March 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell for four consecutive days this…
March 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell for four consecutive days this…
Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the…
March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border.…
March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late.…
March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking…
March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next…
January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last…
March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids…
March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year.…
March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house.…
March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14…
March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal…
March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been…
March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of…
March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March…
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In the four trading days, the index dropped by 58.18 points. Lately there has been some instability in Nepali politics. With the exit of the UML from the coalition government, the finance minister, who was liked by investors, also quit. Investors are wondering whether the stock market has fallen due to political instability.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Experts say that the political influence on the stock market will be temporary. Although the liquidity in the financial system has improved in recent days, the interest rate on loans has not decreased. In a short period of time, the market rose from 1800 points to 2200 points and started to fall. During this period, traders made good fortune. Now, the traders plan to make investment in the stock market only when the market falls to the lowest point.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 3,657,154 units of shares of 256 companies were traded on Thursday. The daily turnover on Thursday stood at Rs 1.33 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the intra-day trading, 194 companies lost in their market values while 19 made gains.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the 13 trading sub groups lost in their market values on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The index of microfinance group decreased the most by 2.64 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among individual companies, Himalayan Distillery Limited had the largest transaction of its shares worth Rs 81.28 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Global IME microfinance shareholders lost the most on Thursday. The share price of the company decreased by 7 percent. Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited gained the highest percent of its market value by 4.29 percent.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16899', 'image' => '20230302054129_1677749961.market down.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 17:40:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17160', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Twenty-eight Percent Arable Land Barren in Karnali Province ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 3: Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Karnali Province faces a shortage of food every year. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperative, out of the total arable land, only 72 per cent has been utilized for farming. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Occupying 22 per cent area of the total geography of the country, seventy-four percent people rely on agriculture in Karnali Province. Home to 99,339 hectares of the arable land, the province produces 3,39,909 metric tons of the food in a year, while the province requires 3,58316 metric tons of the food yearly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry’s Spokesperson Dhan Bahadur Kathayat said that the ministry had emphasized for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the uncultivated land. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We have devised various plans to utilize unused and barren land. We are encouraging farmers for apple farming in mountainous districts and orange, kiwi and other fruits in hilly districts,” Kathayat said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The province government says that it has been utilizing barren land to reduce poverty and end food shortage in the province. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16898', 'image' => '20230302042542_collage - 2023-03-02T162321.051.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 16:21:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India to Construct Big Hydropower Project near China', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. This project is India's largest hydropower project so far. To meet the growing demand for energy, India is trying to increase the production of hydropower, solar and other energies. Meanwhile, the Daibang project to be built in the northeastern Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China has been approved by the Indian government. It is estimated that an investment of INR 319 billion (USD 3.90 billion) will be invested in this 2800 megawatt project entrusted to the state-owed hydropower company NHPC Limited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It is estimated that the project will take about nine years to complete. India, which is mainly dependent on coal for electricity, is trying to increase renewable energy sources. Due to occasional interruptions in the supply of electricity from solar and wind energy, it is seeking to increase renewable energy for stable supply. However, the project has been delayed due to the prospect of large-scale damage that the dam construction could cause to the environment and the fact that the community would have to be relocated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This project will be built in an area of more than 5000 hectares of forest. Therefore, like other projects, it seems that it has to face a lot of opposition. Due to local opposition and geographical difficulties, it can be hoped that the target will be achieved in nine years. Non-profit organizations have been saying that the cost of the project is very high but the profit is very low. In the Himalayan region of India, projects have been running for years as they are not completed within the stipulated time. There is ample room to doubt whether this hydroelectric project will be completed on time. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16897', 'image' => '20230302031613_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 15:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Attracted to Sunflower Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. A group of farmers have collectively grown sunflowers on around three bighas of land at Sripur of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-15, said Chandra Prasad Adhikari, one of the farmers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC), Chitwan has extended its support by providing seeds, fertilizers and irrigation facility, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have also grown mustard in around two bighas of land. Adhikari started the farming 10 years ago with a break for some years in between. Again, we together started organic sunflower farming, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I started with carrot farming in 2032 BS. I quit agriculture some years in between. Carrot production is higher. But, it lacks market value," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It does not require much investment for sunflower farming. So, the farmers here have been attracted to it, added Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers can supply healthier sunflower oil to consumers at a fair value, and it helps discourage inedible cooking oil in the market, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farming has also attracted tourists and TikTokers alike. </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"">"With sunflower blooming, tourists and TikTokers have visited here. We charge them Rs 100 each for the entry fee. We feel good to have them here," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Around 65 beehives have been also kept in the sunflower field for honey production, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The AKC's agriculture officer Suruchi Tripathi said the centre provided assistances in growing oil seeds on 100 hectares of land in Chitwan and Makawanpur districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The farmers here are interested in the farming. So, the centre has encouraged them," she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16896', 'image' => '20230302101253_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_2923.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:11:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC to Keep Fuel Prices Unchanged', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.</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"">However, NOC is reluctant to reduce the fuel prices on the pretext of its accumulated losses. The NOC argued that its outstanding dues is Rs 15 billion and therefore it is not in a position to slash the fuel prices although it has adopted automatic pricing mechanism.</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"">Issuing a statement on Wednesday, NOC said that the state-owned oil monopoly has decided not to reduce the consumer price of petroleum products for the time being, even though the price of fuel except cooking gas has been reduced.</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"">NOC also made it clear that the price of cooking gas will not rise anytime soon.</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"">As per the new price sent by Indian Oil Corporation, the price of diesel has become cheaper by Rs 5 per litre, petrol by Rs 1.21 per litre, kerosene Oil by Rs 3.40 per litre and aviation fuel by Rs 7.3 per litre. On the other hand, the price of cooking gas has increased by Rs 339 per cylinder. But it will not have any impact on the general public as the NOC has decided to keep the prices unchanged. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16895', 'image' => '20230302100650_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:06:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Resume Regular Flights to GBIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jazeera Airways is planning to operate three flights a week from Bhairahawa to Kuwait starting from March 9. The company informed that it will operate flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The one-way fare to Kuwait has been fixed at Rs 28,836.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ravi Chandra Singh, general sales agent of Jazeera based in Nepal, said that the flights are going to be regularized according to Jazeera's commitment to support Gautam Buddha International Airport and the overall tourism of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He believes that this will help promote Lumbini as a spiritual destination, especially among Indian citizens living in the Middle East. "It will help to ensure maximum arrival at Gautam Buddha International Airport, promote tourism here and support the overall economic growth of the nation," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that Jazeera Airways was the first airlines company to start operation at the newly built airport of Nepal. However, it suspended flights during this winter citing lack of instrument landing system and poor visibility at the airport during the winter period.