February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of…
February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of…
February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).…
February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January…
February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from…
February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign…
February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the…
February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the…
February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the…
February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in…
February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service…
February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on…
January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011.…
January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International…
January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing.…
January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of…
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]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' => '16908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI Discusses Connectivity, Regional Trade with NEDFi ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. </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 two sides held a meeting in this regard in Kathmandu on Wednesday. </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 delegation of NEDFi is here in course of studying the connectivity project between north east India and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha, Director General Gokarna Raj Awasthi, and a three-member team of NEFDi under the leadership of Mahendra P Lama, senior professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University were present during the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the two sides discussed issues related to the recent situation of trade and investment between the two countries and improvement in present trade and investment situation. They also discussed about the possibility of development of regional value chain among Nepal, north-eastern region of India and other south Asian countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian team had urged FNCCI to provide suggestions regarding obstruction on trade check points used by both the countries, initiatives to be taken to further facilitate import and export, investment expansion and problems related to import. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI said the two sides also discussed other issues including policy-level problems related to import/export, border security and technical coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Golchha said Nepal has always expected Indian support in economic development initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI shared that it would carry out study regarding the challenges and problems in expansion of regional economic relations including Nepal and India and submit the suggestions soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, FEFDi chairperson PVSLN Murty said small, middle and large scale enterprises have been getting financial aid for the establishment of industrial, infrastructure and agro related projects in north eastern region of India. He said the team was here to carry out a study for coordination with Nepal in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Prof Lama expressed commitment to help address the suggestions received from FNCCI through the authorities concerned. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16647', 'image' => '20230202121524_1675299261.Clipboard15.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 12:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Increase Spread Rate against the Directive of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Banks that could not expand their business due to lack of liquidity did so to gain profit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the unaudited financial statements published by the banks, most of the commercial banks increased the spread rate in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. Out of the 22 banks in operation, 17 increased their spread rates by mid-January 2023 compared to mid-October 2022. Four of them have lowered the spread rate while that of one commercial bank has remained stable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After widespread criticism that the banks earning profit while other sectors were struggling due to the current economic crisis, NRB introduced a policy to reduce the spread rate through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the review of monetary policy, it is announced that the spread rate of commercial banks will be reduced from 4.4 percent to 4 percent and that of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent. In order to implement the announcement, NRB issued instructions in mid-December and asked BFIs to reduce the spread rate in two stages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the instructions of NRB, the commercial banks will have to reduce the spread rate to 4.2 percent from mid-April and the development banks and finance companies will have to reduce it to 4.8 percent. From June, commercial banks should apply 4 percent and development banks and finance companies should apply 4.6 percent spread rate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the spread rate of the banks increased in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, there will be more pressure on the banks in the next quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Right now the spread rate of Nabil Bank and Kumari Bank is above 4.4 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In December, the spread rate of 19 banks was above 4 percent while the spread rate of 14 banks was above 4.2 percent. These banks have to reduce the spread rate to maintain the rate specified by the NRB in the next quarter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of Nepal Bankers Association and Chief Executive Officer of NMB Bank, Sunil KC says that banks will maintain the spread rate as per the instructions of NRB by the third quarter and that will reduce the interest rate of loans. He said, “As the banks have reduced the interest rate on deposits since January, the cost of capital will decrease in April, and the base rate will also decrease.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16646', 'image' => '20230202111324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 11:12:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 55,000 Foreign Tourists Arrived in Nepal via Air Route in January ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the data of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), more than 55,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via the air route in the first month of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that arrival of a significant number of tourists even in the off-season was a positive beginning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 16,436 tourists from India in January. Similarly, 6,561 tourists came from USA, 3,441 from Australia and 2,468 from Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that 16,436 tourists had visited Nepal in January, 2022 and 8,674 in January, 2021. The latest number is the highest since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal had increased in 2022 following a decline in coronavirus cases. According to the NTB, a total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to the onset of Covid-19, a total of 1.197 million foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2019 but the arrival of foreign tourists in Nepal decreased by 81 per cent due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when only 230,085 tourists visited the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 150,962 foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2021 which was less by 34.4 per cent as compared to 2020. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16645', 'image' => '20230202093719_20221111043446_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 09:36:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Remittance in Mobile Wallet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad. Nepal Rastra Bank issued the Unified Directive 2079 regarding the payment system on Tuesday and made arrangement to deposit remittance directly into mobile wallets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the provision in the directive, the payment service provider can make arrangements with the licensed remittance company so that the money coming from abroad is deposited directly in the electronic wallet operated in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provisions are also made so that a remittance company can operate a wallet company by establishing a subsidiary company. Similarly, NRB also opened applications for new licenses by increasing the paid-up capital of payment service providers and system operating companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has increased the limit of electronic payments through the unified directive and reduced the transaction fee. According to the instructions of NRB, banks can charge up to Rs 15 for the use of ATMs for inter-bank transactions. Earlier, two transactions per month were free and a maximum fee of Rs 20 was fixed for more than that.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the central bank has made arrangements for transactions up to Rs 300,000 per day through mobile applications and even QR codes. Earlier, the limit for such transactions was Rs 200,000 per day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rs 200,000 can be transacted daily from bank account to wallet, Rs 200,000 from wallet to other bank accounts and Rs 50,000 from one wallet to another wallet. Earlier, the limit of such transaction was Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. Although the monthly limit of such transaction is kept unchanged, the daily transaction limit has been increased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16644', 'image' => '20230201085918_20220303081648_20220210115450_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 20:58:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Employment Desk Removed at TIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment. Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal said that this move was taken to ensure that there is no discrimination against those who go for foreign employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a press conference held at the Ministry on Tuesday, Minister Aryal said that from now onwards, there will be just one queue for all travelers including students, tourism, professional and those opting for foreign employment. According to him, the desk set up for foreign employment hurt the self-esteem of Nepali going abroad for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Aryal further said that the call center at the Ministry of Labor has been converted into a four-hour labor assistance center because it is related to laborers living inside and outside Nepal. He said that the time card of all labor-related work will be implemented within 6 months to listen to the complaints and problems of the workers. He said that the ministry has prepared an action plan to resolve the labor-related complaints within the specified time. He said that if the problem is not solved even in six months, he will seek explanations from the government employees.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16643', 'image' => '20230201070028_20200922040433_20200310105652_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 19:00:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Addressing Multiple Crises Amid Economic Slowdown Key Priority for IFC’s New Regional Vice President', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific. According to IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group, Puliti will oversee IFC’s regional efforts in spurring private sector growth and identifying impactful collaborations for a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery, in response to multiple crises and a deteriorating global economic outlook.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Economies in the Asia and Pacific region continue to suffer from COVD-19 disruptions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tightening global financial conditions, including through higher food and energy prices, the IFC said citing the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report adding weaker global growth and more frequent disruptive weather events linked to climate change threaten to dampen the region’s growth trajectory.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In taking on the role as IFC’s Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, Puliti stressed the need for more private sector investment, given the limited fiscal space of countries in the region, a statement issued by IFC reads.