to help in promoting Nepal's original productions and their exports. ---RSS </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17013', 'image' => '20230315034251_collage - 2023-03-15T153755.458.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:39:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Deficit Crosses over Rs 156 billion in Eight Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has spent Rs 779.23 billion of its budget as of mid-March this year while revenue collection has remained at Rs 622.78 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the revenue collection and budget expenditure details, expenditure appears to be more than the income of the government, thereby resulting in deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The statistics show that the government has been able to achieve only 42.7 per cent of its annual revenue collection target while only 43.44 percent of budget expenditure target has been met so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had introduced an annual budget of Rs 1793 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to falling dismally short of the annual target, the government considered reducing the size of the budget by 14 percent and maintained it at Rs 1549 billion through half-yearly review. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current expenditure of the government in this period stands at 51.46 per cent, capital expenditure is 22.15 per cent and the expenditure towards fiscal management is 37.41 per cent. The expenditure under the current expenditure heading so far is equivalent to Rs 608.84 billion out of the annual allocation of Rs 1183.23 billion under this heading. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 22.15 per cent of the total annual allocation has been spent under the capital expenditure heading. The total annual allocation for this heading is Rs 380.38 billion and the expenditure so far is Rs 84.25 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Annual budget of Rs 230.21 billion has been allocated towards the financial management heading and the expenditure until March 14 is Rs 86.12 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the data provided by the Financial Comptroller General Office, the expenditure towards financial management is more than that of the capital expenditure during the eight months period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government’s revenue collection until March 14 is only equivalent to 42.7 per cent of the annual revenue collection target. The government had set the target of raising Rs 1458.60 billion in the current fiscal year. So far, only Rs 622.78 billion revenue has been collected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of this, internal revenue collection is 41.53 per cent or Rs 582.77 billion. The government has the target of accepting foreign assistance of Rs 55.45 billion this year and it has so far received 8.66 per cent of this amount or Rs 4.80 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17012', 'image' => '20230315031441_budget new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:13:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Problems in Economy Likely to Persist during next FY: Finance Secretary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He made such remark on Tuesday during a discussion held at the National Concern and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly on the topic of government’s budget estimate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Secretary Raya said that the mandatory obligations of the government are increasing while there problems in revenue collection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the financial system of the government has been affected due to the import ban.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Because we are not in favour of increasing imports, the situation seems unlikely to ease even during next year,” said Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He added that interest rates have increased significantly at the international level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It affects most of the activities. After the revenue is affected, the remaining options include raising internal and external loans. But foreign loans also have their own limits. Even if we want to, in some cases we cannot even get foreign loans,” added Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now the interest rate of domestic loans has reached about 12 percent. This year, the government to need Rs 43 billion just to pay the interest on public debt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government's obligation for grants under various headings is also increasing. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development reduced the subsidy on chemical fertilizers on Monday. Raya argues that this will bring some relief to the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government took such measures after the price of fertilizers increased at the international level.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This year, the government has allocated Rs 7.5 billion for health insurance. However, now some hospitals are complaining that the government has not yet refunded them saying it does not have money to pay them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the pressure on payments, the Ministry of Finance made it clear that there is no plan to close the health insurance program. According to Finance Secretary Raya, the initial estimate for health insurance is Rs 20 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Nepal needs a budget of more than Rs 2100 billion annually in the present situation. However, there is shortage of resources," said Finance Secretary Raya. The budget of Rs 1700 billion for the current fiscal year has been reduced to Rs 1500 billion. Raya said that there is also a problem of securing resources for the revised budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, there will be no problem in paying salaries to the government employees until the end of the current fiscal year. However, if austerity measures are not taken, it will be difficult to pay the salary in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Raya has said that the government will prioritize budget implementation method for the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Raya stated that Nepal is in the process of becoming a developed country from an underdeveloped country by 2026 and some foreign subsidies will be cut after the country’s graduation from LDC. He said that after 2026, subsidies will be cut if the projects cannot be completed on time and there shall be a situation where the foreign aid subsidy will be withdrawn and the government must spend the amount from its own resources. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17011', 'image' => '20230315012448_1678838268.Clipboard23.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 13:24:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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' => '17287', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Unemployment Rising in Nepal, say Job Placement Companies', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months. Such companies, which collect the demand for employees from various organizations and companies and provide jobs to the aspirants, informed that the demand for new human resources has decreased significantly due to the economic crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kumari Job, which has been working in this field for a long time, claimed that the demand has decreased by 40 to 60 percent compared to the past. Kumari Job’s Managing Director Sandesh Bhandari said that due to the financial problems faced by the employers, the demand for employees is very low.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Managing Director Bhandari told New Business Age that their regular customers say there is no need to add new employees when their business has slowed down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to reduce the financial burden, some employers are also reducing their staff.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Bhandari, 500 to 800 people apply every day through Kumari Job's website, but only 15 to 20 people get jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Foxjob, another company which is active in the field of job placement, says that the demand for new employees has reduced. According to Bimal Kandel, managing director of Foxjob, the lowest demand is currently in the automobile sector. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The demand for steel, cement and paint industries has also decreased," he said. He says that there was a sudden surge in demand for employees after the coronavirus pandemic but it has been continuously declining now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the job placement companies, although the employers are demanding low-level workers and employees, the demand for middle and high-level employees is negligible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Contrary to this scenario, companies looking for employees in the information technology (IT) sector say that they are facing shortage of manpower. Jaidev Kalouni, managing director of Neko Job, said that it is difficult to get human resources as per their requirement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a high demand for manpower in the IT sector in Nepal. After the lockdown aimed at stopping the coronavirus, this demand has increased at a rapid rate. However, we lack skilled manpower," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Kalouni, skilled IT personnel in Nepal either go abroad or stay here and work for foreign companies. He says that even though most of those who apply for employment in Nepal have a university degree, they lack practical knowledge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to government data, about 500,000 people enter Nepal's labor market every year. However, neither the private sector nor the government agencies have the data on how many jobs the private sector creates annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The National Planning Commissions member Ram Kumar Phuyal said that although such data is necessary, the government has not prepared it yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Some of the people who are looking for employment lack higher education, while some have theoretical knowledge but do not have the ability to work when they enter the field.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Many have lost their jobs after the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension. The development of industry in the country is taking place at a snail’s and even those that exist are shutting down due to high interest rates and liquidity problem. In this situation, the aspiring job seekers have to either go to India or abroad for jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of people going abroad for employment also indicates that it is difficult to find employment in the country. It is mentioned in the latest report of Nepal Rastra Bank that more than 314,000 youth went abroad with work permit from last July to January in the current fiscal year. This means that around 1,500 labour force is going abroad for the first time with a labor permit. During this period, more than 167,000 Nepalese have renewed their labour permits. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17025', 'image' => '20230316044827_1678930256.13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 16:47:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17286', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Warn of Agitation if the Decision to Cut Subsidy on Fertilizers is not Withdrawn', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF), National Farmers' Group Federation and Nepal National Democratic Farmers' Organization held a joint press conference in Kathmandu on Wednesday and demanded that the government's decision to reduce the subsidy on fertilizers should be withdrawn immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers’ organisations said that they will protest from March 17 if the government does not withdraw the decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As mentioned in the conference, a memorandum will be submitted to the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on March 17 and after that a joint farmers’ struggle committee will be formed at the local level. The struggle program will be conducted on needs basis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government made a ministerial-level decision on March 10 and reduced the subsidy given to farmers for the purchase of chemical fertilizers from 70.82 percent to 59.4 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A joint statement issued by all the three organizations reads, “The farmers' organization has drawn serious attention to the decision of the government. The decision to cut this kind of subsidy on fertilizer will increase the cost of agricultural production and increase the price of agricultural produce.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the press conference, Prem Dangal, president of the All Nepal Peasants' Federation said that the decision to cut the subsidy has discouraged the farmers, who are always suffering from lack of fertilizer during farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ganesh Timilsina, president of Nepal Peasants’ Federation commented that instead of bringing a program to encourage and protect farmers, the government decided to cut subsidies to further trouble them.