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16894', 'image' => '20230302102513_1677711565.4 Jajira.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:23:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Brisk Daily Walk Could Prevent One in 10 Early Deaths: Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: One in 10 early deaths could be averted if everyone engaged in a small amount of daily exercise such as a brisk 11-minute walk, according to a new study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, physical activity is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other leading causes of death, but exactly how much is needed to have an impact has been unclear.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“So an international team of researchers pooled together the results of 196 previous studies which included more than 30 million people to create one of the largest reviews conducted on the subject,” added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the research team looked at hundreds of previous studies on the benefits of physical activity and concluded that even doing half the recommended amount could prevent one in 20 cases of cardiovascular disease and nearly one in 30 cases of cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">They calculated that around one in six early deaths would have been prevented if everyone in the studies had at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, which is the level recommended by Britain's National Health Service. But even half that amount -- 75 minutes a week, or less than 11 minutes a day -- could prevent one in 10 of those deaths, according to the meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">That included a 17-percent reduction of heart disease and a seven-percent fall in cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For a person who engages in little to no physical activity, 11 minutes a day led to a 23-percent lower risk of early death.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“You don't have to be a runner or play sport to feel the benefits of exercise - fitting a brisk walk into your day is good enough,” the BBC reported referring to the suggestions made by the researchers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Soren Brage, an expert on the epidemiology of physical activity at Britain's Cambridge University and a co-author of the study, told AFP that it was "exceptionally good news".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"You should feel yourself moving, your heart will beat faster but you won't necessarily feel out of breath," BBC quoted Brage, who led the research, as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doing that amount is enough to reduce the risk of developing heart disease and stroke by 17% and cancer by 7%, the findings suggest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regular exercise reduces body fat and blood pressure while also improving fitness, sleep and heart health in the long run, added the BBC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported citing the World Health Organization that cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke killed 17.9 million people globally in 2019, while cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths the following year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16893', 'image' => '20230302094823_brisk walk.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:46:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17154', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Lifebuoy Announces Association as the Hygiene Partner of The Voice Kids Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, Lifebuoy said that they want to encourage the health safety and well-being of all the contestants, judges as well as the crew members involved, as the show’s Hygiene partner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the process, Lifebuoy intends to establish and bring alive the importance of hygiene and healthy habits in the life of the viewers, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Voice Kids Nepal is the Nepali version of the global singing reality show The Voice Kids, with coaches for this iteration of the show being Milan Newar, Prabisha Adhikari, Sushant KC and Pramod Kharel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The first episode of the show is set to air on the March 10, 2023, with dual-weekly broadcast every Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm on Himalaya TV, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16892', 'image' => '20230302094128_715586-voice-of-nepal-kids.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:40:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal 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 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</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 the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</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"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized 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"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</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"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</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 government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</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"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</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 donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</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 half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</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 Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</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"">Homework for extra help</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 Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</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"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </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"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</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"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17161', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Falls for Fourth Consecutive Day', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell for four consecutive days this week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell for four consecutive days this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The market fell by 26.48 points on the last trading day of the week to close at 1,969.01 points. In the four trading days, the index dropped by 58.18 points. Lately there has been some instability in Nepali politics. With the exit of the UML from the coalition government, the finance minister, who was liked by investors, also quit. Investors are wondering whether the stock market has fallen due to political instability.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Experts say that the political influence on the stock market will be temporary. Although the liquidity in the financial system has improved in recent days, the interest rate on loans has not decreased. In a short period of time, the market rose from 1800 points to 2200 points and started to fall. During this period, traders made good fortune. Now, the traders plan to make investment in the stock market only when the market falls to the lowest point.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 3,657,154 units of shares of 256 companies were traded on Thursday. The daily turnover on Thursday stood at Rs 1.33 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the intra-day trading, 194 companies lost in their market values while 19 made gains.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the 13 trading sub groups lost in their market values on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The index of microfinance group decreased the most by 2.64 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among individual companies, Himalayan Distillery Limited had the largest transaction of its shares worth Rs 81.28 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Global IME microfinance shareholders lost the most on Thursday. The share price of the company decreased by 7 percent. Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited gained the highest percent of its market value by 4.29 percent.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16899', 'image' => '20230302054129_1677749961.market down.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 17:40:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17160', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Twenty-eight Percent Arable Land Barren in Karnali Province ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 3: Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Karnali Province faces a shortage of food every year. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperative, out of the total arable land, only 72 per cent has been utilized for farming. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Occupying 22 per cent area of the total geography of the country, seventy-four percent people rely on agriculture in Karnali Province. Home to 99,339 hectares of the arable land, the province produces 3,39,909 metric tons of the food in a year, while the province requires 3,58316 metric tons of the food yearly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry’s Spokesperson Dhan Bahadur Kathayat said that the ministry had emphasized for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the uncultivated land. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We have devised various plans to utilize unused and barren land. We are encouraging farmers for apple farming in mountainous districts and orange, kiwi and other fruits in hilly districts,” Kathayat said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The province government says that it has been utilizing barren land to reduce poverty and end food shortage in the province. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16898', 'image' => '20230302042542_collage - 2023-03-02T162321.051.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 16:21:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India to Construct Big Hydropower Project near China', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. This project is India's largest hydropower project so far. To meet the growing demand for energy, India is trying to increase the production of hydropower, solar and other energies. Meanwhile, the Daibang project to be built in the northeastern Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China has been approved by the Indian government. It is estimated that an investment of INR 319 billion (USD 3.90 billion) will be invested in this 2800 megawatt project entrusted to the state-owed hydropower company NHPC Limited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It is estimated that the project will take about nine years to complete. India, which is mainly dependent on coal for electricity, is trying to increase renewable energy sources. Due to occasional interruptions in the supply of electricity from solar and wind energy, it is seeking to increase renewable energy for stable supply. However, the project has been delayed due to the prospect of large-scale damage that the dam construction could cause to the environment and the fact that the community would have to be relocated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This project will be built in an area of more than 5000 hectares of forest. Therefore, like other projects, it seems that it has to face a lot of opposition. Due to local opposition and geographical difficulties, it can be hoped that the target will be achieved in nine years. Non-profit organizations have been saying that the cost of the project is very high but the profit is very low. In the Himalayan region of India, projects have been running for years as they are not completed within the stipulated time. There is ample room to doubt whether this hydroelectric project will be completed on time. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16897', 'image' => '20230302031613_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 15:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Attracted to Sunflower Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. A group of farmers have collectively grown sunflowers on around three bighas of land at Sripur of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-15, said Chandra Prasad Adhikari, one of the farmers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC), Chitwan has extended its support by providing seeds, fertilizers and irrigation facility, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have also grown mustard in around two bighas of land. Adhikari started the farming 10 years ago with a break for some years in between. Again, we together started organic sunflower farming, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I started with carrot farming in 2032 BS. I quit agriculture some years in between. Carrot production is higher. But, it lacks market value," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It does not require much investment for sunflower farming. So, the farmers here have been attracted to it, added Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers can supply healthier sunflower oil to consumers at a fair value, and it helps discourage inedible cooking oil in the market, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farming has also attracted tourists and TikTokers alike. </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"">"With sunflower blooming, tourists and TikTokers have visited here. We charge them Rs 100 each for the entry fee. We feel good to have them here," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Around 65 beehives have been also kept in the sunflower field for honey production, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The AKC's agriculture officer Suruchi Tripathi said the centre provided assistances in growing oil seeds on 100 hectares of land in Chitwan and Makawanpur districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The farmers here are interested in the farming. So, the centre has encouraged them," she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16896', 'image' => '20230302101253_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_2923.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:11:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC to Keep Fuel Prices Unchanged', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.</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"">However, NOC is reluctant to reduce the fuel prices on the pretext of its accumulated losses. The NOC argued that its outstanding dues is Rs 15 billion and therefore it is not in a position to slash the fuel prices although it has adopted automatic pricing mechanism.</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"">Issuing a statement on Wednesday, NOC said that the state-owned oil monopoly has decided not to reduce the consumer price of petroleum products for the time being, even though the price of fuel except cooking gas has been reduced.</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"">NOC also made it clear that the price of cooking gas will not rise anytime soon.</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"">As per the new price sent by Indian Oil Corporation, the price of diesel has become cheaper by Rs 5 per litre, petrol by Rs 1.21 per litre, kerosene Oil by Rs 3.40 per litre and aviation fuel by Rs 7.3 per litre. On the other hand, the price of cooking gas has increased by Rs 339 per cylinder. But it will not have any impact on the general public as the NOC has decided to keep the prices unchanged. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16895', 'image' => '20230302100650_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:06:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Resume Regular Flights to GBIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jazeera Airways is planning to operate three flights a week from Bhairahawa to Kuwait starting from March 9. The company informed that it will operate flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The one-way fare to Kuwait has been fixed at Rs 28,836.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ravi Chandra Singh, general sales agent of Jazeera based in Nepal, said that the flights are going to be regularized according to Jazeera's commitment to support Gautam Buddha International Airport and the overall tourism of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He believes that this will help promote Lumbini as a spiritual destination, especially among Indian citizens living in the Middle East. "It will help to ensure maximum arrival at Gautam Buddha International Airport, promote tourism here and support the overall economic growth of the nation," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that Jazeera Airways was the first airlines company to start operation at the newly built airport of Nepal. However, it suspended flights during this winter citing lack of instrument landing system and poor visibility at the airport during the winter period.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16894', 'image' => '20230302102513_1677711565.4 Jajira.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:23:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Brisk Daily Walk Could Prevent One in 10 Early Deaths: Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: One in 10 early deaths could be averted if everyone engaged in a small amount of daily exercise such as a brisk 11-minute walk, according to a new study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, physical activity is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other leading causes of death, but exactly how much is needed to have an impact has been unclear.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“So an international team of researchers pooled together the results of 196 previous studies which included more than 30 million people to create one of the largest reviews conducted on the subject,” added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the research team looked at hundreds of previous studies on the benefits of physical activity and concluded that even doing half the recommended amount could prevent one in 20 cases of cardiovascular disease and nearly one in 30 cases of cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">They calculated that around one in six early deaths would have been prevented if everyone in the studies had at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, which is the level recommended by Britain's National Health Service. But even half that amount -- 75 minutes a week, or less than 11 minutes a day -- could prevent one in 10 of those deaths, according to the meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">That included a 17-percent reduction of heart disease and a seven-percent fall in cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For a person who engages in little to no physical activity, 11 minutes a day led to a 23-percent lower risk of early death.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“You don't have to be a runner or play sport to feel the benefits of exercise - fitting a brisk walk into your day is good enough,” the BBC reported referring to the suggestions made by the researchers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Soren Brage, an expert on the epidemiology of physical activity at Britain's Cambridge University and a co-author of the study, told AFP that it was "exceptionally good news".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"You should feel yourself moving, your heart will beat faster but you won't necessarily feel out of breath," BBC quoted Brage, who led the research, as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doing that amount is enough to reduce the risk of developing heart disease and stroke by 17% and cancer by 7%, the findings suggest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regular exercise reduces body fat and blood pressure while also improving fitness, sleep and heart health in the long run, added the BBC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported citing the World Health Organization that cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke killed 17.9 million people globally in 2019, while cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths the following year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16893', 'image' => '20230302094823_brisk walk.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:46:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17154', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Lifebuoy Announces Association as the Hygiene Partner of The Voice Kids Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, Lifebuoy said that they want to encourage the health safety and well-being of all the contestants, judges as well as the crew members involved, as the show’s Hygiene partner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the process, Lifebuoy intends to establish and bring alive the importance of hygiene and healthy habits in the life of the viewers, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Voice Kids Nepal is the Nepali version of the global singing reality show The Voice Kids, with coaches for this iteration of the show being Milan Newar, Prabisha Adhikari, Sushant KC and Pramod Kharel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The first episode of the show is set to air on the March 10, 2023, with dual-weekly broadcast every Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm on Himalaya TV, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16892', 'image' => '20230302094128_715586-voice-of-nepal-kids.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:40:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal 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 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</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 the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</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"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized 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"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</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"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</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 government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</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"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</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 donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</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 half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</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 Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</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"">Homework for extra help</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 Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</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"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </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"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</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"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17161', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Index Falls for Fourth Consecutive Day', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell for four consecutive days this week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index fell for four consecutive days this week.