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“With the global economy facing multiple headwinds this year, there is an urgent need for more private investment in the region to create jobs and boost output,” the statement quoted Puliti as saying. “With the right policies in place to attract and incentivize new investment, countries can leverage private sector financing to help meet their large unmet investment needs. The reality is investment growth in emerging markets and developing economies in Asia and the Pacific – as in the rest of the world – remains below the average rate of the last two decades. That must be turned around as history tells us strong investment growth delivers dividends. It is also vital for climate targets and to progress the development of clean, renewable and affordable energy and seize all the opportunities digital infrastructure can deliver for the region’s people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An Italian national, Puliti most recently served as the Vice President for Infrastructure at the World Bank, leading the Bank's global efforts to build effective infrastructure in developing and emerging markets. Previously, Puliti served as Regional Director, Infrastructure, Africa, and before that as Global Director, Energy & Extractives. Before joining the World Bank Group, Puliti was Managing Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Asia and the Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks, underscoring the need for urgent action to protect the lives and livelihoods of billions of people,” Puliti said. “The region also needs to bridge the massive trillion-dollar infrastructure gap, limiting people’s access to basic services. Gender equality, digital growth, and capital mobilization are also key priorities as IFC continues to work to improve financial inclusion, strengthen health care systems, and increase access to finance for smaller businesses, as they are the engine of growth in the region and key incubators of jobs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Puliti holds an MBA from Instituto Superior de Estudios de la Empresa (IESE) and completed his postgraduate studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Imperial College.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16642', 'image' => '20230201060731_IFC-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 18:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16902', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rental Vehicles to be Allowed into Singha Durbar from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Dol Prasad Aryal shared that such an arrangement was made for the people with disabilities to easily enter into the Singha Durbar Complex. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until now, only the vehicles owned by the government or those bearing private, diplomatic and tourist number plates were permitted to enter the country's central administrative building. Taking into the consideration the security issue, the government had been restricting entrance of vehicles-on-rent into the Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrangement was made in coordination with the Home Ministry so as to ease the entrance of the people with disabilities to Singha Durbar. It will come to effect from February 1," Minister Aryal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further informed that security personal would facilitate the entrance of the vehicles carrying PWDs based on the state-provided identity cards. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16641', 'image' => '20230201015828_singhadurbar-1-1310227299.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:57:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry to Cut Down Recurrent Expenses', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government. The government has come up with an idea to cut off regular spending in an attempt to keep a balance in public finance, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said. </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"">In this regard, the ministry has decided to cut off recurrent expenses as part of its austerity measure. With the implementation of the decision, a total of Rs 10.5 billion would be saved, reads a press statement issued by the MoF on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has decided to increase spending in the national pride and game changer projects, and those substantially contributing to the creation of jobs by re-prioritizing budget expenditure system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the government has decided to slash 20 percent budget approved for headings including fuel, maintenance, stationery and office materials, newspapers, printing and publication of information, service and consultancy incurred by all the ministries and agencies of the federal government, </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, budget approved for information system and software operation, travel and other allowances, programme cost, monitoring and evaluation cost, staff training, workshop and seminar, sundry expenses, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures and structural improvement of the buildings would also be reduced by 20 percent, the ministry said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to proceed with the procurement process of the projects approved in budget without the consent of the MoF if the procurement process of those projects hasn’t started yet.</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 ministry has also decided not to undertake any survey if it creates new vacancies. It has also decided not to open any new vacant posts and deploy employees exceeding the vacancy quota. If there is a need to deploy any new employ, the ministry has given the approval to take the process ahead by creating temporary posts.</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 ministry has also decided to suspend all seminars, meetings and workshops that causes financial burden to the state coffers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, any government official attending programmes in a foreign trip with public money must seek approval from the MoF. </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 ministry has also decided not to budget transfer from one heading to another.</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 ministry has decided to stop execution of budgetary projects and programmes which are yet to start and not to create extra burden of payment in the current fiscal year. The decision is applicable to all universities, foundation/academy, regulatory bodies, boards and all constitutional bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to instruct the province and local governments to reduce expenditure, excluding mandatory obligations under the recurrent heading by 20 percent. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16640', 'image' => '20230201014752_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Trans-Himalayan Districts Experience Dry Spell, No Snowfall and Rain this Winter ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang. "By this time last year, we had experienced snowfall several times. There is no indication of snowfall this time around," he reflected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang has not witnessed snowfall this winter even though the winter season is about to end. Villages and settlements are drying up due to lack of rainfall this season. The cliffs and ridges look dry and nude, not appealing anymore. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In absence of snowfall, farmers are worried about their crops. Their harvests are on the verge of wilting, especially in the areas having no irrigation facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thakali said winter crops such as barley, wheat, onion and potato do not show any sign of 'yielding' in absence of snowfall. The popular tourism destinations of the trans-Himalayan district which looked majestic with snow in the winter season now appear to be deserted, he lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deepak Lalchan, an apple farmer of Gharpajhong-2, Marfa, said moisture required for fruits and crops is lacking as snowfall is yet to occurr. "Most probably apple yield will be badly affected because there is no adequate moisture," he said, adding, "Marfa has irrigation facility and is not in a worrisome state." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nevertheless, farmers of Thasang which is a fertile land for barley are worried because of the dry spell. There is no facility of irrigation in Thasang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Himalayan life along with cultivation has also been affected in the absence of snowfall and rain. Lalchan shared that they were now experiencing warm weather when it is the time for chilling cold. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Those descending to plain and city areas to ward off the chilly days are also surprised to know 'there was no snowfall in the high-altitude areas this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Acting Chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Mustang, Prakash Bastakoti said quantity and quality of the winter crops would be affected if there is no snowfall and rain in the winter. "Production would drop if the moisture necessary for flowering of apple trees is not adequately maintained," he said, adding the farmers are awaiting for snowfall for cultivation of potato and for already-cultivated barley and wheat to grow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bastakoti observed, "No snowfall till the onset of February could be because of the effects of climate change. If this trend continues to prevail new variant of crops would get entry in the Himalayan region. Production of indigenous crops may plummet". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately, the upper belt of Mustang has also witnessed the production of vegetable items such as cucumber and tomato, Bastakoti shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only Mustang, no Himalayan districts and higher altitude areas of Gandaki province have experienced snowfall in the season as of now. Even no rainfall has occurred. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Gandaki Province Agriculture Development Directorate, Basudev Regmi said the unexpected climate condition has direct bearing on the winter crops cultivated in the high altitude areas of Mustang, Manang, Myagdi and Baglung. "Loss and damage is incurred in the areas having no irrigation facilities in the absence of snowfall and rain". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Weather Forecasting Division, Sanjeeb Adhikari said immediately there is no chance of rainfall in the Gandaki province areas. The prevailing weather system would not bring rain despite hazy skies, he added. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16639', 'image' => '20230201123523_20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 12:34:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16899', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labour Ministry to begin Time Card System within Six Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Laobur, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal on Tuesday committed to implement the idea of time card system within six months as part of timely service delivery. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Preparations are afoot to implement time card to provide labour-related service in the given time,” Minister Aryal said, adding that the civil servants must furnish reason for failure in service delivery. Minister Aryal directed the officials saying that dillydallying will not be tolerated in the offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the ministry has brought the ‘Shramadhan: 24-Hour Labour Assistance Centre’ into operation from Tuesday. The labourers from home and abroad can lodge their complaints, difficulties and grievances at the centre, which works as a call centre round-the-clock. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Aryal shared that a mobile app of Shramadhan would also be made public within six months. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16638', 'image' => '20230201115519_HRB-KTM-MinisterAryalb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:53:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16898', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Appeal Registered at Apex Court against Release of Cricketer Lamichhane ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail. Lamichhane is accused of raping a minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday filed the appeal at the apex court against the decision of the high court. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Scrapping the order of the District Court Kathmandu to remand Lamichhane to judicial custody, the High Court decided to release him conditionally with a bail amount of Rs 2 million. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A divisional bench of Patan High Court judges Ramesh Dhakal and Dhrubaraj Nandan on January 12 had issued the order to release Lamichhane on bail. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A charge sheet was registered against Lamichahne on September 5 accusing him of raping a 17-year-old girl. Lamichhane's lawyer had been claiming that the adolescent girl was not a minor on age ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After the registration of the charge sheet, Lamichhane was kept in judicial custody. Police had apprehended him from the Tribhuvan International Airport on October 6 last year. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16637', 'image' => '20230201111639_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:14:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16897', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Demand for Gold in International Market Highest in Over a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. Data show that this is the result of the increasing purchases from central banks and other investors seeking shelter from rocketing inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for the precious yellow metal, traditionally a safe haven for investment in times of economic and geopolitical turmoil, rocketed almost a fifth to 4,740.7 tonnes in 2022 from the previous year, AFP reported citing the World Gold Council (WGC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, purchases from central banks more than doubled to reach 1,136 tonnes, the highest total for more than five decades, as the Ukraine war fuelled inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold is very much... a long-term store of value and the fact is it performs well in a time of crisis," AFP quoted WGC analyst Louise Street as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"If you consider what's been happening in the backdrop of 2022, with geopolitics and rising inflation, those remain important drivers of demand."