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17024', 'image' => '20230316035851_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 15:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17285', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DDC Hikes Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). The DDC sent the milk packets with the new prices to the market on Thursday. According to DDC deputy general manager and information officer, Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, the revised prices will be implemented across the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">As per the decision of the Council of Ministers on March 3, the government has fixed the minimum purchase price of raw milk containing four units of fat at Rs 65 per litre for the farmers. The DDC said suppliers of raw milk have been already paid the adjusted price of their products and consumers are required to pay the increased price. The price of DDC standard milk which is available in a blue packet which is the most-selling milk has increased by Rs 11 per liter to reach Rs 97, according to the DDC. This price is in effect in Kathmandu, Biratngar, Janakpur and Hetauda. Likewise the price of milk has been fixed at Rs 94 in Butwal and Rs 92 in Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17023', 'image' => '20230316025946_20224110824_milkddc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 14:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17284', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Embattled Credit Suisse Seeks $54 Billion Lifeline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span><br /> <span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, Switzerland's second biggest bank, already mired in a slew of scandals, has come under pressure this week as the failure of two US regional lenders has rocked the sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hours before European stock markets were due to open, Credit Suisse issued a statement saying it was "taking decisive action to preemptively strengthen its liquidity" by exercising its option to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also announced a debt buyback of up to three billion francs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"These measures demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders," AFP quoted the bank’s CEO Ulrich Koerner as saying in the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"My team and I are resolved to move forward rapidly to deliver a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, shares in Credit Suisse fell 24% on Wednesday after it said it had found "weakness" in its financial reporting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Fears of a wider banking crisis sparked steep falls on stock markets, with Asian shares dropping, added the British news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Problems in the banking sector surfaced in the US last week with the shock collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the country's 16th-largest lender, followed two days later by the failure of New York's Signature Bank, said the BBC, adding, “Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, insisted Credit Suisse had the money it needed, but stressed it was ready to step in and help further if required.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported that Credit Suisse is one of 30 banks globally deemed too big to fail, forcing it to set aside more cash to weather a crisis.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17022', 'image' => '20230316020040_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17283', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Term of Air Crash Probe Commission Extended ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting held on March 14 took a decision to this effect, said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed a five-member probe commission under the coordination of former-Secretary, Nagendra Ghimire, to find out the truth behind the Yeti airline plane crash in Pokhara on January 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initially, the commission was given 45 days to submit its report but the deadline has now been extended by another 45 days. Aviation experts—Deepak Prakash Bastola (retired major general), Sunil Thapa (retired captain) and aeronautical engineer Yekraj Jung Thapa are the members of the commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane is the member-secretary of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A preliminary report of the commission after studying the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had pointed out that the aircraft did not have thrust in the engines which caused the plane to stall minutes before landing in Pokhara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All 72 people on board the ill-fated aircraft were killed in one of the worst aviation disasters in the domestic segment in the history of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17021', 'image' => '20230316011051_yeti.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Tourism Kicks off in Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Better Statistics for Improving Tourism Industry', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday with an objective of making common concept for sustainable tourism development of Asia Pacific Region and South Asia. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the three-day workshop organized by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board and United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">stakeholders will discuss various issues including the search for new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of COVID-affected tourism industry, its diversification, development of tourism infrastructure and increasing investment in this sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Representatives of 11 different countries including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Maldives, Indonesia, Iran, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos a well as UNWTO representatives are attending the workshop with the objective of preparing better statistics for better tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO, which has been organising such-type of programmes in different sector in order to hold discussion on different dimensions of global tourism and to make tourism industry dynamic, organised the regional workshop in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the workshop, Tourism Minister Sudan Kirati pointed out the need of paying attention to development and diversification by searching new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of the tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He opined that investment in tourism sector should be increased as well as tourism industry should be developed and expanded up to rural areas. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati thanked the UNWTO for organising the workshop in Nepal. The organisers expect that the workshop would help in understanding the new dimensions of global tourism, to exchange experiences and to make common concept for sustainable tourism development. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion Director of External Relations of the UN World Tourism Organization, Beka Zakeli, said that quality data was necessary for the development of tourism development plans and promotional activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Jongtae K-park of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, speaking virtually, expressed the hope that the program would be fruitful in working on quality data and from exchange of experiences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Nepal Tourism Board, Dr Dhananjaya Regmi, said the event would help develop new approaches towards tourism and tourism-related statistics. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17020', 'image' => '20230316115716_FrRGyhMXwBAANpD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:56:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17281', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministers, High-Ranking Officials will have only Essential Foreign Trips ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday took a decision to this effect. </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"">Analysts say that such measures were taken due to the government’s failure to meet the revenue collection target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the government approved the foreign trips of secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Forest and Environment, and Ministry of Health and Population. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has formed an Implementation Facilitation Committee under the coordination of a secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers for the implementation of the report prepared by Leelamani Paudyal-led High-Level Salary and Benefits Commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma stated that participation of the Minister for Water Supply to the "The United Nations 2023 Water Conference" has been approved. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting's decision also includes promotion and deputation of Nepalese Army's colonels and brigadier generals. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also decided to allow the use of national forest area for the construction of 132 KV transmission line of the Lower Likhu Hydropower Project and upgradation of 10-bed Rampur Health Post, Udayapur into a hospital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to accept a grant aid of Rs 14.31 billion from the British government for the Nepal local infrastructure support program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma shared that the government also fixed the minimum purchase price of milk at Rs 65 per litre. </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"">Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting appointed Joint Attorney General Uddhav Prasad Pudasaini as a member of the Foreign Employment Tribunal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17019', 'image' => '20230316112309_Picture_2_Travel.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:22:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17280', 'article_category_id' => '275', 'title' => 'Two-year Labour Permit Provision For Foreign Employment Removed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 16: The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. <br /> The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A new provision has been made to issue labour permit on the basis of contract permit to work in the destination country and on the basis of the contract signed between the employers and workers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Earlier, the government had been issuing two-year work permit to all individuals going for overseas employment. The government has made arrangement to provide re-labour permit from Nepali diplomatic missions in destination countries, said Spokesperson at the Ministry, Danduraj Ghimire. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepali migrant workers in the destination countries had to face many problems for lack of effective implementation of re-labour permit provision. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17018', 'image' => '20230316064603_collage (23).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 06:43:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Siddhartha Insurance And Premier Insurance Company Limited Start Integrated Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insurance Authority Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal inaugurated the integrated business transaction of the Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited in a ceremony held by the insurance company on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mr. Sureshlal Shrestha has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the merged entity. Likewise, Mr. Birendra Bahadur Baidawar Chhetry is the Chief Executive Officer of the merged entity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Two non-life insurance companies had finalized their merger with the swap ratio of 1:1. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the merger, the total paid-up capital of Siddhartha Premier Insurance has reached 2.80 billion. The merged entity’s total insurance fund has reached Rs 2.34 billion. Similarly, the insurance has the total assets worth Rs 10.25 billion while its market capitalization is around 18.23 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insurance company will be providing its services from 125 branches across the country. The merged entity has issued as many as 4,17,182 insurance policies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17017', 'image' => '20230316060316_collage (22).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 05:58:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Revenue Collection Target of Government Remains Unfulfilled', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">March 15: </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. According to the Inland Revenue Department, the collection is just around 80 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The department had set a target of raising Rs 353.91 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (FY 2022-23). But the inland revenue collection in the review period was just Rs 281.99 billion which is 79.78 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The collection in each sector except education was less than the total revenue collection in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The income tax accumulation till March 14 was Rs 117.07 billion against the target of Rs 158.25 billion. The collection was just 73.98 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The Value Added Tax (VAT) collection was also less than the target as the target was Rs 82.43 billion in the given period, but the collection stood at Rs 68.77 billion, which is less by three percentage points than the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Although there has been a slight improvement in revenue collection from excise duty this year than in the previous year, the target for the given period still remained unmet. The department said its target of collection of excise duty was Rs 76.82 billion till mid-March, but the achievement was around 84.36 percent or Rs 64.81 billion. The collection, however, is more by around four percentage points compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">In the second quarter, the collection of house rent tax stood at 78.81 percent of the estimate at Rs 1.69 billion against the target of Rs 2.14 billion and it is less by 10 percentage point compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Likewise, the health service tax collection stood at 97.11 percent of the target. The department registered the tax collection of Rs 4.71 billion in the given period against the target of Rs 4.85 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">However, the collection of education tax surpassed the target to reach Rs 1.6 billion while the target was Rs 1.04 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17016', 'image' => '20230315064949_20221220085637_IRDD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 18:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17277', 'article_category_id' => '243', 'title' => ' Prices of Maize, Wheat, Rice Drop Worldwide ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> <br /> March 15: Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Corn prices are down by six percent in the review period, compared to the two weeks ago. Wheat prices have fallen by 7 percent, while the value of the rice is down by two percent. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the same period last year, the price of the wheat was cheaper by 15 percent though. Prices of maize and wheat have become dearer by 24 and 7 percent respectively compared to the January of 2021, said the World Bank. Rice, however, has become cheaper by 3 percent.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Prices of agricultural products and food have dropped by 2 and 5 percent respectively compared to the value of two weeks ago. (Agencies) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17015', 'image' => '20230315052620_collage - 2023-03-15T162423.447.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 17:22:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Microfinance Companies Increases by 1.74 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. Due to the decline in economic activities, the ability of customers to pay loan installments has decreased. In addition to this, the movement that started with the demand of microfinance loan waiver has affected the recovery of bad debt.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), by the end of December of the current fiscal year (FY), non-performing loans of microfinance finance companies have reached 4.68 percent. As of December 2022, microfinance institutions have disbursed a total credit of Rs 391.21 billion, and the bad loans stand at Rs 18.33 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In December 2021, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.94 percent. Similarly, in June 2022, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.56 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the reduction in economic activities mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension, the collection of microfinance has also been affected. Similarly, Prakashraj Sharma, president of Nepal Micro Finance Bankers Association, says that non-performing loans are increasing due to the recent agitations by microfinance clients demanding waiver of their loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, 64 microfinance institutions have formed 1,381 groups and are providing financial services to 59,88,000 people. Among them, 3.2 million members have taken loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Profits of microfinance companies also decreased in January after loan investment and recovery were affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By forming a group of ordinary people who do not have access to banks and financial institutions, microfinance can invest up to Rs 1.5 million with collateral and up to Rs 700,000 without collateral. There is a provision that microfinance companies can charge a maximum of 15 percent interest and 1.5 percent service charge on loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had issued a directive on December 25 that bars an individual from taking loans microfinance company from receiving credit from banks. The NRB stated that the problem has arisen because the same person has taken a loan from more than one microfinance institution.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank has also arranged that if microfinance proposes to distribute dividends more than 15 percent annually, 50 percent of the proposed dividend above 15 percent should be deposited in the general reserve fund and 10 percent in the institutional social responsibility fund. Similarly, the central bank has instructed that the minimum interest rate of deposits/savings should be at least 50 percent of the maximum interest rate of loans provided by microfinance financial institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17014', 'image' => '20230315043117_Bad Loan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 16:30:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Participates In Qatar International Agricultural Expo', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha of Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">March 15: Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha, Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The expo will run till March 19. Federation office secretary Dipesh Ghimire said a 21-member team led by Federation Vice-President Govinda Prasad Ghimire is attending the event. Nepal will be presenting tea products, herbs, cardamom, ginger, dairy products and so in the event. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alternative Herbal Products Pvt Ltd, Himalayan Bio Trade, Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Ilam Tea Production Company, Everest Large Cardamom and Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited will represent Nepal in the expo. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Qatar has also taken part in the six-day fair jointly organised by the Government of Qatar, the Nepali Embassy in Qatar and the Federation. The fair aims to promote Nepali organic and original productions. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, B2B meeting and business agreements between Nepal and Qatar would take place, said the Federation. The expo and business agreements between the two countries are expected to help in promoting Nepal's original productions and their exports. ---RSS </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17013', 'image' => '20230315034251_collage - 2023-03-15T153755.458.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:39:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Deficit Crosses over Rs 156 billion in Eight Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has spent Rs 779.23 billion of its budget as of mid-March this year while revenue collection has remained at Rs 622.78 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the revenue collection and budget expenditure details, expenditure appears to be more than the income of the government, thereby resulting in deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The statistics show that the government has been able to achieve only 42.7 per cent of its annual revenue collection target while only 43.44 percent of budget expenditure target has been met so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had introduced an annual budget of Rs 1793 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to falling dismally short of the annual target, the government considered reducing the size of the budget by 14 percent and maintained it at Rs 1549 billion through half-yearly review. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current expenditure of the government in this period stands at 51.46 per cent, capital expenditure is 22.15 per cent and the expenditure towards fiscal management is 37.41 per cent. The expenditure under the current expenditure heading so far is equivalent to Rs 608.84 billion out of the annual allocation of Rs 1183.23 billion under this heading. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 22.15 per cent of the total annual allocation has been spent under the capital expenditure heading. The total annual allocation for this heading is Rs 380.38 billion and the expenditure so far is Rs 84.25 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Annual budget of Rs 230.21 billion has been allocated towards the financial management heading and the expenditure until March 14 is Rs 86.12 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the data provided by the Financial Comptroller General Office, the expenditure towards financial management is more than that of the capital expenditure during the eight months period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government’s revenue collection until March 14 is only equivalent to 42.7 per cent of the annual revenue collection target. The government had set the target of raising Rs 1458.60 billion in the current fiscal year. So far, only Rs 622.78 billion revenue has been collected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of this, internal revenue collection is 41.53 per cent or Rs 582.77 billion. The government has the target of accepting foreign assistance of Rs 55.45 billion this year and it has so far received 8.66 per cent of this amount or Rs 4.80 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17012', 'image' => '20230315031441_budget new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:13:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Problems in Economy Likely to Persist during next FY: Finance Secretary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He made such remark on Tuesday during a discussion held at the National Concern and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly on the topic of government’s budget estimate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Secretary Raya said that the mandatory obligations of the government are increasing while there problems in revenue collection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the financial system of the government has been affected due to the import ban.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Because we are not in favour of increasing imports, the situation seems unlikely to ease even during next year,” said Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He added that interest rates have increased significantly at the international level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It affects most of the activities. After the revenue is affected, the remaining options include raising internal and external loans. But foreign loans also have their own limits. Even if we want to, in some cases we cannot even get foreign loans,” added Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now the interest rate of domestic loans has reached about 12 percent. This year, the government to need Rs 43 billion just to pay the interest on public debt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government's obligation for grants under various headings is also increasing. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development reduced the subsidy on chemical fertilizers on Monday. Raya argues that this will bring some relief to the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government took such measures after the price of fertilizers increased at the international level.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This year, the government has allocated Rs 7.5 billion for health insurance. However, now some hospitals are complaining that the government has not yet refunded them saying it does not have money to pay them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the pressure on payments, the Ministry of Finance made it clear that there is no plan to close the health insurance program. According to Finance Secretary Raya, the initial estimate for health insurance is Rs 20 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Nepal needs a budget of more than Rs 2100 billion annually in the present situation. However, there is shortage of resources," said Finance Secretary Raya. The budget of Rs 1700 billion for the current fiscal year has been reduced to Rs 1500 billion. Raya said that there is also a problem of securing resources for the revised budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, there will be no problem in paying salaries to the government employees until the end of the current fiscal year. However, if austerity measures are not taken, it will be difficult to pay the salary in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Raya has said that the government will prioritize budget implementation method for the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Raya stated that Nepal is in the process of becoming a developed country from an underdeveloped country by 2026 and some foreign subsidies will be cut after the country’s graduation from LDC. He said that after 2026, subsidies will be cut if the projects cannot be completed on time and there shall be a situation where the foreign aid subsidy will be withdrawn and the government must spend the amount from its own resources. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17011', 'image' => '20230315012448_1678838268.Clipboard23.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 13:24:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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' => '17287', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Unemployment Rising in Nepal, say Job Placement Companies', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months. Such companies, which collect the demand for employees from various organizations and companies and provide jobs to the aspirants, informed that the demand for new human resources has decreased significantly due to the economic crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kumari Job, which has been working in this field for a long time, claimed that the demand has decreased by 40 to 60 percent compared to the past. Kumari Job’s Managing Director Sandesh Bhandari said that due to the financial problems faced by the employers, the demand for employees is very low.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Managing Director Bhandari told New Business Age that their regular customers say there is no need to add new employees when their business has slowed down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to reduce the financial burden, some employers are also reducing their staff.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Bhandari, 500 to 800 people apply every day through Kumari Job's website, but only 15 to 20 people get jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Foxjob, another company which is active in the field of job placement, says that the demand for new employees has reduced. According to Bimal Kandel, managing director of Foxjob, the lowest demand is currently in the automobile sector. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The demand for steel, cement and paint industries has also decreased," he said. He says that there was a sudden surge in demand for employees after the coronavirus pandemic but it has been continuously declining now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the job placement companies, although the employers are demanding low-level workers and employees, the demand for middle and high-level employees is negligible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Contrary to this scenario, companies looking for employees in the information technology (IT) sector say that they are facing shortage of manpower. Jaidev Kalouni, managing director of Neko Job, said that it is difficult to get human resources as per their requirement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a high demand for manpower in the IT sector in Nepal. After the lockdown aimed at stopping the coronavirus, this demand has increased at a rapid rate. However, we lack skilled manpower," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Kalouni, skilled IT personnel in Nepal either go abroad or stay here and work for foreign companies. He says that even though most of those who apply for employment in Nepal have a university degree, they lack practical knowledge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to government data, about 500,000 people enter Nepal's labor market every year. However, neither the private sector nor the government agencies have the data on how many jobs the private sector creates annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The National Planning Commissions member Ram Kumar Phuyal said that although such data is necessary, the government has not prepared it yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Some of the people who are looking for employment lack higher education, while some have theoretical knowledge but do not have the ability to work when they enter the field.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Many have lost their jobs after the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension. The development of industry in the country is taking place at a snail’s and even those that exist are shutting down due to high interest rates and liquidity problem. In this situation, the aspiring job seekers have to either go to India or abroad for jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of people going abroad for employment also indicates that it is difficult to find employment in the country. It is mentioned in the latest report of Nepal Rastra Bank that more than 314,000 youth went abroad with work permit from last July to January in the current fiscal year. This means that around 1,500 labour force is going abroad for the first time with a labor permit. During this period, more than 167,000 Nepalese have renewed their labour permits. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17025', 'image' => '20230316044827_1678930256.13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 16:47:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17286', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Warn of Agitation if the Decision to Cut Subsidy on Fertilizers is not Withdrawn', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF), National Farmers' Group Federation and Nepal National Democratic Farmers' Organization held a joint press conference in Kathmandu on Wednesday and demanded that the government's decision to reduce the subsidy on fertilizers should be withdrawn immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers’ organisations said that they will protest from March 17 if the government does not withdraw the decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As mentioned in the conference, a memorandum will be submitted to the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on March 17 and after that a joint farmers’ struggle committee will be formed at the local level. The struggle program will be conducted on needs basis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government made a ministerial-level decision on March 10 and reduced the subsidy given to farmers for the purchase of chemical fertilizers from 70.82 percent to 59.4 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A joint statement issued by all the three organizations reads, “The farmers' organization has drawn serious attention to the decision of the government. The decision to cut this kind of subsidy on fertilizer will increase the cost of agricultural production and increase the price of agricultural produce.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the press conference, Prem Dangal, president of the All Nepal Peasants' Federation said that the decision to cut the subsidy has discouraged the farmers, who are always suffering from lack of fertilizer during farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ganesh Timilsina, president of Nepal Peasants’ Federation commented that instead of bringing a program to encourage and protect farmers, the government decided to cut subsidies to further trouble them.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17024', 'image' => '20230316035851_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 15:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17285', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DDC Hikes Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). The DDC sent the milk packets with the new prices to the market on Thursday. According to DDC deputy general manager and information officer, Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, the revised prices will be implemented across the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">As per the decision of the Council of Ministers on March 3, the government has fixed the minimum purchase price of raw milk containing four units of fat at Rs 65 per litre for the farmers. The DDC said suppliers of raw milk have been already paid the adjusted price of their products and consumers are required to pay the increased price. The price of DDC standard milk which is available in a blue packet which is the most-selling milk has increased by Rs 11 per liter to reach Rs 97, according to the DDC. This price is in effect in Kathmandu, Biratngar, Janakpur and Hetauda. Likewise the price of milk has been fixed at Rs 94 in Butwal and Rs 92 in Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17023', 'image' => '20230316025946_20224110824_milkddc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 14:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17284', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Embattled Credit Suisse Seeks $54 Billion Lifeline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span><br /> <span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, Switzerland's second biggest bank, already mired in a slew of scandals, has come under pressure this week as the failure of two US regional lenders has rocked the sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hours before European stock markets were due to open, Credit Suisse issued a statement saying it was "taking decisive action to preemptively strengthen its liquidity" by exercising its option to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also announced a debt buyback of up to three billion francs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"These measures demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders," AFP quoted the bank’s CEO Ulrich Koerner as saying in the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"My team and I are resolved to move forward rapidly to deliver a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, shares in Credit Suisse fell 24% on Wednesday after it said it had found "weakness" in its financial reporting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Fears of a wider banking crisis sparked steep falls on stock markets, with Asian shares dropping, added the British news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Problems in the banking sector surfaced in the US last week with the shock collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the country's 16th-largest lender, followed two days later by the failure of New York's Signature Bank, said the BBC, adding, “Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, insisted Credit Suisse had the money it needed, but stressed it was ready to step in and help further if required.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported that Credit Suisse is one of 30 banks globally deemed too big to fail, forcing it to set aside more cash to weather a crisis.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17022', 'image' => '20230316020040_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17283', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Term of Air Crash Probe Commission Extended ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting held on March 14 took a decision to this effect, said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed a five-member probe commission under the coordination of former-Secretary, Nagendra Ghimire, to find out the truth behind the Yeti airline plane crash in Pokhara on January 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initially, the commission was given 45 days to submit its report but the deadline has now been extended by another 45 days. Aviation experts—Deepak Prakash Bastola (retired major general), Sunil Thapa (retired captain) and aeronautical engineer Yekraj Jung Thapa are the members of the commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane is the member-secretary of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A preliminary report of the commission after studying the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had pointed out that the aircraft did not have thrust in the engines which caused the plane to stall minutes before landing in Pokhara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All 72 people on board the ill-fated aircraft were killed in one of the worst aviation disasters in the domestic segment in the history of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17021', 'image' => '20230316011051_yeti.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Tourism Kicks off in Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Better Statistics for Improving Tourism Industry', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday with an objective of making common concept for sustainable tourism development of Asia Pacific Region and South Asia. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the three-day workshop organized by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board and United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">stakeholders will discuss various issues including the search for new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of COVID-affected tourism industry, its diversification, development of tourism infrastructure and increasing investment in this sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Representatives of 11 different countries including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Maldives, Indonesia, Iran, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos a well as UNWTO representatives are attending the workshop with the objective of preparing better statistics for better tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO, which has been organising such-type of programmes in different sector in order to hold discussion on different dimensions of global tourism and to make tourism industry dynamic, organised the regional workshop in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the workshop, Tourism Minister Sudan Kirati pointed out the need of paying attention to development and diversification by searching new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of the tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He opined that investment in tourism sector should be increased as well as tourism industry should be developed and expanded up to rural areas. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati thanked the UNWTO for organising the workshop in Nepal. The organisers expect that the workshop would help in understanding the new dimensions of global tourism, to exchange experiences and to make common concept for sustainable tourism development. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion Director of External Relations of the UN World Tourism Organization, Beka Zakeli, said that quality data was necessary for the development of tourism development plans and promotional activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Jongtae K-park of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, speaking virtually, expressed the hope that the program would be fruitful in working on quality data and from exchange of experiences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Nepal Tourism Board, Dr Dhananjaya Regmi, said the event would help develop new approaches towards tourism and tourism-related statistics. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17020', 'image' => '20230316115716_FrRGyhMXwBAANpD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:56:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17281', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministers, High-Ranking Officials will have only Essential Foreign Trips ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday took a decision to this effect. </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"">Analysts say that such measures were taken due to the government’s failure to meet the revenue collection target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the government approved the foreign trips of secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Forest and Environment, and Ministry of Health and Population. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has formed an Implementation Facilitation Committee under the coordination of a secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers for the implementation of the report prepared by Leelamani Paudyal-led High-Level Salary and Benefits Commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma stated that participation of the Minister for Water Supply to the "The United Nations 2023 Water Conference" has been approved. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting's decision also includes promotion and deputation of Nepalese Army's colonels and brigadier generals. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also decided to allow the use of national forest area for the construction of 132 KV transmission line of the Lower Likhu Hydropower Project and upgradation of 10-bed Rampur Health Post, Udayapur into a hospital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to accept a grant aid of Rs 14.31 billion from the British government for the Nepal local infrastructure support program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma shared that the government also fixed the minimum purchase price of milk at Rs 65 per litre. </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"">Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting appointed Joint Attorney General Uddhav Prasad Pudasaini as a member of the Foreign Employment Tribunal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17019', 'image' => '20230316112309_Picture_2_Travel.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:22:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17280', 'article_category_id' => '275', 'title' => 'Two-year Labour Permit Provision For Foreign Employment Removed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 16: The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. <br /> The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A new provision has been made to issue labour permit on the basis of contract permit to work in the destination country and on the basis of the contract signed between the employers and workers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Earlier, the government had been issuing two-year work permit to all individuals going for overseas employment. The government has made arrangement to provide re-labour permit from Nepali diplomatic missions in destination countries, said Spokesperson at the Ministry, Danduraj Ghimire. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepali migrant workers in the destination countries had to face many problems for lack of effective implementation of re-labour permit provision. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17018', 'image' => '20230316064603_collage (23).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 06:43:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Siddhartha Insurance And Premier Insurance Company Limited Start Integrated Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insurance Authority Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal inaugurated the integrated business transaction of the Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited in a ceremony held by the insurance company on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mr. Sureshlal Shrestha has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the merged entity. Likewise, Mr. Birendra Bahadur Baidawar Chhetry is the Chief Executive Officer of the merged entity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Two non-life insurance companies had finalized their merger with the swap ratio of 1:1. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the merger, the total paid-up capital of Siddhartha Premier Insurance has reached 2.80 billion. The merged entity’s total insurance fund has reached Rs 2.34 billion. Similarly, the insurance has the total assets worth Rs 10.25 billion while its market capitalization is around 18.23 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insurance company will be providing its services from 125 branches across the country. The merged entity has issued as many as 4,17,182 insurance policies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17017', 'image' => '20230316060316_collage (22).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 05:58:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Revenue Collection Target of Government Remains Unfulfilled', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">March 15: </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. According to the Inland Revenue Department, the collection is just around 80 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The department had set a target of raising Rs 353.91 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (FY 2022-23). But the inland revenue collection in the review period was just Rs 281.99 billion which is 79.78 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The collection in each sector except education was less than the total revenue collection in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The income tax accumulation till March 14 was Rs 117.07 billion against the target of Rs 158.25 billion. The collection was just 73.98 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The Value Added Tax (VAT) collection was also less than the target as the target was Rs 82.43 billion in the given period, but the collection stood at Rs 68.77 billion, which is less by three percentage points than the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Although there has been a slight improvement in revenue collection from excise duty this year than in the previous year, the target for the given period still remained unmet. The department said its target of collection of excise duty was Rs 76.82 billion till mid-March, but the achievement was around 84.36 percent or Rs 64.81 billion. The collection, however, is more by around four percentage points compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">In the second quarter, the collection of house rent tax stood at 78.81 percent of the estimate at Rs 1.69 billion against the target of Rs 2.14 billion and it is less by 10 percentage point compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Likewise, the health service tax collection stood at 97.11 percent of the target. The department registered the tax collection of Rs 4.71 billion in the given period against the target of Rs 4.85 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">However, the collection of education tax surpassed the target to reach Rs 1.6 billion while the target was Rs 1.04 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17016', 'image' => '20230315064949_20221220085637_IRDD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 18:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17277', 'article_category_id' => '243', 'title' => ' Prices of Maize, Wheat, Rice Drop Worldwide ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> <br /> March 15: Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Corn prices are down by six percent in the review period, compared to the two weeks ago. Wheat prices have fallen by 7 percent, while the value of the rice is down by two percent. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the same period last year, the price of the wheat was cheaper by 15 percent though. Prices of maize and wheat have become dearer by 24 and 7 percent respectively compared to the January of 2021, said the World Bank. Rice, however, has become cheaper by 3 percent.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Prices of agricultural products and food have dropped by 2 and 5 percent respectively compared to the value of two weeks ago. (Agencies) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17015', 'image' => '20230315052620_collage - 2023-03-15T162423.447.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 17:22:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Microfinance Companies Increases by 1.74 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. Due to the decline in economic activities, the ability of customers to pay loan installments has decreased. In addition to this, the movement that started with the demand of microfinance loan waiver has affected the recovery of bad debt.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), by the end of December of the current fiscal year (FY), non-performing loans of microfinance finance companies have reached 4.68 percent. As of December 2022, microfinance institutions have disbursed a total credit of Rs 391.21 billion, and the bad loans stand at Rs 18.33 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In December 2021, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.94 percent. Similarly, in June 2022, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.56 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the reduction in economic activities mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension, the collection of microfinance has also been affected. Similarly, Prakashraj Sharma, president of Nepal Micro Finance Bankers Association, says that non-performing loans are increasing due to the recent agitations by microfinance clients demanding waiver of their loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, 64 microfinance institutions have formed 1,381 groups and are providing financial services to 59,88,000 people. Among them, 3.2 million members have taken loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Profits of microfinance companies also decreased in January after loan investment and recovery were affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By forming a group of ordinary people who do not have access to banks and financial institutions, microfinance can invest up to Rs 1.5 million with collateral and up to Rs 700,000 without collateral. There is a provision that microfinance companies can charge a maximum of 15 percent interest and 1.5 percent service charge on loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had issued a directive on December 25 that bars an individual from taking loans microfinance company from receiving credit from banks. The NRB stated that the problem has arisen because the same person has taken a loan from more than one microfinance institution.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank has also arranged that if microfinance proposes to distribute dividends more than 15 percent annually, 50 percent of the proposed dividend above 15 percent should be deposited in the general reserve fund and 10 percent in the institutional social responsibility fund. Similarly, the central bank has instructed that the minimum interest rate of deposits/savings should be at least 50 percent of the maximum interest rate of loans provided by microfinance financial institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17014', 'image' => '20230315043117_Bad Loan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 16:30:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Participates In Qatar International Agricultural Expo', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha of Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">March 15: Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha, Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The expo will run till March 19. Federation office secretary Dipesh Ghimire said a 21-member team led by Federation Vice-President Govinda Prasad Ghimire is attending the event. Nepal will be presenting tea products, herbs, cardamom, ginger, dairy products and so in the event. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alternative Herbal Products Pvt Ltd, Himalayan Bio Trade, Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Ilam Tea Production Company, Everest Large Cardamom and Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited will represent Nepal in the expo. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Qatar has also taken part in the six-day fair jointly organised by the Government of Qatar, the Nepali Embassy in Qatar and the Federation. The fair aims to promote Nepali organic and original productions. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, B2B meeting and business agreements between Nepal and Qatar would take place, said the Federation. The expo and business agreements between the two countries are expected to help in promoting Nepal's original productions and their exports. ---RSS </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17013', 'image' => '20230315034251_collage - 2023-03-15T153755.458.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:39:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Deficit Crosses over Rs 156 billion in Eight Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has spent Rs 779.23 billion of its budget as of mid-March this year while revenue collection has remained at Rs 622.78 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the revenue collection and budget expenditure details, expenditure appears to be more than the income of the government, thereby resulting in deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The statistics show that the government has been able to achieve only 42.7 per cent of its annual revenue collection target while only 43.44 percent of budget expenditure target has been met so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had introduced an annual budget of Rs 1793 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to falling dismally short of the annual target, the government considered reducing the size of the budget by 14 percent and maintained it at Rs 1549 billion through half-yearly review. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current expenditure of the government in this period stands at 51.46 per cent, capital expenditure is 22.15 per cent and the expenditure towards fiscal management is 37.41 per cent. The expenditure under the current expenditure heading so far is equivalent to Rs 608.84 billion out of the annual allocation of Rs 1183.23 billion under this heading. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 22.15 per cent of the total annual allocation has been spent under the capital expenditure heading. The total annual allocation for this heading is Rs 380.38 billion and the expenditure so far is Rs 84.25 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Annual budget of Rs 230.21 billion has been allocated towards the financial management heading and the expenditure until March 14 is Rs 86.12 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the data provided by the Financial Comptroller General Office, the expenditure towards financial management is more than that of the capital expenditure during the eight months period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government’s revenue collection until March 14 is only equivalent to 42.7 per cent of the annual revenue collection target. The government had set the target of raising Rs 1458.60 billion in the current fiscal year. So far, only Rs 622.78 billion revenue has been collected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of this, internal revenue collection is 41.53 per cent or Rs 582.77 billion. The government has the target of accepting foreign assistance of Rs 55.45 billion this year and it has so far received 8.66 per cent of this amount or Rs 4.80 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17012', 'image' => '20230315031441_budget new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:13:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Problems in Economy Likely to Persist during next FY: Finance Secretary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He made such remark on Tuesday during a discussion held at the National Concern and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly on the topic of government’s budget estimate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Secretary Raya said that the mandatory obligations of the government are increasing while there problems in revenue collection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the financial system of the government has been affected due to the import ban.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Because we are not in favour of increasing imports, the situation seems unlikely to ease even during next year,” said Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He added that interest rates have increased significantly at the international level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It affects most of the activities. After the revenue is affected, the remaining options include raising internal and external loans. But foreign loans also have their own limits. Even if we want to, in some cases we cannot even get foreign loans,” added Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now the interest rate of domestic loans has reached about 12 percent. This year, the government to need Rs 43 billion just to pay the interest on public debt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government's obligation for grants under various headings is also increasing. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development reduced the subsidy on chemical fertilizers on Monday. Raya argues that this will bring some relief to the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government took such measures after the price of fertilizers increased at the international level.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This year, the government has allocated Rs 7.5 billion for health insurance. However, now some hospitals are complaining that the government has not yet refunded them saying it does not have money to pay them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the pressure on payments, the Ministry of Finance made it clear that there is no plan to close the health insurance program. According to Finance Secretary Raya, the initial estimate for health insurance is Rs 20 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Nepal needs a budget of more than Rs 2100 billion annually in the present situation. However, there is shortage of resources," said Finance Secretary Raya. The budget of Rs 1700 billion for the current fiscal year has been reduced to Rs 1500 billion. Raya said that there is also a problem of securing resources for the revised budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, there will be no problem in paying salaries to the government employees until the end of the current fiscal year. However, if austerity measures are not taken, it will be difficult to pay the salary in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Raya has said that the government will prioritize budget implementation method for the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Raya stated that Nepal is in the process of becoming a developed country from an underdeveloped country by 2026 and some foreign subsidies will be cut after the country’s graduation from LDC. He said that after 2026, subsidies will be cut if the projects cannot be completed on time and there shall be a situation where the foreign aid subsidy will be withdrawn and the government must spend the amount from its own resources. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17011', 'image' => '20230315012448_1678838268.Clipboard23.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 13:24:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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' => '17287', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Unemployment Rising in Nepal, say Job Placement Companies', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months. Such companies, which collect the demand for employees from various organizations and companies and provide jobs to the aspirants, informed that the demand for new human resources has decreased significantly due to the economic crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kumari Job, which has been working in this field for a long time, claimed that the demand has decreased by 40 to 60 percent compared to the past. Kumari Job’s Managing Director Sandesh Bhandari said that due to the financial problems faced by the employers, the demand for employees is very low.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Managing Director Bhandari told New Business Age that their regular customers say there is no need to add new employees when their business has slowed down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In order to reduce the financial burden, some employers are also reducing their staff.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Bhandari, 500 to 800 people apply every day through Kumari Job's website, but only 15 to 20 people get jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Foxjob, another company which is active in the field of job placement, says that the demand for new employees has reduced. According to Bimal Kandel, managing director of Foxjob, the lowest demand is currently in the automobile sector. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The demand for steel, cement and paint industries has also decreased," he said. He says that there was a sudden surge in demand for employees after the coronavirus pandemic but it has been continuously declining now.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the job placement companies, although the employers are demanding low-level workers and employees, the demand for middle and high-level employees is negligible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Contrary to this scenario, companies looking for employees in the information technology (IT) sector say that they are facing shortage of manpower. Jaidev Kalouni, managing director of Neko Job, said that it is difficult to get human resources as per their requirement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a high demand for manpower in the IT sector in Nepal. After the lockdown aimed at stopping the coronavirus, this demand has increased at a rapid rate. However, we lack skilled manpower," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Kalouni, skilled IT personnel in Nepal either go abroad or stay here and work for foreign companies. He says that even though most of those who apply for employment in Nepal have a university degree, they lack practical knowledge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to government data, about 500,000 people enter Nepal's labor market every year. However, neither the private sector nor the government agencies have the data on how many jobs the private sector creates annually. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The National Planning Commissions member Ram Kumar Phuyal said that although such data is necessary, the government has not prepared it yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Some of the people who are looking for employment lack higher education, while some have theoretical knowledge but do not have the ability to work when they enter the field.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Many have lost their jobs after the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension. The development of industry in the country is taking place at a snail’s and even those that exist are shutting down due to high interest rates and liquidity problem. In this situation, the aspiring job seekers have to either go to India or abroad for jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The number of people going abroad for employment also indicates that it is difficult to find employment in the country. It is mentioned in the latest report of Nepal Rastra Bank that more than 314,000 youth went abroad with work permit from last July to January in the current fiscal year. This means that around 1,500 labour force is going abroad for the first time with a labor permit. During this period, more than 167,000 Nepalese have renewed their labour permits. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17025', 'image' => '20230316044827_1678930256.13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 16:47:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17286', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Warn of Agitation if the Decision to Cut Subsidy on Fertilizers is not Withdrawn', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 16: Farmers' organizations have warned that they will protest if the government does not immediately withdraw the decision to cut subsidies on chemical fertilizers. The All Nepal Peasants' Federation (ANPF), National Farmers' Group Federation and Nepal National Democratic Farmers' Organization held a joint press conference in Kathmandu on Wednesday and demanded that the government's decision to reduce the subsidy on fertilizers should be withdrawn immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The farmers’ organisations said that they will protest from March 17 if the government does not withdraw the decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As mentioned in the conference, a memorandum will be submitted to the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on March 17 and after that a joint farmers’ struggle committee will be formed at the local level. The struggle program will be conducted on needs basis. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government made a ministerial-level decision on March 10 and reduced the subsidy given to farmers for the purchase of chemical fertilizers from 70.82 percent to 59.4 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A joint statement issued by all the three organizations reads, “The farmers' organization has drawn serious attention to the decision of the government. The decision to cut this kind of subsidy on fertilizer will increase the cost of agricultural production and increase the price of agricultural produce.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the press conference, Prem Dangal, president of the All Nepal Peasants' Federation said that the decision to cut the subsidy has discouraged the farmers, who are always suffering from lack of fertilizer during farming. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ganesh Timilsina, president of Nepal Peasants’ Federation commented that instead of bringing a program to encourage and protect farmers, the government decided to cut subsidies to further trouble them.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17024', 'image' => '20230316035851_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 15:58:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17285', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'DDC Hikes Price of Milk', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">March 16: The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has increased the price of milk effective from today (March 16). The DDC sent the milk packets with the new prices to the market on Thursday. According to DDC deputy general manager and information officer, Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, the revised prices will be implemented across the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">As per the decision of the Council of Ministers on March 3, the government has fixed the minimum purchase price of raw milk containing four units of fat at Rs 65 per litre for the farmers. The DDC said suppliers of raw milk have been already paid the adjusted price of their products and consumers are required to pay the increased price. The price of DDC standard milk which is available in a blue packet which is the most-selling milk has increased by Rs 11 per liter to reach Rs 97, according to the DDC. This price is in effect in Kathmandu, Biratngar, Janakpur and Hetauda. Likewise the price of milk has been fixed at Rs 94 in Butwal and Rs 92 in Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17023', 'image' => '20230316025946_20224110824_milkddc.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 14:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17284', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Embattled Credit Suisse Seeks $54 Billion Lifeline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">AGENCIES</span><br /> <span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 16: Credit Suisse announced Thursday that it would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss central bank as it seeks to calm markets after its shares sank over fears of a global banking crisis, the AFP reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the French news agency, Switzerland's second biggest bank, already mired in a slew of scandals, has come under pressure this week as the failure of two US regional lenders has rocked the sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hours before European stock markets were due to open, Credit Suisse issued a statement saying it was "taking decisive action to preemptively strengthen its liquidity" by exercising its option to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs from the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also announced a debt buyback of up to three billion francs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"These measures demonstrate decisive action to strengthen Credit Suisse as we continue our strategic transformation to deliver value to our clients and other stakeholders," AFP quoted the bank’s CEO Ulrich Koerner as saying in the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"My team and I are resolved to move forward rapidly to deliver a simpler and more focused bank built around client needs."