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The market fell by 26.48 points on the last trading day of the week to close at 1,969.01 points. In the four trading days, the index dropped by 58.18 points. Lately there has been some instability in Nepali politics. With the exit of the UML from the coalition government, the finance minister, who was liked by investors, also quit. Investors are wondering whether the stock market has fallen due to political instability.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Experts say that the political influence on the stock market will be temporary. Although the liquidity in the financial system has improved in recent days, the interest rate on loans has not decreased. In a short period of time, the market rose from 1800 points to 2200 points and started to fall. During this period, traders made good fortune. Now, the traders plan to make investment in the stock market only when the market falls to the lowest point.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 3,657,154 units of shares of 256 companies were traded on Thursday. The daily turnover on Thursday stood at Rs 1.33 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the intra-day trading, 194 companies lost in their market values while 19 made gains.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the 13 trading sub groups lost in their market values on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The index of microfinance group decreased the most by 2.64 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among individual companies, Himalayan Distillery Limited had the largest transaction of its shares worth Rs 81.28 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Global IME microfinance shareholders lost the most on Thursday. The share price of the company decreased by 7 percent. Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited gained the highest percent of its market value by 4.29 percent.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16899', 'image' => '20230302054129_1677749961.market down.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 17:40:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17160', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Twenty-eight Percent Arable Land Barren in Karnali Province ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 3: Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Karnali Province faces a shortage of food every year. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperative, out of the total arable land, only 72 per cent has been utilized for farming. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Occupying 22 per cent area of the total geography of the country, seventy-four percent people rely on agriculture in Karnali Province. Home to 99,339 hectares of the arable land, the province produces 3,39,909 metric tons of the food in a year, while the province requires 3,58316 metric tons of the food yearly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry’s Spokesperson Dhan Bahadur Kathayat said that the ministry had emphasized for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the uncultivated land. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We have devised various plans to utilize unused and barren land. We are encouraging farmers for apple farming in mountainous districts and orange, kiwi and other fruits in hilly districts,” Kathayat said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The province government says that it has been utilizing barren land to reduce poverty and end food shortage in the province. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16898', 'image' => '20230302042542_collage - 2023-03-02T162321.051.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 16:21:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India to Construct Big Hydropower Project near China', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. This project is India's largest hydropower project so far. To meet the growing demand for energy, India is trying to increase the production of hydropower, solar and other energies. Meanwhile, the Daibang project to be built in the northeastern Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China has been approved by the Indian government. It is estimated that an investment of INR 319 billion (USD 3.90 billion) will be invested in this 2800 megawatt project entrusted to the state-owed hydropower company NHPC Limited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It is estimated that the project will take about nine years to complete. India, which is mainly dependent on coal for electricity, is trying to increase renewable energy sources. Due to occasional interruptions in the supply of electricity from solar and wind energy, it is seeking to increase renewable energy for stable supply. However, the project has been delayed due to the prospect of large-scale damage that the dam construction could cause to the environment and the fact that the community would have to be relocated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This project will be built in an area of more than 5000 hectares of forest. Therefore, like other projects, it seems that it has to face a lot of opposition. Due to local opposition and geographical difficulties, it can be hoped that the target will be achieved in nine years. Non-profit organizations have been saying that the cost of the project is very high but the profit is very low. In the Himalayan region of India, projects have been running for years as they are not completed within the stipulated time. There is ample room to doubt whether this hydroelectric project will be completed on time. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16897', 'image' => '20230302031613_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 15:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Attracted to Sunflower Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. A group of farmers have collectively grown sunflowers on around three bighas of land at Sripur of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-15, said Chandra Prasad Adhikari, one of the farmers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC), Chitwan has extended its support by providing seeds, fertilizers and irrigation facility, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have also grown mustard in around two bighas of land. Adhikari started the farming 10 years ago with a break for some years in between. Again, we together started organic sunflower farming, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I started with carrot farming in 2032 BS. I quit agriculture some years in between. Carrot production is higher. But, it lacks market value," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It does not require much investment for sunflower farming. So, the farmers here have been attracted to it, added Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers can supply healthier sunflower oil to consumers at a fair value, and it helps discourage inedible cooking oil in the market, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farming has also attracted tourists and TikTokers alike. </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"">"With sunflower blooming, tourists and TikTokers have visited here. We charge them Rs 100 each for the entry fee. We feel good to have them here," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Around 65 beehives have been also kept in the sunflower field for honey production, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The AKC's agriculture officer Suruchi Tripathi said the centre provided assistances in growing oil seeds on 100 hectares of land in Chitwan and Makawanpur districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The farmers here are interested in the farming. So, the centre has encouraged them," she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16896', 'image' => '20230302101253_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_2923.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:11:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC to Keep Fuel Prices Unchanged', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.</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"">However, NOC is reluctant to reduce the fuel prices on the pretext of its accumulated losses. The NOC argued that its outstanding dues is Rs 15 billion and therefore it is not in a position to slash the fuel prices although it has adopted automatic pricing mechanism.</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"">Issuing a statement on Wednesday, NOC said that the state-owned oil monopoly has decided not to reduce the consumer price of petroleum products for the time being, even though the price of fuel except cooking gas has been reduced.</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"">NOC also made it clear that the price of cooking gas will not rise anytime soon.</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"">As per the new price sent by Indian Oil Corporation, the price of diesel has become cheaper by Rs 5 per litre, petrol by Rs 1.21 per litre, kerosene Oil by Rs 3.40 per litre and aviation fuel by Rs 7.3 per litre. On the other hand, the price of cooking gas has increased by Rs 339 per cylinder. But it will not have any impact on the general public as the NOC has decided to keep the prices unchanged. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16895', 'image' => '20230302100650_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:06:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Resume Regular Flights to GBIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jazeera Airways is planning to operate three flights a week from Bhairahawa to Kuwait starting from March 9. The company informed that it will operate flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The one-way fare to Kuwait has been fixed at Rs 28,836.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ravi Chandra Singh, general sales agent of Jazeera based in Nepal, said that the flights are going to be regularized according to Jazeera's commitment to support Gautam Buddha International Airport and the overall tourism of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He believes that this will help promote Lumbini as a spiritual destination, especially among Indian citizens living in the Middle East. "It will help to ensure maximum arrival at Gautam Buddha International Airport, promote tourism here and support the overall economic growth of the nation," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that Jazeera Airways was the first airlines company to start operation at the newly built airport of Nepal. However, it suspended flights during this winter citing lack of instrument landing system and poor visibility at the airport during the winter period.