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold demand faces mixed prospects in 2023 but with upside potential," the WGC said, adding that investment will likely be supported by elevated recession and geopolitical risks, and jewellery demand should benefit from continued recovery in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Central bank buying could struggle to match 2022, however," it cautioned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The gold price had rebounded sharply in March 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the metal ended on a stable note to gain 1.25 percent in value over the course of the year, AFP added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the context of Nepal, gold is being traded at Rs 105,800 per tola (11.66 gm), which is slightly less than the all-time high price of Rs 106,000 on January 26.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association Chair Manik Ratna Shakya, the prices of gold and silver have soared in the Nepali market due to the rise in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prices of gold and silver are determined based on the international market prices.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16636', 'image' => '20230131074147_20230126043339_collage (90).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 19:41:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16896', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Corruption Perceptions Index Down in Nepal, says TI Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a report of 2022 unveiled by Nepal chapter of TI, Nepal has scored 34 points to rank 110th out of 180 countries. It was in 117th position with 33 points in 2021. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a programme on Tueday, Transparency International Nepal informed about the situation of the world and Nepal in the CPI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The imports and exports decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021. Nepal got more points in the survey of the World Economic Forum due to the decline in corruption relating to import and export," said Padmini Pradhananga, chairperson of TI Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Denmark is in the first position with 90 points while Somalia is in the last position with 12 points. Of the 180 countries, 58 countries have received more than 50 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Six different international organisations--- World Bank, World Economic Forum, Global Insight, Bartelesmann Foundation, World Justice and Varieties of Democratic Project (V-Dem) had carried out the survey of CPI in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The survey was carried out on various topics, including work performance of public office holders, access of civil society to information, import, export, public service, contract, judicial decision, trade, business, corruption, bribe, misuse of public post by the government representatives, parliament, judiciary and security bodies for personal interest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Transparency Intentional unveils Corruption Perceptions Index every year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => 'CPI, 2022, corruption, perceptions, index, improvement, Nepal, Transparency, International', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16635', 'image' => '20230131051847_CPI2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 17:16:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16895', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Entrepreneurs Protest against Banks’ Atrocities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. On Monday, the federation protested against the banks as well as the government at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joining the protest along with NNFE were New Baneshwor Business Association, Lalitpur Readymade Garment Business Association, Nepal Complex Business Association and others who protested at Maitighar with banners and placards.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs said that the government adopted a discriminatory policy towards entrepreneurs and because the entrepreneurs have been victimized when banks and financial institutions spread terror, they were forced to protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President of the Federation, Kumar Karki said that the banks started auctioning the houses by giving just 35 days’ notice to the entrepreneurs even though they were willing to p ay the loan and had asked for more time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that due to the high interest rates of banks, blacklisting and mortgage auctions, entrepreneurs are discouraged from doing business. He therefore urged the state to stop activities like increasing interest rates, blacklisting and mortgage auctions. He alleged that the banks did not give them time to pay the loan even when they asked for it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He warned that if the demands put forth by the Federation are not met, there will be a series of protests. The former president of the federation, Naresh Katuwal said that they were forced to agitate because the government did not fulfill their demands for a long time. He alleges that banks created panic by raising interest rates. He said that if the entrepreneur's demands are not addressed immediately, a massive protest will be initiated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lakshmi Khadka, the vice president of the federation said that the tendency of banks to auction mortgages at half the valuation has increased. She complained that the banks were harassing them by making the interest rate high where they should have eased the situation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Saroj Kumar Shrestha, president of the National Business Association said that due to the high interest rates of the banks, there is a situation where they have to stop the business. He said that the government needs to control the high interest rates of banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16634', 'image' => '20230131025746_Protest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 14:56:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16894', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Lament Lax Implementation of Labour Agreements ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the government has signed labour agreement with Malaysia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries for supplying the labourers at zero cost, this provision is not being implemented, according to the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a discussion programme entitled "recruitment advisor's progress and the role of stakeholder bodies in fair recruitment process" on Monday, they stressed on the effective implementation of the labour agreements. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has been conducting this programme in collaboration with the International Trade Union Confederation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An assessment by labourers using the Recruitment Advisor shows that 98 per cent of the labourers had to pay the recruitment fees for foreign employment. Those labourers who paid fees had to pay Rs 100,000 per person on an average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">General Secretary of South Asian Regional Trade Union Council (SARTUC) Laxman Basnet said that the employers of the destination countries have shared that they have been paying the recruitment fees of the labourers while the foreign employment agencies in Nepal have been complaining that they were not getting the service fees from the employers and hence could not supply the labourers at nominal cost. Basnet demanded to find out the problem in such a scenario. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said although the labourers are handed a receipt of payment of Rs 10,000 as recruitment fees, in practice they have to pay hundred thousand. It is difficult to raise voice against this unfair recruitment practice in the international forums for lack of evidence, he complained. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) Rajendra Bhandari stressed on the need of making the service charge due to the manpower companies well-managed. Saying that the process of supplying the labourers was highly cumbersome, he pointed out the need of amending the clauses 15 to 19 of the Foreign Employment Act. Bhandari further said the provision of revoking the registration of the manpower agency failing to send 100 labourers in a year was wrong and called for amending this provision as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">GEFONT president Binod Shrestha called for putting a stop to the unfair practice of charging hundred thousand rupees as fee from the labourers in violation of the provision of zero fees. Stating the form of exploitation has changed, he said those going abroad in the name of students were facing much exploitation in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha called for making the foreign employment well-managed and effective with the cooperation of all sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project coordinator of ILO, Neha Chaudhary said the ILO has been collaborating with the trade unions for enhancing the access of labourers to information and justice. She said the ILO was also collaborating with NAFEA for reforming the code of conduct of the foreign employment agencies. ILO was also conducting studies on the recruitment process in Nepal in view of the dearth of such studies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of the National Network for Safe Migration, Hari Thapa underscored on cooperation and synergy among the stakeholder agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Asia Coordinator of Recruitment Advisor, Sunil Neupane shared that 2,244 Nepali labourers have so far evaluated the manpower companies whose service they have used in the Recruitment Advisor that commenced from 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the Recruitment Advisor programme is also in operation in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka among other countries of South Asia. Information of European countries has also been started to incorporated in the Recruitment Advisory as the destination countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16633', 'image' => '20230131121435_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 12:13:48', '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' => '16908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI Discusses Connectivity, Regional Trade with NEDFi ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. </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 two sides held a meeting in this regard in Kathmandu on Wednesday. </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 delegation of NEDFi is here in course of studying the connectivity project between north east India and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha, Director General Gokarna Raj Awasthi, and a three-member team of NEFDi under the leadership of Mahendra P Lama, senior professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University were present during the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the two sides discussed issues related to the recent situation of trade and investment between the two countries and improvement in present trade and investment situation. They also discussed about the possibility of development of regional value chain among Nepal, north-eastern region of India and other south Asian countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian team had urged FNCCI to provide suggestions regarding obstruction on trade check points used by both the countries, initiatives to be taken to further facilitate import and export, investment expansion and problems related to import. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI said the two sides also discussed other issues including policy-level problems related to import/export, border security and technical coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Golchha said Nepal has always expected Indian support in economic development initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI shared that it would carry out study regarding the challenges and problems in expansion of regional economic relations including Nepal and India and submit the suggestions soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, FEFDi chairperson PVSLN Murty said small, middle and large scale enterprises have been getting financial aid for the establishment of industrial, infrastructure and agro related projects in north eastern region of India. He said the team was here to carry out a study for coordination with Nepal in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Prof Lama expressed commitment to help address the suggestions received from FNCCI through the authorities concerned. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16647', 'image' => '20230202121524_1675299261.Clipboard15.