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, shares in Credit Suisse fell 24% on Wednesday after it said it had found "weakness" in its financial reporting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Fears of a wider banking crisis sparked steep falls on stock markets, with Asian shares dropping, added the British news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Problems in the banking sector surfaced in the US last week with the shock collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the country's 16th-largest lender, followed two days later by the failure of New York's Signature Bank, said the BBC, adding, “Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, insisted Credit Suisse had the money it needed, but stressed it was ready to step in and help further if required.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported that Credit Suisse is one of 30 banks globally deemed too big to fail, forcing it to set aside more cash to weather a crisis.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17022', 'image' => '20230316020040_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:59:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17283', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Term of Air Crash Probe Commission Extended ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The government has decided to extend the term of 'Aircrash Probe Commission' formed to probe the crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft by 45 days, according to the state-owned RSS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting held on March 14 took a decision to this effect, said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had formed a five-member probe commission under the coordination of former-Secretary, Nagendra Ghimire, to find out the truth behind the Yeti airline plane crash in Pokhara on January 15. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initially, the commission was given 45 days to submit its report but the deadline has now been extended by another 45 days. Aviation experts—Deepak Prakash Bastola (retired major general), Sunil Thapa (retired captain) and aeronautical engineer Yekraj Jung Thapa are the members of the commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane is the member-secretary of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A preliminary report of the commission after studying the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had pointed out that the aircraft did not have thrust in the engines which caused the plane to stall minutes before landing in Pokhara. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All 72 people on board the ill-fated aircraft were killed in one of the worst aviation disasters in the domestic segment in the history of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17021', 'image' => '20230316011051_yeti.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 13:09:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17282', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Tourism Kicks off in Kathmandu', 'sub_title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Better Statistics for Improving Tourism Industry', 'summary' => 'March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on “Measuring Tourism: Better data for better tourism in Asia and the Pacific” kicked off in Kathmandu on Wednesday with an objective of making common concept for sustainable tourism development of Asia Pacific Region and South Asia. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the three-day workshop organized by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board and United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">stakeholders will discuss various issues including the search for new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of COVID-affected tourism industry, its diversification, development of tourism infrastructure and increasing investment in this sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Representatives of 11 different countries including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Maldives, Indonesia, Iran, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos a well as UNWTO representatives are attending the workshop with the objective of preparing better statistics for better tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO, which has been organising such-type of programmes in different sector in order to hold discussion on different dimensions of global tourism and to make tourism industry dynamic, organised the regional workshop in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the workshop, Tourism Minister Sudan Kirati pointed out the need of paying attention to development and diversification by searching new tourism destinations for the development and expansion of the tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He opined that investment in tourism sector should be increased as well as tourism industry should be developed and expanded up to rural areas. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Kirati thanked the UNWTO for organising the workshop in Nepal. The organisers expect that the workshop would help in understanding the new dimensions of global tourism, to exchange experiences and to make common concept for sustainable tourism development. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion Director of External Relations of the UN World Tourism Organization, Beka Zakeli, said that quality data was necessary for the development of tourism development plans and promotional activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Jongtae K-park of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, speaking virtually, expressed the hope that the program would be fruitful in working on quality data and from exchange of experiences. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of Nepal Tourism Board, Dr Dhananjaya Regmi, said the event would help develop new approaches towards tourism and tourism-related statistics. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17020', 'image' => '20230316115716_FrRGyhMXwBAANpD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:56:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17281', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ministers, High-Ranking Officials will have only Essential Foreign Trips ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 16: Ministers and high-ranking government officials have been barred from making foreign trips except for the essential visits. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday took a decision to this effect. </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"">Analysts say that such measures were taken due to the government’s failure to meet the revenue collection target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, the government approved the foreign trips of secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Forest and Environment, and Ministry of Health and Population. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the government has formed an Implementation Facilitation Committee under the coordination of a secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers for the implementation of the report prepared by Leelamani Paudyal-led High-Level Salary and Benefits Commission. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma stated that participation of the Minister for Water Supply to the "The United Nations 2023 Water Conference" has been approved. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting's decision also includes promotion and deputation of Nepalese Army's colonels and brigadier generals. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also decided to allow the use of national forest area for the construction of 132 KV transmission line of the Lower Likhu Hydropower Project and upgradation of 10-bed Rampur Health Post, Udayapur into a hospital. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the government has decided to accept a grant aid of Rs 14.31 billion from the British government for the Nepal local infrastructure support program. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma shared that the government also fixed the minimum purchase price of milk at Rs 65 per litre. </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"">Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting appointed Joint Attorney General Uddhav Prasad Pudasaini as a member of the Foreign Employment Tribunal. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17019', 'image' => '20230316112309_Picture_2_Travel.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 11:22:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17280', 'article_category_id' => '275', 'title' => 'Two-year Labour Permit Provision For Foreign Employment Removed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 16: The government has removed a two-year labour permit provision for foreign employment. <br /> The provision was removed by a Prime-Ministerial decision, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A new provision has been made to issue labour permit on the basis of contract permit to work in the destination country and on the basis of the contract signed between the employers and workers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Earlier, the government had been issuing two-year work permit to all individuals going for overseas employment. The government has made arrangement to provide re-labour permit from Nepali diplomatic missions in destination countries, said Spokesperson at the Ministry, Danduraj Ghimire. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepali migrant workers in the destination countries had to face many problems for lack of effective implementation of re-labour permit provision. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17018', 'image' => '20230316064603_collage (23).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 06:43:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17279', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Siddhartha Insurance And Premier Insurance Company Limited Start Integrated Transaction', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">March 16: Premier Insurance Company (Nepal) Limited and Siddhartha Insurance Company Limited commenced integrated transaction from Wednesday. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Following the merger between the two non-life insurance companies, the joint transaction will be carried out under the name "Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insurance Authority Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal inaugurated the integrated business transaction of the Siddhartha Premier Insurance Limited in a ceremony held by the insurance company on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mr. Sureshlal Shrestha has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the merged entity. Likewise, Mr. Birendra Bahadur Baidawar Chhetry is the Chief Executive Officer of the merged entity. </span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Two non-life insurance companies had finalized their merger with the swap ratio of 1:1. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the merger, the total paid-up capital of Siddhartha Premier Insurance has reached 2.80 billion. The merged entity’s total insurance fund has reached Rs 2.34 billion. Similarly, the insurance has the total assets worth Rs 10.25 billion while its market capitalization is around 18.23 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insurance company will be providing its services from 125 branches across the country. The merged entity has issued as many as 4,17,182 insurance policies. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-16', 'modified' => '2023-03-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17017', 'image' => '20230316060316_collage (22).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-16 05:58:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17278', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Revenue Collection Target of Government Remains Unfulfilled', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">March 15: </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Government authorities have failed to meet the target of inland revenue collection in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. According to the Inland Revenue Department, the collection is just around 80 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The department had set a target of raising Rs 353.91 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (FY 2022-23). But the inland revenue collection in the review period was just Rs 281.99 billion which is 79.78 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The collection in each sector except education was less than the total revenue collection in the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The income tax accumulation till March 14 was Rs 117.07 billion against the target of Rs 158.25 billion. The collection was just 73.98 percent of the target. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">The Value Added Tax (VAT) collection was also less than the target as the target was Rs 82.43 billion in the given period, but the collection stood at Rs 68.77 billion, which is less by three percentage points than the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Although there has been a slight improvement in revenue collection from excise duty this year than in the previous year, the target for the given period still remained unmet. The department said its target of collection of excise duty was Rs 76.82 billion till mid-March, but the achievement was around 84.36 percent or Rs 64.81 billion. The collection, however, is more by around four percentage points compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">In the second quarter, the collection of house rent tax stood at 78.81 percent of the estimate at Rs 1.69 billion against the target of Rs 2.14 billion and it is less by 10 percentage point compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">Likewise, the health service tax collection stood at 97.11 percent of the target. The department registered the tax collection of Rs 4.71 billion in the given period against the target of Rs 4.85 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:13.0pt">However, the collection of education tax surpassed the target to reach Rs 1.6 billion while the target was Rs 1.04 billion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17016', 'image' => '20230315064949_20221220085637_IRDD.