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16894', 'image' => '20230302102513_1677711565.4 Jajira.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:23:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Brisk Daily Walk Could Prevent One in 10 Early Deaths: Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: One in 10 early deaths could be averted if everyone engaged in a small amount of daily exercise such as a brisk 11-minute walk, according to a new study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, physical activity is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other leading causes of death, but exactly how much is needed to have an impact has been unclear.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“So an international team of researchers pooled together the results of 196 previous studies which included more than 30 million people to create one of the largest reviews conducted on the subject,” added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the research team looked at hundreds of previous studies on the benefits of physical activity and concluded that even doing half the recommended amount could prevent one in 20 cases of cardiovascular disease and nearly one in 30 cases of cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">They calculated that around one in six early deaths would have been prevented if everyone in the studies had at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, which is the level recommended by Britain's National Health Service. But even half that amount -- 75 minutes a week, or less than 11 minutes a day -- could prevent one in 10 of those deaths, according to the meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">That included a 17-percent reduction of heart disease and a seven-percent fall in cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For a person who engages in little to no physical activity, 11 minutes a day led to a 23-percent lower risk of early death.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“You don't have to be a runner or play sport to feel the benefits of exercise - fitting a brisk walk into your day is good enough,” the BBC reported referring to the suggestions made by the researchers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Soren Brage, an expert on the epidemiology of physical activity at Britain's Cambridge University and a co-author of the study, told AFP that it was "exceptionally good news".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"You should feel yourself moving, your heart will beat faster but you won't necessarily feel out of breath," BBC quoted Brage, who led the research, as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doing that amount is enough to reduce the risk of developing heart disease and stroke by 17% and cancer by 7%, the findings suggest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regular exercise reduces body fat and blood pressure while also improving fitness, sleep and heart health in the long run, added the BBC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported citing the World Health Organization that cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke killed 17.9 million people globally in 2019, while cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths the following year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16893', 'image' => '20230302094823_brisk walk.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:46:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17154', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Lifebuoy Announces Association as the Hygiene Partner of The Voice Kids Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, Lifebuoy said that they want to encourage the health safety and well-being of all the contestants, judges as well as the crew members involved, as the show’s Hygiene partner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the process, Lifebuoy intends to establish and bring alive the importance of hygiene and healthy habits in the life of the viewers, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Voice Kids Nepal is the Nepali version of the global singing reality show The Voice Kids, with coaches for this iteration of the show being Milan Newar, Prabisha Adhikari, Sushant KC and Pramod Kharel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The first episode of the show is set to air on the March 10, 2023, with dual-weekly broadcast every Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm on Himalaya TV, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16892', 'image' => '20230302094128_715586-voice-of-nepal-kids.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:40:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal 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 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</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 the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</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"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized 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"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</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"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</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 government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</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"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</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 donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</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 half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</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 Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</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"">Homework for extra help</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 Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</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"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </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"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</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"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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In the four trading days, the index dropped by 58.18 points. Lately there has been some instability in Nepali politics. With the exit of the UML from the coalition government, the finance minister, who was liked by investors, also quit. Investors are wondering whether the stock market has fallen due to political instability.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Experts say that the political influence on the stock market will be temporary. Although the liquidity in the financial system has improved in recent days, the interest rate on loans has not decreased. In a short period of time, the market rose from 1800 points to 2200 points and started to fall. During this period, traders made good fortune. Now, the traders plan to make investment in the stock market only when the market falls to the lowest point.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A total of 3,657,154 units of shares of 256 companies were traded on Thursday. The daily turnover on Thursday stood at Rs 1.33 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the intra-day trading, 194 companies lost in their market values while 19 made gains.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">All the 13 trading sub groups lost in their market values on Thursday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The index of microfinance group decreased the most by 2.64 percent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Among individual companies, Himalayan Distillery Limited had the largest transaction of its shares worth Rs 81.28 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Global IME microfinance shareholders lost the most on Thursday. The share price of the company decreased by 7 percent. Buddha Bhumi Nepal Hydropower Company Limited gained the highest percent of its market value by 4.29 percent.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16899', 'image' => '20230302054129_1677749961.market down.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 17:40:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17160', 'article_category_id' => '277', 'title' => 'Twenty-eight Percent Arable Land Barren in Karnali Province ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">March 3: Twenty eight per cent of arable land has remained uncultivated in Karnali Province. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Despite the province government’s policy to utilize barren land, a large swathe of land is lying barren and uncultivated owing to the lax implementation of the policy.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> Karnali Province faces a shortage of food every year. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperative, out of the total arable land, only 72 per cent has been utilized for farming. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Occupying 22 per cent area of the total geography of the country, seventy-four percent people rely on agriculture in Karnali Province. Home to 99,339 hectares of the arable land, the province produces 3,39,909 metric tons of the food in a year, while the province requires 3,58316 metric tons of the food yearly. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The Ministry’s Spokesperson Dhan Bahadur Kathayat said that the ministry had emphasized for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the uncultivated land. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">“We have devised various plans to utilize unused and barren land. We are encouraging farmers for apple farming in mountainous districts and orange, kiwi and other fruits in hilly districts,” Kathayat said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The province government says that it has been utilizing barren land to reduce poverty and end food shortage in the province. </span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16898', 'image' => '20230302042542_collage - 2023-03-02T162321.051.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 16:21:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India to Construct Big Hydropower Project near China', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 2: India has given permission for the construction of a hydropower project near the Chinese border. This project is India's largest hydropower project so far. To meet the growing demand for energy, India is trying to increase the production of hydropower, solar and other energies. Meanwhile, the Daibang project to be built in the northeastern Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China has been approved by the Indian government. It is estimated that an investment of INR 319 billion (USD 3.90 billion) will be invested in this 2800 megawatt project entrusted to the state-owed hydropower company NHPC Limited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It is estimated that the project will take about nine years to complete. India, which is mainly dependent on coal for electricity, is trying to increase renewable energy sources. Due to occasional interruptions in the supply of electricity from solar and wind energy, it is seeking to increase renewable energy for stable supply. However, the project has been delayed due to the prospect of large-scale damage that the dam construction could cause to the environment and the fact that the community would have to be relocated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This project will be built in an area of more than 5000 hectares of forest. Therefore, like other projects, it seems that it has to face a lot of opposition. Due to local opposition and geographical difficulties, it can be hoped that the target will be achieved in nine years. Non-profit organizations have been saying that the cost of the project is very high but the profit is very low. In the Himalayan region of India, projects have been running for years as they are not completed within the stipulated time. There is ample room to doubt whether this hydroelectric project will be completed on time. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16897', 'image' => '20230302031613_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 15:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers of Chitwan Attracted to Sunflower Farming ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: Farmers of Chitwan district have been attracted to sunflower farming of late. A group of farmers have collectively grown sunflowers on around three bighas of land at Sripur of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-15, said Chandra Prasad Adhikari, one of the farmers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC), Chitwan has extended its support by providing seeds, fertilizers and irrigation facility, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have also grown mustard in around two bighas of land. Adhikari started the farming 10 years ago with a break for some years in between. Again, we together started organic sunflower farming, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"I started with carrot farming in 2032 BS. I quit agriculture some years in between. Carrot production is higher. But, it lacks market value," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It does not require much investment for sunflower farming. So, the farmers here have been attracted to it, added Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers can supply healthier sunflower oil to consumers at a fair value, and it helps discourage inedible cooking oil in the market, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farming has also attracted tourists and TikTokers alike. </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"">"With sunflower blooming, tourists and TikTokers have visited here. We charge them Rs 100 each for the entry fee. We feel good to have them here," he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Around 65 beehives have been also kept in the sunflower field for honey production, he said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The AKC's agriculture officer Suruchi Tripathi said the centre provided assistances in growing oil seeds on 100 hectares of land in Chitwan and Makawanpur districts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The farmers here are interested in the farming. So, the centre has encouraged them," she said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16896', 'image' => '20230302101253_KA_Bharatpur-IMG_2923.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:11:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC to Keep Fuel Prices Unchanged', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 2: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised price list of petroleum products to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by reducing the fuel prices except that of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas.</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"">However, NOC is reluctant to reduce the fuel prices on the pretext of its accumulated losses. The NOC argued that its outstanding dues is Rs 15 billion and therefore it is not in a position to slash the fuel prices although it has adopted automatic pricing mechanism.</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"">Issuing a statement on Wednesday, NOC said that the state-owned oil monopoly has decided not to reduce the consumer price of petroleum products for the time being, even though the price of fuel except cooking gas has been reduced.</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"">NOC also made it clear that the price of cooking gas will not rise anytime soon.</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"">As per the new price sent by Indian Oil Corporation, the price of diesel has become cheaper by Rs 5 per litre, petrol by Rs 1.21 per litre, kerosene Oil by Rs 3.40 per litre and aviation fuel by Rs 7.3 per litre. On the other hand, the price of cooking gas has increased by Rs 339 per cylinder. But it will not have any impact on the general public as the NOC has decided to keep the prices unchanged. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16895', 'image' => '20230302100650_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:06:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Jazeera Airways to Resume Regular Flights to GBIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 2: Jazeera Airways has announced that it will resume its scheduled flights to and from Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport from next week. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jazeera Airways is planning to operate three flights a week from Bhairahawa to Kuwait starting from March 9. The company informed that it will operate flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The one-way fare to Kuwait has been fixed at Rs 28,836.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ravi Chandra Singh, general sales agent of Jazeera based in Nepal, said that the flights are going to be regularized according to Jazeera's commitment to support Gautam Buddha International Airport and the overall tourism of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He believes that this will help promote Lumbini as a spiritual destination, especially among Indian citizens living in the Middle East. "It will help to ensure maximum arrival at Gautam Buddha International Airport, promote tourism here and support the overall economic growth of the nation," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that Jazeera Airways was the first airlines company to start operation at the newly built airport of Nepal. However, it suspended flights during this winter citing lack of instrument landing system and poor visibility at the airport during the winter period.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16894', 'image' => '20230302102513_1677711565.4 Jajira.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 10:23:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Brisk Daily Walk Could Prevent One in 10 Early Deaths: Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 29: The currency in circulation in the market has declined by Rs 16 billion as of mid-January this year compared to the same period of last year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: One in 10 early deaths could be averted if everyone engaged in a small amount of daily exercise such as a brisk 11-minute walk, according to a new study.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to AFP, physical activity is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other leading causes of death, but exactly how much is needed to have an impact has been unclear.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“So an international team of researchers pooled together the results of 196 previous studies which included more than 30 million people to create one of the largest reviews conducted on the subject,” added the news agency.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the research team looked at hundreds of previous studies on the benefits of physical activity and concluded that even doing half the recommended amount could prevent one in 20 cases of cardiovascular disease and nearly one in 30 cases of cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">They calculated that around one in six early deaths would have been prevented if everyone in the studies had at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, which is the level recommended by Britain's National Health Service. But even half that amount -- 75 minutes a week, or less than 11 minutes a day -- could prevent one in 10 of those deaths, according to the meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">That included a 17-percent reduction of heart disease and a seven-percent fall in cancer.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For a person who engages in little to no physical activity, 11 minutes a day led to a 23-percent lower risk of early death.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“You don't have to be a runner or play sport to feel the benefits of exercise - fitting a brisk walk into your day is good enough,” the BBC reported referring to the suggestions made by the researchers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Soren Brage, an expert on the epidemiology of physical activity at Britain's Cambridge University and a co-author of the study, told AFP that it was "exceptionally good news".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"You should feel yourself moving, your heart will beat faster but you won't necessarily feel out of breath," BBC quoted Brage, who led the research, as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Doing that amount is enough to reduce the risk of developing heart disease and stroke by 17% and cancer by 7%, the findings suggest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regular exercise reduces body fat and blood pressure while also improving fitness, sleep and heart health in the long run, added the BBC.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, AFP reported citing the World Health Organization that cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke killed 17.9 million people globally in 2019, while cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths the following year.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16893', 'image' => '20230302094823_brisk walk.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:46:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17154', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Lifebuoy Announces Association as the Hygiene Partner of The Voice Kids Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 2: Lifebuoy, one of the best-selling germ protection soaps manufactured by Unilever, has announced its association with the second season of the popular musical show The Voice Kids Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a recent statement, Lifebuoy said that they want to encourage the health safety and well-being of all the contestants, judges as well as the crew members involved, as the show’s Hygiene partner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the process, Lifebuoy intends to establish and bring alive the importance of hygiene and healthy habits in the life of the viewers, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Voice Kids Nepal is the Nepali version of the global singing reality show The Voice Kids, with coaches for this iteration of the show being Milan Newar, Prabisha Adhikari, Sushant KC and Pramod Kharel.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The first episode of the show is set to air on the March 10, 2023, with dual-weekly broadcast every Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm on Himalaya TV, added the statement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-02', 'modified' => '2023-03-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16892', 'image' => '20230302094128_715586-voice-of-nepal-kids.