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 12:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Increase Spread Rate against the Directive of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Banks that could not expand their business due to lack of liquidity did so to gain profit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the unaudited financial statements published by the banks, most of the commercial banks increased the spread rate in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. Out of the 22 banks in operation, 17 increased their spread rates by mid-January 2023 compared to mid-October 2022. Four of them have lowered the spread rate while that of one commercial bank has remained stable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After widespread criticism that the banks earning profit while other sectors were struggling due to the current economic crisis, NRB introduced a policy to reduce the spread rate through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the review of monetary policy, it is announced that the spread rate of commercial banks will be reduced from 4.4 percent to 4 percent and that of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent. In order to implement the announcement, NRB issued instructions in mid-December and asked BFIs to reduce the spread rate in two stages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the instructions of NRB, the commercial banks will have to reduce the spread rate to 4.2 percent from mid-April and the development banks and finance companies will have to reduce it to 4.8 percent. From June, commercial banks should apply 4 percent and development banks and finance companies should apply 4.6 percent spread rate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the spread rate of the banks increased in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, there will be more pressure on the banks in the next quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Right now the spread rate of Nabil Bank and Kumari Bank is above 4.4 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In December, the spread rate of 19 banks was above 4 percent while the spread rate of 14 banks was above 4.2 percent. These banks have to reduce the spread rate to maintain the rate specified by the NRB in the next quarter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of Nepal Bankers Association and Chief Executive Officer of NMB Bank, Sunil KC says that banks will maintain the spread rate as per the instructions of NRB by the third quarter and that will reduce the interest rate of loans. He said, “As the banks have reduced the interest rate on deposits since January, the cost of capital will decrease in April, and the base rate will also decrease.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16646', 'image' => '20230202111324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 11:12:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 55,000 Foreign Tourists Arrived in Nepal via Air Route in January ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the data of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), more than 55,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via the air route in the first month of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that arrival of a significant number of tourists even in the off-season was a positive beginning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 16,436 tourists from India in January. Similarly, 6,561 tourists came from USA, 3,441 from Australia and 2,468 from Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that 16,436 tourists had visited Nepal in January, 2022 and 8,674 in January, 2021. The latest number is the highest since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal had increased in 2022 following a decline in coronavirus cases. According to the NTB, a total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to the onset of Covid-19, a total of 1.197 million foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2019 but the arrival of foreign tourists in Nepal decreased by 81 per cent due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when only 230,085 tourists visited the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 150,962 foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2021 which was less by 34.4 per cent as compared to 2020. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16645', 'image' => '20230202093719_20221111043446_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 09:36:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Remittance in Mobile Wallet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad. Nepal Rastra Bank issued the Unified Directive 2079 regarding the payment system on Tuesday and made arrangement to deposit remittance directly into mobile wallets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the provision in the directive, the payment service provider can make arrangements with the licensed remittance company so that the money coming from abroad is deposited directly in the electronic wallet operated in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provisions are also made so that a remittance company can operate a wallet company by establishing a subsidiary company. Similarly, NRB also opened applications for new licenses by increasing the paid-up capital of payment service providers and system operating companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has increased the limit of electronic payments through the unified directive and reduced the transaction fee. According to the instructions of NRB, banks can charge up to Rs 15 for the use of ATMs for inter-bank transactions. Earlier, two transactions per month were free and a maximum fee of Rs 20 was fixed for more than that.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the central bank has made arrangements for transactions up to Rs 300,000 per day through mobile applications and even QR codes. Earlier, the limit for such transactions was Rs 200,000 per day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rs 200,000 can be transacted daily from bank account to wallet, Rs 200,000 from wallet to other bank accounts and Rs 50,000 from one wallet to another wallet. Earlier, the limit of such transaction was Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. Although the monthly limit of such transaction is kept unchanged, the daily transaction limit has been increased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16644', 'image' => '20230201085918_20220303081648_20220210115450_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 20:58:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Employment Desk Removed at TIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment. Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal said that this move was taken to ensure that there is no discrimination against those who go for foreign employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a press conference held at the Ministry on Tuesday, Minister Aryal said that from now onwards, there will be just one queue for all travelers including students, tourism, professional and those opting for foreign employment. According to him, the desk set up for foreign employment hurt the self-esteem of Nepali going abroad for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Aryal further said that the call center at the Ministry of Labor has been converted into a four-hour labor assistance center because it is related to laborers living inside and outside Nepal. He said that the time card of all labor-related work will be implemented within 6 months to listen to the complaints and problems of the workers. He said that the ministry has prepared an action plan to resolve the labor-related complaints within the specified time. He said that if the problem is not solved even in six months, he will seek explanations from the government employees.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16643', 'image' => '20230201070028_20200922040433_20200310105652_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 19:00:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Addressing Multiple Crises Amid Economic Slowdown Key Priority for IFC’s New Regional Vice President', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific. According to IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group, Puliti will oversee IFC’s regional efforts in spurring private sector growth and identifying impactful collaborations for a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery, in response to multiple crises and a deteriorating global economic outlook.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Economies in the Asia and Pacific region continue to suffer from COVD-19 disruptions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tightening global financial conditions, including through higher food and energy prices, the IFC said citing the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report adding weaker global growth and more frequent disruptive weather events linked to climate change threaten to dampen the region’s growth trajectory.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In taking on the role as IFC’s Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, Puliti stressed the need for more private sector investment, given the limited fiscal space of countries in the region, a statement issued by IFC reads.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“With the global economy facing multiple headwinds this year, there is an urgent need for more private investment in the region to create jobs and boost output,” the statement quoted Puliti as saying. “With the right policies in place to attract and incentivize new investment, countries can leverage private sector financing to help meet their large unmet investment needs. The reality is investment growth in emerging markets and developing economies in Asia and the Pacific – as in the rest of the world – remains below the average rate of the last two decades. That must be turned around as history tells us strong investment growth delivers dividends. It is also vital for climate targets and to progress the development of clean, renewable and affordable energy and seize all the opportunities digital infrastructure can deliver for the region’s people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An Italian national, Puliti most recently served as the Vice President for Infrastructure at the World Bank, leading the Bank's global efforts to build effective infrastructure in developing and emerging markets. Previously, Puliti served as Regional Director, Infrastructure, Africa, and before that as Global Director, Energy & Extractives. Before joining the World Bank Group, Puliti was Managing Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Asia and the Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks, underscoring the need for urgent action to protect the lives and livelihoods of billions of people,” Puliti said. “The region also needs to bridge the massive trillion-dollar infrastructure gap, limiting people’s access to basic services. Gender equality, digital growth, and capital mobilization are also key priorities as IFC continues to work to improve financial inclusion, strengthen health care systems, and increase access to finance for smaller businesses, as they are the engine of growth in the region and key incubators of jobs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Puliti holds an MBA from Instituto Superior de Estudios de la Empresa (IESE) and completed his postgraduate studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Imperial College.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16642', 'image' => '20230201060731_IFC-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 18:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16902', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rental Vehicles to be Allowed into Singha Durbar from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Dol Prasad Aryal shared that such an arrangement was made for the people with disabilities to easily enter into the Singha Durbar Complex. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until now, only the vehicles owned by the government or those bearing private, diplomatic and tourist number plates were permitted to enter the country's central administrative building. Taking into the consideration the security issue, the government had been restricting entrance of vehicles-on-rent into the Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrangement was made in coordination with the Home Ministry so as to ease the entrance of the people with disabilities to Singha Durbar. It will come to effect from February 1," Minister Aryal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further informed that security personal would facilitate the entrance of the vehicles carrying PWDs based on the state-provided identity cards. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16641', 'image' => '20230201015828_singhadurbar-1-1310227299.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:57:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry to Cut Down Recurrent Expenses', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government. The government has come up with an idea to cut off regular spending in an attempt to keep a balance in public finance, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said. </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"">In this regard, the ministry has decided to cut off recurrent expenses as part of its austerity measure. With the implementation of the decision, a total of Rs 10.5 billion would be saved, reads a press statement issued by the MoF on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has decided to increase spending in the national pride and game changer projects, and those substantially contributing to the creation of jobs by re-prioritizing budget expenditure system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the government has decided to slash 20 percent budget approved for headings including fuel, maintenance, stationery and office materials, newspapers, printing and publication of information, service and consultancy incurred by all the ministries and agencies of the federal government, </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, budget approved for information system and software operation, travel and other allowances, programme cost, monitoring and evaluation cost, staff training, workshop and seminar, sundry expenses, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures and structural improvement of the buildings would also be reduced by 20 percent, the ministry said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to proceed with the procurement process of the projects approved in budget without the consent of the MoF if the procurement process of those projects hasn’t started yet.