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 18:48:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17277', 'article_category_id' => '243', 'title' => ' Prices of Maize, Wheat, Rice Drop Worldwide ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"> <br /> March 15: Prices of maize, wheat and rice have dropped throughout the world. Prices of food items such as maize, wheat and rice fell in the two weeks before March 9, according to the World Bank.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Corn prices are down by six percent in the review period, compared to the two weeks ago. Wheat prices have fallen by 7 percent, while the value of the rice is down by two percent. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the same period last year, the price of the wheat was cheaper by 15 percent though. Prices of maize and wheat have become dearer by 24 and 7 percent respectively compared to the January of 2021, said the World Bank. Rice, however, has become cheaper by 3 percent.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Prices of agricultural products and food have dropped by 2 and 5 percent respectively compared to the value of two weeks ago. (Agencies) </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17015', 'image' => '20230315052620_collage - 2023-03-15T162423.447.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 17:22:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17276', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of Microfinance Companies Increases by 1.74 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 15: The non-performing loans (NPL) of microfinance financial companies have increased by 1.74 percentage points in a period of one year. Due to the decline in economic activities, the ability of customers to pay loan installments has decreased. In addition to this, the movement that started with the demand of microfinance loan waiver has affected the recovery of bad debt.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), by the end of December of the current fiscal year (FY), non-performing loans of microfinance finance companies have reached 4.68 percent. As of December 2022, microfinance institutions have disbursed a total credit of Rs 391.21 billion, and the bad loans stand at Rs 18.33 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In December 2021, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.94 percent. Similarly, in June 2022, non-performing loans of microfinance companies was 2.56 percent.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the reduction in economic activities mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension, the collection of microfinance has also been affected. Similarly, Prakashraj Sharma, president of Nepal Micro Finance Bankers Association, says that non-performing loans are increasing due to the recent agitations by microfinance clients demanding waiver of their loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, 64 microfinance institutions have formed 1,381 groups and are providing financial services to 59,88,000 people. Among them, 3.2 million members have taken loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Profits of microfinance companies also decreased in January after loan investment and recovery were affected. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By forming a group of ordinary people who do not have access to banks and financial institutions, microfinance can invest up to Rs 1.5 million with collateral and up to Rs 700,000 without collateral. There is a provision that microfinance companies can charge a maximum of 15 percent interest and 1.5 percent service charge on loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had issued a directive on December 25 that bars an individual from taking loans microfinance company from receiving credit from banks. The NRB stated that the problem has arisen because the same person has taken a loan from more than one microfinance institution.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank has also arranged that if microfinance proposes to distribute dividends more than 15 percent annually, 50 percent of the proposed dividend above 15 percent should be deposited in the general reserve fund and 10 percent in the institutional social responsibility fund. Similarly, the central bank has instructed that the minimum interest rate of deposits/savings should be at least 50 percent of the maximum interest rate of loans provided by microfinance financial institutions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17014', 'image' => '20230315043117_Bad Loan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 16:30:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17275', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Participates In Qatar International Agricultural Expo', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha of Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. ', 'content' => '<p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">March 15: Nepal has participated in the 10th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2023 in Doha, Qatar. Federation of Export Entrepreneurs Nepal is attending the expo that kicked off at the Doha Convention Centre on Wednesday. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The expo will run till March 19. Federation office secretary Dipesh Ghimire said a 21-member team led by Federation Vice-President Govinda Prasad Ghimire is attending the event. Nepal will be presenting tea products, herbs, cardamom, ginger, dairy products and so in the event. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alternative Herbal Products Pvt Ltd, Himalayan Bio Trade, Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, Ilam Tea Production Company, Everest Large Cardamom and Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited will represent Nepal in the expo. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Qatar has also taken part in the six-day fair jointly organised by the Government of Qatar, the Nepali Embassy in Qatar and the Federation. The fair aims to promote Nepali organic and original productions. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">On the occasion, B2B meeting and business agreements between Nepal and Qatar would take place, said the Federation. The expo and business agreements between the two countries are expected to help in promoting Nepal's original productions and their exports. ---RSS </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17013', 'image' => '20230315034251_collage - 2023-03-15T153755.458.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:39:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17274', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Deficit Crosses over Rs 156 billion in Eight Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 15: The government’s budget deficit as of eight months of the current fiscal year 2022/23 has surpassed Rs 156.44 billion, according to the details unveiled by the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has spent Rs 779.23 billion of its budget as of mid-March this year while revenue collection has remained at Rs 622.78 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the revenue collection and budget expenditure details, expenditure appears to be more than the income of the government, thereby resulting in deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The statistics show that the government has been able to achieve only 42.7 per cent of its annual revenue collection target while only 43.44 percent of budget expenditure target has been met so far. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government had introduced an annual budget of Rs 1793 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Due to falling dismally short of the annual target, the government considered reducing the size of the budget by 14 percent and maintained it at Rs 1549 billion through half-yearly review. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current expenditure of the government in this period stands at 51.46 per cent, capital expenditure is 22.15 per cent and the expenditure towards fiscal management is 37.41 per cent. The expenditure under the current expenditure heading so far is equivalent to Rs 608.84 billion out of the annual allocation of Rs 1183.23 billion under this heading. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 22.15 per cent of the total annual allocation has been spent under the capital expenditure heading. The total annual allocation for this heading is Rs 380.38 billion and the expenditure so far is Rs 84.25 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Annual budget of Rs 230.21 billion has been allocated towards the financial management heading and the expenditure until March 14 is Rs 86.12 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the data provided by the Financial Comptroller General Office, the expenditure towards financial management is more than that of the capital expenditure during the eight months period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government’s revenue collection until March 14 is only equivalent to 42.7 per cent of the annual revenue collection target. The government had set the target of raising Rs 1458.60 billion in the current fiscal year. So far, only Rs 622.78 billion revenue has been collected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Of this, internal revenue collection is 41.53 per cent or Rs 582.77 billion. The government has the target of accepting foreign assistance of Rs 55.45 billion this year and it has so far received 8.66 per cent of this amount or Rs 4.80 billion. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17012', 'image' => '20230315031441_budget new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 15:13:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17273', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Problems in Economy Likely to Persist during next FY: Finance Secretary', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 15: Finance Secretary Toyam Raya has warned that the problems seen in the country's economy is likely to increase from the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He made such remark on Tuesday during a discussion held at the National Concern and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly on the topic of government’s budget estimate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Secretary Raya said that the mandatory obligations of the government are increasing while there problems in revenue collection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the financial system of the government has been affected due to the import ban.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Because we are not in favour of increasing imports, the situation seems unlikely to ease even during next year,” said Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He added that interest rates have increased significantly at the international level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It affects most of the activities. After the revenue is affected, the remaining options include raising internal and external loans. But foreign loans also have their own limits. Even if we want to, in some cases we cannot even get foreign loans,” added Raya.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now the interest rate of domestic loans has reached about 12 percent. This year, the government to need Rs 43 billion just to pay the interest on public debt.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government's obligation for grants under various headings is also increasing. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development reduced the subsidy on chemical fertilizers on Monday. Raya argues that this will bring some relief to the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government took such measures after the price of fertilizers increased at the international level.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This year, the government has allocated Rs 7.5 billion for health insurance. However, now some hospitals are complaining that the government has not yet refunded them saying it does not have money to pay them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Despite the pressure on payments, the Ministry of Finance made it clear that there is no plan to close the health insurance program. According to Finance Secretary Raya, the initial estimate for health insurance is Rs 20 billion this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Nepal needs a budget of more than Rs 2100 billion annually in the present situation. However, there is shortage of resources," said Finance Secretary Raya. The budget of Rs 1700 billion for the current fiscal year has been reduced to Rs 1500 billion. Raya said that there is also a problem of securing resources for the revised budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, there will be no problem in paying salaries to the government employees until the end of the current fiscal year. However, if austerity measures are not taken, it will be difficult to pay the salary in the future.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Raya has said that the government will prioritize budget implementation method for the next fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Raya stated that Nepal is in the process of becoming a developed country from an underdeveloped country by 2026 and some foreign subsidies will be cut after the country’s graduation from LDC. He said that after 2026, subsidies will be cut if the projects cannot be completed on time and there shall be a situation where the foreign aid subsidy will be withdrawn and the government must spend the amount from its own resources. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-15', 'modified' => '2023-03-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '17011', 'image' => '20230315012448_1678838268.Clipboard23.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-15 13:24:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, '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