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-02 09:40:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17153', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 73,000 Foreign Tourists Enter Nepal via Air Route in February ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: More than 73,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via air route in the month of February this year. As per the data of the Nepal Tourism Board, 73,255 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the review month. The number was 55,074 in the previous month of January. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of tourists visiting Nepal in last year was 19,766 and 9,146 in 2021. NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal is enthusiastic in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of tourists by air included 18,401 from India, 7,887 from US, 4,802 from Thailand, 3,246 from South Korea, 2,969 from Australia, 2,266 from China, 2,232 from Myanmar, 2,117 from Sri Lanka and 2,108 from Germany. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal annually, which had decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic, slightly increased in 2022. A total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. The number was 1.197 million in 2019, just before the coronavirus pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of foreign tourists had decreased by 81 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16891', 'image' => '20230301084821_20220904111044_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 20:47:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Denied Land Ownership Despite Making the Payment ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which was established almost three decades ago in 2050 BS, is still operating in a rented house. Preparations for the construction of the board's building started a decade ago, but it has not been completed yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board’s initiative to build its building gained momentum a year ago after Ramesh Kumar Hamal took over the leadership of the board for the remaining term of two years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One year has passed since Hamal assumed the responsibility of the board’s chairman. The Council of Ministers on February 17, 2022 decided to appoint Hamal as the board’s chairman for the remaining term. As per the cabinet decision, Hamal will lead the board till January 8, 2024.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hamal has been saying that since he took over the leadership, the construction of the board's building has been given top priority. He is of the view that setting up the central office of the board on a piece of land at Jadibuti for which the board had already paid money would cause inconvenience to the service seekers. According to Hamal, he submitted a proposal to the SEBON board of directors stating that if the board needs to purchase a new building it should purchase a government building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the initiative to purchase a government building at a place suitable for the service seekers is continuing, he said that he is preparing to move the board’s office for the time being by renting four floors of the new building of the start-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have offered to lease four floors of the new building of the RBB in Thapathali, Kathmandu," he said, "If the bank agrees, the board office will soon move from Khumaltar in Lalitpur to Thapathali."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Three years ago, the board had paid the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority a sum for seven ropanis of land at Jadibuti at the rate of Rs 3.8 million per anna. Information officer of the board, Tej Prasad Devkota, said that even though the authority has recently asked the board to take back the money, the board has insisted for the land. According to Devkota, the board was requested to take back the money after the authority failed to bring the Jadibuti land under its ownership.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Shubash Aryal, the administrative officer of the authority, they purchased 13 ropanis and 14 annas of land with its own money but that land fell under the Manohara Land Consolidation Project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota says that the current office of the board at Khumaltar will be insufficient for the increasing number of employees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Devkota said that after the recruitment of 23 people who were in the process of appointment, there will be 95 employees at the board, so the current office will not be enough.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has been paying Rs 800,000 in rent per month for its Khumaltar building. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Apart from Jadibuti, the board also has land in Satdobato. The board had taken the land on lease for 50 years for the construction of a building. As the traffic police have built a temporary building at the place where the foundation of the building has also been laid, the board has been unable to construct its own building.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Traffic police has been paying Rs 12,000 as rent for the land. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16890', 'image' => '20230301061838_sebonn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 18:17:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'This Winter Witnessed Lowest Rainfall in 14 Years', 'sub_title' => 'Pre-monsoon Begins with the exit of Winter ', 'summary' => 'March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The country received the lowest precipitation this winter in the last 14 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to normal rainfall occurred in some places including the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and Kalinchowk some days back towards the end of the winter season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Winter rain is of particular concern for the farmers as the productivity of winter crop depends on rainfall in Nepal where there isn’t proper irrigation facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the weather bulletin issued by the department, eastern and central Nepal received less rainfall this winter compared to western and far-western regions of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy snowfall was reported in the western hills and mountains of Nepal more than a month ago but there was scant snowfall in the high hills and mountains of other areas, the department added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the department, pre-monsoon has started from today (March 1) with the exit of winter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The pre-monsoon period is characterized by thunder and lightning coupled with gusty winds and the possibility of hailstone and rain towards the afternoon, meteorologist Basi told the state-owned RSS.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to meteorologist Basi, pre-monsoon will last for three months. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The pre-monsoon season will remain in place during March, April and May, followed by the start of monsoon,” RSS quoted Basi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The local wind has much influence during the time of this weather system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There are chances of light rain at one or two places of the hill region today due to the impact of the local wind, Basi said, adding that light rain and snowfall is likely at one or two places of Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces today. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16889', 'image' => '20230301044058_NL_Manang-IMG - Copy.JPG', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 16:36:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Receive Foreign Assistance', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal 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 1: The government has set a target of receiving foreign assistance worth Rs 300 billion in the current fiscal year. However, more than half the year has been spent but the foreign assistance received so far is much less than expected.</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 the Ministry of Finance, until the half-yearly review of the budget a total of Rs 34.57 billion has been received as foreign assistance. The government takes grants and loans from donor agencies. Till the mid-term review of the budget, the government received Rs 8.11 billion as grants. Similarly, it received of Rs 26.45 billion towards loan.</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"">There has been a slight increase in aid commitments though. Various donors have pledged Rs 23.12 billion in grants and Rs 114 billion in subsidized 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"">However, it seems that the government has not received financial assistance as promised. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government had received commitment for financial assistance worth Rs 110 billion for various development projects.</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"">However, last year too, it did not receive financial assistance as per the commitment.</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 government is still facing problems in the mobilization of foreign aid. According to the Ministry of Finance, due to poor project management and dilly-dallying of construction entrepreneurs, the implementation of projects run on foreign aid has slowed down and the capital expenditure has been reduced, which has affected direct payments and refunds made by development partners. Due to this, the mobilization of foreign aid did not increase significantly during the review period.</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"">Officials claim that there has been a significant progress in the implementation of the government's policy of mobilizing development aid through the national budget system. However, the Finance Ministry has not yet been able to include all types of development aid in the budget system.</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 donors are mobilizing part of the grant aid received by Nepal outside the national budget system through international organizations and non-governmental organizations based on their own risk analysis results.</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 half-yearly review of the budget has admitted that the Ministry of Finance has failed to focus on technical assistance to complete the preparatory activities of the projects and to enhance the institutional capacity of the implementing agency and fill the lack of expertise required for the projects.</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 Anand Kafle, joint secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the fragmentation of development aid is still in place despite the policy arrangement and continuous efforts. Due to this, the number of small projects is high and it takes more time and cost to implement them, and to monitor and report those projects. The institutional capacity to mobilize aid through provincial and local levels is weak, while the necessary coordination has not been established at those levels as per the provisions in the guidelines on foreign aid mobilization. In the half-yearly review report, the Ministry of Finance has stated that there has been a difficulty in resource management because of lack of cooperation from the agencies concerned for the timely action to complete the preparatory works, including the policy reforms required to receive the budgetary aid programs.