</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 ministry has also decided not to undertake any survey if it creates new vacancies. It has also decided not to open any new vacant posts and deploy employees exceeding the vacancy quota. If there is a need to deploy any new employ, the ministry has given the approval to take the process ahead by creating temporary posts.</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 ministry has also decided to suspend all seminars, meetings and workshops that causes financial burden to the state coffers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, any government official attending programmes in a foreign trip with public money must seek approval from the MoF. </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 ministry has also decided not to budget transfer from one heading to another.</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 ministry has decided to stop execution of budgetary projects and programmes which are yet to start and not to create extra burden of payment in the current fiscal year. The decision is applicable to all universities, foundation/academy, regulatory bodies, boards and all constitutional bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to instruct the province and local governments to reduce expenditure, excluding mandatory obligations under the recurrent heading by 20 percent. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16640', 'image' => '20230201014752_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Trans-Himalayan Districts Experience Dry Spell, No Snowfall and Rain this Winter ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang. "By this time last year, we had experienced snowfall several times. There is no indication of snowfall this time around," he reflected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang has not witnessed snowfall this winter even though the winter season is about to end. Villages and settlements are drying up due to lack of rainfall this season. The cliffs and ridges look dry and nude, not appealing anymore. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In absence of snowfall, farmers are worried about their crops. Their harvests are on the verge of wilting, especially in the areas having no irrigation facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thakali said winter crops such as barley, wheat, onion and potato do not show any sign of 'yielding' in absence of snowfall. The popular tourism destinations of the trans-Himalayan district which looked majestic with snow in the winter season now appear to be deserted, he lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deepak Lalchan, an apple farmer of Gharpajhong-2, Marfa, said moisture required for fruits and crops is lacking as snowfall is yet to occurr. "Most probably apple yield will be badly affected because there is no adequate moisture," he said, adding, "Marfa has irrigation facility and is not in a worrisome state." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nevertheless, farmers of Thasang which is a fertile land for barley are worried because of the dry spell. There is no facility of irrigation in Thasang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Himalayan life along with cultivation has also been affected in the absence of snowfall and rain. Lalchan shared that they were now experiencing warm weather when it is the time for chilling cold. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Those descending to plain and city areas to ward off the chilly days are also surprised to know 'there was no snowfall in the high-altitude areas this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Acting Chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Mustang, Prakash Bastakoti said quantity and quality of the winter crops would be affected if there is no snowfall and rain in the winter. "Production would drop if the moisture necessary for flowering of apple trees is not adequately maintained," he said, adding the farmers are awaiting for snowfall for cultivation of potato and for already-cultivated barley and wheat to grow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bastakoti observed, "No snowfall till the onset of February could be because of the effects of climate change. If this trend continues to prevail new variant of crops would get entry in the Himalayan region. Production of indigenous crops may plummet". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately, the upper belt of Mustang has also witnessed the production of vegetable items such as cucumber and tomato, Bastakoti shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only Mustang, no Himalayan districts and higher altitude areas of Gandaki province have experienced snowfall in the season as of now. Even no rainfall has occurred. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Gandaki Province Agriculture Development Directorate, Basudev Regmi said the unexpected climate condition has direct bearing on the winter crops cultivated in the high altitude areas of Mustang, Manang, Myagdi and Baglung. "Loss and damage is incurred in the areas having no irrigation facilities in the absence of snowfall and rain". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Weather Forecasting Division, Sanjeeb Adhikari said immediately there is no chance of rainfall in the Gandaki province areas. The prevailing weather system would not bring rain despite hazy skies, he added. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16639', 'image' => '20230201123523_20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 12:34:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16899', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labour Ministry to begin Time Card System within Six Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Laobur, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal on Tuesday committed to implement the idea of time card system within six months as part of timely service delivery. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Preparations are afoot to implement time card to provide labour-related service in the given time,” Minister Aryal said, adding that the civil servants must furnish reason for failure in service delivery. Minister Aryal directed the officials saying that dillydallying will not be tolerated in the offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the ministry has brought the ‘Shramadhan: 24-Hour Labour Assistance Centre’ into operation from Tuesday. The labourers from home and abroad can lodge their complaints, difficulties and grievances at the centre, which works as a call centre round-the-clock. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Aryal shared that a mobile app of Shramadhan would also be made public within six months. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16638', 'image' => '20230201115519_HRB-KTM-MinisterAryalb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:53:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16898', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Appeal Registered at Apex Court against Release of Cricketer Lamichhane ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail. Lamichhane is accused of raping a minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday filed the appeal at the apex court against the decision of the high court. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Scrapping the order of the District Court Kathmandu to remand Lamichhane to judicial custody, the High Court decided to release him conditionally with a bail amount of Rs 2 million. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A divisional bench of Patan High Court judges Ramesh Dhakal and Dhrubaraj Nandan on January 12 had issued the order to release Lamichhane on bail. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A charge sheet was registered against Lamichahne on September 5 accusing him of raping a 17-year-old girl. Lamichhane's lawyer had been claiming that the adolescent girl was not a minor on age ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After the registration of the charge sheet, Lamichhane was kept in judicial custody. Police had apprehended him from the Tribhuvan International Airport on October 6 last year. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16637', 'image' => '20230201111639_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:14:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16897', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Demand for Gold in International Market Highest in Over a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. Data show that this is the result of the increasing purchases from central banks and other investors seeking shelter from rocketing inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for the precious yellow metal, traditionally a safe haven for investment in times of economic and geopolitical turmoil, rocketed almost a fifth to 4,740.7 tonnes in 2022 from the previous year, AFP reported citing the World Gold Council (WGC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, purchases from central banks more than doubled to reach 1,136 tonnes, the highest total for more than five decades, as the Ukraine war fuelled inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold is very much... a long-term store of value and the fact is it performs well in a time of crisis," AFP quoted WGC analyst Louise Street as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"If you consider what's been happening in the backdrop of 2022, with geopolitics and rising inflation, those remain important drivers of demand."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold demand faces mixed prospects in 2023 but with upside potential," the WGC said, adding that investment will likely be supported by elevated recession and geopolitical risks, and jewellery demand should benefit from continued recovery in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Central bank buying could struggle to match 2022, however," it cautioned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The gold price had rebounded sharply in March 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the metal ended on a stable note to gain 1.25 percent in value over the course of the year, AFP added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the context of Nepal, gold is being traded at Rs 105,800 per tola (11.66 gm), which is slightly less than the all-time high price of Rs 106,000 on January 26.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association Chair Manik Ratna Shakya, the prices of gold and silver have soared in the Nepali market due to the rise in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prices of gold and silver are determined based on the international market prices.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16636', 'image' => '20230131074147_20230126043339_collage (90).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 19:41:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16896', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Corruption Perceptions Index Down in Nepal, says TI Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a report of 2022 unveiled by Nepal chapter of TI, Nepal has scored 34 points to rank 110th out of 180 countries. It was in 117th position with 33 points in 2021. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a programme on Tueday, Transparency International Nepal informed about the situation of the world and Nepal in the CPI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The imports and exports decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021. Nepal got more points in the survey of the World Economic Forum due to the decline in corruption relating to import and export," said Padmini Pradhananga, chairperson of TI Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Denmark is in the first position with 90 points while Somalia is in the last position with 12 points. Of the 180 countries, 58 countries have received more than 50 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Six different international organisations--- World Bank, World Economic Forum, Global Insight, Bartelesmann Foundation, World Justice and Varieties of Democratic Project (V-Dem) had carried out the survey of CPI in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The survey was carried out on various topics, including work performance of public office holders, access of civil society to information, import, export, public service, contract, judicial decision, trade, business, corruption, bribe, misuse of public post by the government representatives, parliament, judiciary and security bodies for personal interest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Transparency Intentional unveils Corruption Perceptions Index every year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => 'CPI, 2022, corruption, perceptions, index, improvement, Nepal, Transparency, International', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16635', 'image' => '20230131051847_CPI2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 17:16:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16895', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Entrepreneurs Protest against Banks’ Atrocities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. On Monday, the federation protested against the banks as well as the government at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joining the protest along with NNFE were New Baneshwor Business Association, Lalitpur Readymade Garment Business Association, Nepal Complex Business Association and others who protested at Maitighar with banners and placards.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs said that the government adopted a discriminatory policy towards entrepreneurs and because the entrepreneurs have been victimized when banks and financial institutions spread terror, they were forced to protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President of the Federation, Kumar Karki said that the banks started auctioning the houses by giving just 35 days’ notice to the entrepreneurs even though they were willing to p ay the loan and had asked for more time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that due to the high interest rates of banks, blacklisting and mortgage auctions, entrepreneurs are discouraged from doing business. He therefore urged the state to stop activities like increasing interest rates, blacklisting and mortgage auctions. He alleged that the banks did not give them time to pay the loan even when they asked for it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He warned that if the demands put forth by the Federation are not met, there will be a series of protests. The former president of the federation, Naresh Katuwal said that they were forced to agitate because the government did not fulfill their demands for a long time. He alleges that banks created panic by raising interest rates. He said that if the entrepreneur's demands are not addressed immediately, a massive protest will be initiated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lakshmi Khadka, the vice president of the federation said that the tendency of banks to auction mortgages at half the valuation has increased. She complained that the banks were harassing them by making the interest rate high where they should have eased the situation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Saroj Kumar Shrestha, president of the National Business Association said that due to the high interest rates of the banks, there is a situation where they have to stop the business. He said that the government needs to control the high interest rates of banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16634', 'image' => '20230131025746_Protest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 14:56:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16894', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Lament Lax Implementation of Labour Agreements ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the government has signed labour agreement with Malaysia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries for supplying the labourers at zero cost, this provision is not being implemented, according to the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a discussion programme entitled "recruitment advisor's progress and the role of stakeholder bodies in fair recruitment process" on Monday, they stressed on the effective implementation of the labour agreements. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has been conducting this programme in collaboration with the International Trade Union Confederation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An assessment by labourers using the Recruitment Advisor shows that 98 per cent of the labourers had to pay the recruitment fees for foreign employment. Those labourers who paid fees had to pay Rs 100,000 per person on an average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">General Secretary of South Asian Regional Trade Union Council (SARTUC) Laxman Basnet said that the employers of the destination countries have shared that they have been paying the recruitment fees of the labourers while the foreign employment agencies in Nepal have been complaining that they were not getting the service fees from the employers and hence could not supply the labourers at nominal cost. Basnet demanded to find out the problem in such a scenario. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said although the labourers are handed a receipt of payment of Rs 10,000 as recruitment fees, in practice they have to pay hundred thousand. It is difficult to raise voice against this unfair recruitment practice in the international forums for lack of evidence, he complained. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) Rajendra Bhandari stressed on the need of making the service charge due to the manpower companies well-managed. Saying that the process of supplying the labourers was highly cumbersome, he pointed out the need of amending the clauses 15 to 19 of the Foreign Employment Act. Bhandari further said the provision of revoking the registration of the manpower agency failing to send 100 labourers in a year was wrong and called for amending this provision as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">GEFONT president Binod Shrestha called for putting a stop to the unfair practice of charging hundred thousand rupees as fee from the labourers in violation of the provision of zero fees. Stating the form of exploitation has changed, he said those going abroad in the name of students were facing much exploitation in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha called for making the foreign employment well-managed and effective with the cooperation of all sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project coordinator of ILO, Neha Chaudhary said the ILO has been collaborating with the trade unions for enhancing the access of labourers to information and justice. She said the ILO was also collaborating with NAFEA for reforming the code of conduct of the foreign employment agencies. ILO was also conducting studies on the recruitment process in Nepal in view of the dearth of such studies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of the National Network for Safe Migration, Hari Thapa underscored on cooperation and synergy among the stakeholder agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Asia Coordinator of Recruitment Advisor, Sunil Neupane shared that 2,244 Nepali labourers have so far evaluated the manpower companies whose service they have used in the Recruitment Advisor that commenced from 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the Recruitment Advisor programme is also in operation in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka among other countries of South Asia. Information of European countries has also been started to incorporated in the Recruitment Advisory as the destination countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16633', 'image' => '20230131121435_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 12:13:48', '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' => '16908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI Discusses Connectivity, Regional Trade with NEDFi ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. </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 two sides held a meeting in this regard in Kathmandu on Wednesday. </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 delegation of NEDFi is here in course of studying the connectivity project between north east India and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha, Director General Gokarna Raj Awasthi, and a three-member team of NEFDi under the leadership of Mahendra P Lama, senior professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University were present during the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the two sides discussed issues related to the recent situation of trade and investment between the two countries and improvement in present trade and investment situation. They also discussed about the possibility of development of regional value chain among Nepal, north-eastern region of India and other south Asian countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian team had urged FNCCI to provide suggestions regarding obstruction on trade check points used by both the countries, initiatives to be taken to further facilitate import and export, investment expansion and problems related to import. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI said the two sides also discussed other issues including policy-level problems related to import/export, border security and technical coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Golchha said Nepal has always expected Indian support in economic development initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI shared that it would carry out study regarding the challenges and problems in expansion of regional economic relations including Nepal and India and submit the suggestions soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, FEFDi chairperson PVSLN Murty said small, middle and large scale enterprises have been getting financial aid for the establishment of industrial, infrastructure and agro related projects in north eastern region of India. He said the team was here to carry out a study for coordination with Nepal in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Prof Lama expressed commitment to help address the suggestions received from FNCCI through the authorities concerned. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16647', 'image' => '20230202121524_1675299261.Clipboard15.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 12:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Increase Spread Rate against the Directive of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Banks that could not expand their business due to lack of liquidity did so to gain profit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the unaudited financial statements published by the banks, most of the commercial banks increased the spread rate in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. Out of the 22 banks in operation, 17 increased their spread rates by mid-January 2023 compared to mid-October 2022. Four of them have lowered the spread rate while that of one commercial bank has remained stable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After widespread criticism that the banks earning profit while other sectors were struggling due to the current economic crisis, NRB introduced a policy to reduce the spread rate through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the review of monetary policy, it is announced that the spread rate of commercial banks will be reduced from 4.4 percent to 4 percent and that of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent. In order to implement the announcement, NRB issued instructions in mid-December and asked BFIs to reduce the spread rate in two stages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the instructions of NRB, the commercial banks will have to reduce the spread rate to 4.2 percent from mid-April and the development banks and finance companies will have to reduce it to 4.8 percent. From June, commercial banks should apply 4 percent and development banks and finance companies should apply 4.6 percent spread rate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the spread rate of the banks increased in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, there will be more pressure on the banks in the next quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Right now the spread rate of Nabil Bank and Kumari Bank is above 4.4 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In December, the spread rate of 19 banks was above 4 percent while the spread rate of 14 banks was above 4.2 percent. These banks have to reduce the spread rate to maintain the rate specified by the NRB in the next quarter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of Nepal Bankers Association and Chief Executive Officer of NMB Bank, Sunil KC says that banks will maintain the spread rate as per the instructions of NRB by the third quarter and that will reduce the interest rate of loans. He said, “As the banks have reduced the interest rate on deposits since January, the cost of capital will decrease in April, and the base rate will also decrease.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16646', 'image' => '20230202111324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 11:12:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 55,000 Foreign Tourists Arrived in Nepal via Air Route in January ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the data of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), more than 55,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via the air route in the first month of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that arrival of a significant number of tourists even in the off-season was a positive beginning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 16,436 tourists from India in January. Similarly, 6,561 tourists came from USA, 3,441 from Australia and 2,468 from Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that 16,436 tourists had visited Nepal in January, 2022 and 8,674 in January, 2021. The latest number is the highest since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal had increased in 2022 following a decline in coronavirus cases. According to the NTB, a total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to the onset of Covid-19, a total of 1.197 million foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2019 but the arrival of foreign tourists in Nepal decreased by 81 per cent due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when only 230,085 tourists visited the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 150,962 foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2021 which was less by 34.4 per cent as compared to 2020. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16645', 'image' => '20230202093719_20221111043446_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 09:36:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Remittance in Mobile Wallet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad. Nepal Rastra Bank issued the Unified Directive 2079 regarding the payment system on Tuesday and made arrangement to deposit remittance directly into mobile wallets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the provision in the directive, the payment service provider can make arrangements with the licensed remittance company so that the money coming from abroad is deposited directly in the electronic wallet operated in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provisions are also made so that a remittance company can operate a wallet company by establishing a subsidiary company. Similarly, NRB also opened applications for new licenses by increasing the paid-up capital of payment service providers and system operating companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has increased the limit of electronic payments through the unified directive and reduced the transaction fee. According to the instructions of NRB, banks can charge up to Rs 15 for the use of ATMs for inter-bank transactions. Earlier, two transactions per month were free and a maximum fee of Rs 20 was fixed for more than that.