</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"">Homework for extra help</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 Ministry of Finance has intensified discussions with development partners to mobilize development assistance in the current fiscal year and upcoming years. The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank to receive USD 300 million (about Rs 39 billion) for the implementation of the Kakdavitta-Laukhi road section and USD 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the school sector transformation project.</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"">Similarly, a project document has been prepared to obtain concessional loan of US$ 100 million (about Rs 13 billion) from the World Bank for the Quality Health System Project. </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"">Similarly, for the implementation of the Dudhkoshi Reservoir Hydroelectric Project (635 MW), the Asian Development Bank has received a letter of intent to provide a concessional loan of US$ 580 million (about Rs 75.4 billion). The Ministry of Finance said that they are coordinating with other donors to collect financial resources.</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"">Similarly, a draft memorandum of understanding is being discussed to receive 90 million sterling pounds (about Rs 14.4 billion) as a grant from the British government for the implementation of the local infrastructure support program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16888', 'image' => '20230301023110_1677635676.Clipboard13.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 14:30:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Budget Implementation Disappointing: CNI', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 1: The private sector has expressed concern that the implementation of the budget brought by the government on May 29 for the current fiscal year has been disappointing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI) expressed concern that there has been zero percent progress in the first seven months of the current year in 57 percent of the economic sector-related programs included in the budget. A study conducted by the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in collaboration with CNI shows that there is no satisfactory progress in implementation of budget policies and programs that are directly related to the economic sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The CNI has started the 'CNI Budget Watch' program in co-ordination with SEJON and intellectual partnership with Pioneer Law Associates with the aim of helping revitalize the economy by playing a constructive role in the effective implementation of the budget. Under this initiative, CNI identified 63 points related to economic development, investment and private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A report recently prepared by SEJON on the implementation status of those points has shown that there has been no satisfactory progress in most of the points included in the policies and programs of the government that are directly related to the economic sector as of mid-February this year. By this time, there has been zero progress in 36 points.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nevertheless, the government has realized the need for cooperation with the private sector in order to achieve the goal of economic development. In this regard, the government has included 48 percent of the suggestions of CNI in the annual policies and programmnes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the CNI, most of the provisions of the policies and programmes implemented by the government are related to tax policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the study showed that 28.57 percent of the policies were partially implemented. A statement reads, “There has been zero progress in implementing 57.14 percent of the policy and program, which is very disappointing.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Most of the policies and programs announced in the current year's budget related to industry, land, infrastructure, foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnership, etc., which are considered important for economic development, are found to have zero progress. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation believes that the new government will move ahead with the implementation of the budget as a top priority. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16887', 'image' => '20230301012132_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 13:20:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IMF Praises Tight Monetary Policy of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">March 1: At a time when the private sector has been criticizing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) for issuing a tight monetary policy resulting in a hike in interest rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the policy adopted by the central bank of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepali authorities have taken decisive actions to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the IMF said that the much-needed monetary policy tightening last year, together with the gradual unwinding of COVID support measures, helped moderate credit growth and contributed to the moderation of inflation stemming from the global commodity price shock caused by the Ukraine war. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“As a result, and in a context of resilient remittances, external pressures eased, and international reserves stabilized in the first half of FY 2022/23. The temporary import restrictions, mostly aimed at reducing the rapid post-pandemic growth of imports, were removed,” reads the statement, adding, “The slowdown in imports nevertheless dampened tax collections during the first half of FY 2022/2023, which has required expenditure rationalization in the mid-year budget review to preserve fiscal discipline and debt sustainability.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued after a two-week long visit to Nepal by an IMF delegation also noted that bank asset quality has deteriorated, reflecting a decline in the repayment capacity of borrowers due to higher lending rates and rising leverage, a concern that is moderated by banks’ capital-adequacy ratios that are above the regulatory minima.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The IMF delegation led by Jarkko Turunen, which visited Kathmandu during February 15-28, made such remarks after holding discussions on a broad range of issues with stakeholders over the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">The statement issued by Turunen on Tuesday at the end of the mission says that the Nepali authorities and IMF staff conducted discussions for the 2023 Article IV consultations and reached staff-level agreement on the policies and reforms needed to complete the combined first and second reviews under the ECF.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Upon completion of the review, IMF would avail Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of US$ 52.2 million, bringing total disbursements under the ECF thus far to SDR US$ 156.6 million, from a total of SDR US$ 375.8 million, reads the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">“Despite a challenging global and domestic environment last year, including the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nepal continued to make progress with the implementation of the ECF-supported program,” added the statement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Notable achievements include the external audit of the Nepal Rastra Bank with the assistance of international auditors – in line with international best practices, publication of reports on both COVID-related spending and custom exemptions to enhance transparency, drafting of amendments to bank asset classification regulations, and strengthening bank supervision by launching the donor-supported Supervision Information System. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">IMF staff also welcomed the progress made towards implementing other structural reforms in the authorities’ policy agenda and discussed priorities looking forward.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">According to the IMF, Nepal’s real GDP growth is projected to soften to 4.4 percent in FY 2022/23, but is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year and resilient remittances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">However, the global outlook remains subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty. Nepal remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability, the IMF further said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"">Accordingly, cautious monetary policy remains appropriate to bring the still elevated inflation down towards the Nepal Rastra Bank’s 7 percent target and to allow the economy to grow without placing undue pressure on international reserves, the IMF concluded. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16886', 'image' => '20230301121357_iiii.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 12:11:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '17147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EC Issues Election Code of Conduct for Presidential, Vice-Presidential Elections ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 1: The Election Commission (EC) has decided to issue election code of conduct-2023 for the presidential and vice presidential elections effective from March 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the EC said that the election code of conduct will start from March 1 and end on 19 in view of coming presidential and vice-presidential elections. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC's decision on January 30, the presidential election will take place on March 9 and that of vice president on March 17. There are 882 voters for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nomination for the presidential election was filed on February 25 after establishing an Office of the Election Officer. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The press release issued by EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel says that the EC issued the Election Code of Conduct to exercise the rights granted by Article-22 of the Election Commission Act-2073 for the election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The same election code of conduct was implemented for the election to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly on November 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the election code of conduct would be implemented for the government and ministers of federal parliament, Province Assembly members, the provincial governments and their ministers, employees of federation, province and local-level, security bodies, civil servants, security personnel, government, semi-government and public organisations and their employees, political parties and their sister organisations, candidates, their representatives, public post holders, media houses, media persons and the voters. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-03-01', 'modified' => '2023-03-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16885', 'image' => '20230301110614_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-03-01 11:05:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