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the central bank has made arrangements for transactions up to Rs 300,000 per day through mobile applications and even QR codes. Earlier, the limit for such transactions was Rs 200,000 per day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rs 200,000 can be transacted daily from bank account to wallet, Rs 200,000 from wallet to other bank accounts and Rs 50,000 from one wallet to another wallet. Earlier, the limit of such transaction was Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. Although the monthly limit of such transaction is kept unchanged, the daily transaction limit has been increased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16644', 'image' => '20230201085918_20220303081648_20220210115450_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 20:58:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Employment Desk Removed at TIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment. Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal said that this move was taken to ensure that there is no discrimination against those who go for foreign employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a press conference held at the Ministry on Tuesday, Minister Aryal said that from now onwards, there will be just one queue for all travelers including students, tourism, professional and those opting for foreign employment. According to him, the desk set up for foreign employment hurt the self-esteem of Nepali going abroad for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Aryal further said that the call center at the Ministry of Labor has been converted into a four-hour labor assistance center because it is related to laborers living inside and outside Nepal. He said that the time card of all labor-related work will be implemented within 6 months to listen to the complaints and problems of the workers. He said that the ministry has prepared an action plan to resolve the labor-related complaints within the specified time. He said that if the problem is not solved even in six months, he will seek explanations from the government employees.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16643', 'image' => '20230201070028_20200922040433_20200310105652_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 19:00:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Addressing Multiple Crises Amid Economic Slowdown Key Priority for IFC’s New Regional Vice President', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific. According to IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group, Puliti will oversee IFC’s regional efforts in spurring private sector growth and identifying impactful collaborations for a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery, in response to multiple crises and a deteriorating global economic outlook.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Economies in the Asia and Pacific region continue to suffer from COVD-19 disruptions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tightening global financial conditions, including through higher food and energy prices, the IFC said citing the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report adding weaker global growth and more frequent disruptive weather events linked to climate change threaten to dampen the region’s growth trajectory.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In taking on the role as IFC’s Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, Puliti stressed the need for more private sector investment, given the limited fiscal space of countries in the region, a statement issued by IFC reads.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“With the global economy facing multiple headwinds this year, there is an urgent need for more private investment in the region to create jobs and boost output,” the statement quoted Puliti as saying. “With the right policies in place to attract and incentivize new investment, countries can leverage private sector financing to help meet their large unmet investment needs. The reality is investment growth in emerging markets and developing economies in Asia and the Pacific – as in the rest of the world – remains below the average rate of the last two decades. That must be turned around as history tells us strong investment growth delivers dividends. It is also vital for climate targets and to progress the development of clean, renewable and affordable energy and seize all the opportunities digital infrastructure can deliver for the region’s people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An Italian national, Puliti most recently served as the Vice President for Infrastructure at the World Bank, leading the Bank's global efforts to build effective infrastructure in developing and emerging markets. Previously, Puliti served as Regional Director, Infrastructure, Africa, and before that as Global Director, Energy & Extractives. Before joining the World Bank Group, Puliti was Managing Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Asia and the Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks, underscoring the need for urgent action to protect the lives and livelihoods of billions of people,” Puliti said. “The region also needs to bridge the massive trillion-dollar infrastructure gap, limiting people’s access to basic services. Gender equality, digital growth, and capital mobilization are also key priorities as IFC continues to work to improve financial inclusion, strengthen health care systems, and increase access to finance for smaller businesses, as they are the engine of growth in the region and key incubators of jobs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Puliti holds an MBA from Instituto Superior de Estudios de la Empresa (IESE) and completed his postgraduate studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Imperial College.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16642', 'image' => '20230201060731_IFC-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 18:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16902', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rental Vehicles to be Allowed into Singha Durbar from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Dol Prasad Aryal shared that such an arrangement was made for the people with disabilities to easily enter into the Singha Durbar Complex. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until now, only the vehicles owned by the government or those bearing private, diplomatic and tourist number plates were permitted to enter the country's central administrative building. Taking into the consideration the security issue, the government had been restricting entrance of vehicles-on-rent into the Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrangement was made in coordination with the Home Ministry so as to ease the entrance of the people with disabilities to Singha Durbar. It will come to effect from February 1," Minister Aryal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further informed that security personal would facilitate the entrance of the vehicles carrying PWDs based on the state-provided identity cards. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16641', 'image' => '20230201015828_singhadurbar-1-1310227299.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:57:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry to Cut Down Recurrent Expenses', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government. The government has come up with an idea to cut off regular spending in an attempt to keep a balance in public finance, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said. </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"">In this regard, the ministry has decided to cut off recurrent expenses as part of its austerity measure. With the implementation of the decision, a total of Rs 10.5 billion would be saved, reads a press statement issued by the MoF on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has decided to increase spending in the national pride and game changer projects, and those substantially contributing to the creation of jobs by re-prioritizing budget expenditure system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the government has decided to slash 20 percent budget approved for headings including fuel, maintenance, stationery and office materials, newspapers, printing and publication of information, service and consultancy incurred by all the ministries and agencies of the federal government, </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, budget approved for information system and software operation, travel and other allowances, programme cost, monitoring and evaluation cost, staff training, workshop and seminar, sundry expenses, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures and structural improvement of the buildings would also be reduced by 20 percent, the ministry said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to proceed with the procurement process of the projects approved in budget without the consent of the MoF if the procurement process of those projects hasn’t started yet.</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 ministry has also decided not to undertake any survey if it creates new vacancies. It has also decided not to open any new vacant posts and deploy employees exceeding the vacancy quota. If there is a need to deploy any new employ, the ministry has given the approval to take the process ahead by creating temporary posts.</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 ministry has also decided to suspend all seminars, meetings and workshops that causes financial burden to the state coffers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, any government official attending programmes in a foreign trip with public money must seek approval from the MoF. </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 ministry has also decided not to budget transfer from one heading to another.</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 ministry has decided to stop execution of budgetary projects and programmes which are yet to start and not to create extra burden of payment in the current fiscal year. The decision is applicable to all universities, foundation/academy, regulatory bodies, boards and all constitutional bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to instruct the province and local governments to reduce expenditure, excluding mandatory obligations under the recurrent heading by 20 percent. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16640', 'image' => '20230201014752_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Trans-Himalayan Districts Experience Dry Spell, No Snowfall and Rain this Winter ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang. "By this time last year, we had experienced snowfall several times. There is no indication of snowfall this time around," he reflected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang has not witnessed snowfall this winter even though the winter season is about to end. Villages and settlements are drying up due to lack of rainfall this season. The cliffs and ridges look dry and nude, not appealing anymore. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In absence of snowfall, farmers are worried about their crops. Their harvests are on the verge of wilting, especially in the areas having no irrigation facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thakali said winter crops such as barley, wheat, onion and potato do not show any sign of 'yielding' in absence of snowfall. The popular tourism destinations of the trans-Himalayan district which looked majestic with snow in the winter season now appear to be deserted, he lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deepak Lalchan, an apple farmer of Gharpajhong-2, Marfa, said moisture required for fruits and crops is lacking as snowfall is yet to occurr. "Most probably apple yield will be badly affected because there is no adequate moisture," he said, adding, "Marfa has irrigation facility and is not in a worrisome state." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nevertheless, farmers of Thasang which is a fertile land for barley are worried because of the dry spell. There is no facility of irrigation in Thasang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Himalayan life along with cultivation has also been affected in the absence of snowfall and rain. Lalchan shared that they were now experiencing warm weather when it is the time for chilling cold. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Those descending to plain and city areas to ward off the chilly days are also surprised to know 'there was no snowfall in the high-altitude areas this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Acting Chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Mustang, Prakash Bastakoti said quantity and quality of the winter crops would be affected if there is no snowfall and rain in the winter. "Production would drop if the moisture necessary for flowering of apple trees is not adequately maintained," he said, adding the farmers are awaiting for snowfall for cultivation of potato and for already-cultivated barley and wheat to grow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bastakoti observed, "No snowfall till the onset of February could be because of the effects of climate change. If this trend continues to prevail new variant of crops would get entry in the Himalayan region. Production of indigenous crops may plummet". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately, the upper belt of Mustang has also witnessed the production of vegetable items such as cucumber and tomato, Bastakoti shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only Mustang, no Himalayan districts and higher altitude areas of Gandaki province have experienced snowfall in the season as of now. Even no rainfall has occurred. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Gandaki Province Agriculture Development Directorate, Basudev Regmi said the unexpected climate condition has direct bearing on the winter crops cultivated in the high altitude areas of Mustang, Manang, Myagdi and Baglung. "Loss and damage is incurred in the areas having no irrigation facilities in the absence of snowfall and rain". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Weather Forecasting Division, Sanjeeb Adhikari said immediately there is no chance of rainfall in the Gandaki province areas. The prevailing weather system would not bring rain despite hazy skies, he added. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16639', 'image' => '20230201123523_20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 12:34:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16899', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labour Ministry to begin Time Card System within Six Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Laobur, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal on Tuesday committed to implement the idea of time card system within six months as part of timely service delivery. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Preparations are afoot to implement time card to provide labour-related service in the given time,” Minister Aryal said, adding that the civil servants must furnish reason for failure in service delivery. Minister Aryal directed the officials saying that dillydallying will not be tolerated in the offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the ministry has brought the ‘Shramadhan: 24-Hour Labour Assistance Centre’ into operation from Tuesday. The labourers from home and abroad can lodge their complaints, difficulties and grievances at the centre, which works as a call centre round-the-clock. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Aryal shared that a mobile app of Shramadhan would also be made public within six months. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16638', 'image' => '20230201115519_HRB-KTM-MinisterAryalb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:53:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16898', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Appeal Registered at Apex Court against Release of Cricketer Lamichhane ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail. Lamichhane is accused of raping a minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday filed the appeal at the apex court against the decision of the high court. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Scrapping the order of the District Court Kathmandu to remand Lamichhane to judicial custody, the High Court decided to release him conditionally with a bail amount of Rs 2 million. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A divisional bench of Patan High Court judges Ramesh Dhakal and Dhrubaraj Nandan on January 12 had issued the order to release Lamichhane on bail. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A charge sheet was registered against Lamichahne on September 5 accusing him of raping a 17-year-old girl. Lamichhane's lawyer had been claiming that the adolescent girl was not a minor on age ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After the registration of the charge sheet, Lamichhane was kept in judicial custody. Police had apprehended him from the Tribhuvan International Airport on October 6 last year. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16637', 'image' => '20230201111639_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:14:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16897', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Demand for Gold in International Market Highest in Over a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. Data show that this is the result of the increasing purchases from central banks and other investors seeking shelter from rocketing inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for the precious yellow metal, traditionally a safe haven for investment in times of economic and geopolitical turmoil, rocketed almost a fifth to 4,740.7 tonnes in 2022 from the previous year, AFP reported citing the World Gold Council (WGC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, purchases from central banks more than doubled to reach 1,136 tonnes, the highest total for more than five decades, as the Ukraine war fuelled inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold is very much... a long-term store of value and the fact is it performs well in a time of crisis," AFP quoted WGC analyst Louise Street as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"If you consider what's been happening in the backdrop of 2022, with geopolitics and rising inflation, those remain important drivers of demand."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold demand faces mixed prospects in 2023 but with upside potential," the WGC said, adding that investment will likely be supported by elevated recession and geopolitical risks, and jewellery demand should benefit from continued recovery in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Central bank buying could struggle to match 2022, however," it cautioned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The gold price had rebounded sharply in March 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the metal ended on a stable note to gain 1.25 percent in value over the course of the year, AFP added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the context of Nepal, gold is being traded at Rs 105,800 per tola (11.66 gm), which is slightly less than the all-time high price of Rs 106,000 on January 26.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association Chair Manik Ratna Shakya, the prices of gold and silver have soared in the Nepali market due to the rise in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prices of gold and silver are determined based on the international market prices.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16636', 'image' => '20230131074147_20230126043339_collage (90).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 19:41:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16896', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Corruption Perceptions Index Down in Nepal, says TI Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a report of 2022 unveiled by Nepal chapter of TI, Nepal has scored 34 points to rank 110th out of 180 countries. It was in 117th position with 33 points in 2021. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a programme on Tueday, Transparency International Nepal informed about the situation of the world and Nepal in the CPI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The imports and exports decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021. Nepal got more points in the survey of the World Economic Forum due to the decline in corruption relating to import and export," said Padmini Pradhananga, chairperson of TI Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Denmark is in the first position with 90 points while Somalia is in the last position with 12 points. Of the 180 countries, 58 countries have received more than 50 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Six different international organisations--- World Bank, World Economic Forum, Global Insight, Bartelesmann Foundation, World Justice and Varieties of Democratic Project (V-Dem) had carried out the survey of CPI in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The survey was carried out on various topics, including work performance of public office holders, access of civil society to information, import, export, public service, contract, judicial decision, trade, business, corruption, bribe, misuse of public post by the government representatives, parliament, judiciary and security bodies for personal interest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Transparency Intentional unveils Corruption Perceptions Index every year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => 'CPI, 2022, corruption, perceptions, index, improvement, Nepal, Transparency, International', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16635', 'image' => '20230131051847_CPI2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 17:16:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16895', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Entrepreneurs Protest against Banks’ Atrocities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. On Monday, the federation protested against the banks as well as the government at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joining the protest along with NNFE were New Baneshwor Business Association, Lalitpur Readymade Garment Business Association, Nepal Complex Business Association and others who protested at Maitighar with banners and placards.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs said that the government adopted a discriminatory policy towards entrepreneurs and because the entrepreneurs have been victimized when banks and financial institutions spread terror, they were forced to protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President of the Federation, Kumar Karki said that the banks started auctioning the houses by giving just 35 days’ notice to the entrepreneurs even though they were willing to p ay the loan and had asked for more time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that due to the high interest rates of banks, blacklisting and mortgage auctions, entrepreneurs are discouraged from doing business. He therefore urged the state to stop activities like increasing interest rates, blacklisting and mortgage auctions. He alleged that the banks did not give them time to pay the loan even when they asked for it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He warned that if the demands put forth by the Federation are not met, there will be a series of protests. The former president of the federation, Naresh Katuwal said that they were forced to agitate because the government did not fulfill their demands for a long time. He alleges that banks created panic by raising interest rates. He said that if the entrepreneur's demands are not addressed immediately, a massive protest will be initiated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lakshmi Khadka, the vice president of the federation said that the tendency of banks to auction mortgages at half the valuation has increased. She complained that the banks were harassing them by making the interest rate high where they should have eased the situation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Saroj Kumar Shrestha, president of the National Business Association said that due to the high interest rates of the banks, there is a situation where they have to stop the business. He said that the government needs to control the high interest rates of banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16634', 'image' => '20230131025746_Protest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 14:56:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16894', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Lament Lax Implementation of Labour Agreements ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the government has signed labour agreement with Malaysia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries for supplying the labourers at zero cost, this provision is not being implemented, according to the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a discussion programme entitled "recruitment advisor's progress and the role of stakeholder bodies in fair recruitment process" on Monday, they stressed on the effective implementation of the labour agreements. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has been conducting this programme in collaboration with the International Trade Union Confederation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An assessment by labourers using the Recruitment Advisor shows that 98 per cent of the labourers had to pay the recruitment fees for foreign employment. Those labourers who paid fees had to pay Rs 100,000 per person on an average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">General Secretary of South Asian Regional Trade Union Council (SARTUC) Laxman Basnet said that the employers of the destination countries have shared that they have been paying the recruitment fees of the labourers while the foreign employment agencies in Nepal have been complaining that they were not getting the service fees from the employers and hence could not supply the labourers at nominal cost. Basnet demanded to find out the problem in such a scenario. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said although the labourers are handed a receipt of payment of Rs 10,000 as recruitment fees, in practice they have to pay hundred thousand. It is difficult to raise voice against this unfair recruitment practice in the international forums for lack of evidence, he complained. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) Rajendra Bhandari stressed on the need of making the service charge due to the manpower companies well-managed. Saying that the process of supplying the labourers was highly cumbersome, he pointed out the need of amending the clauses 15 to 19 of the Foreign Employment Act. Bhandari further said the provision of revoking the registration of the manpower agency failing to send 100 labourers in a year was wrong and called for amending this provision as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">GEFONT president Binod Shrestha called for putting a stop to the unfair practice of charging hundred thousand rupees as fee from the labourers in violation of the provision of zero fees. Stating the form of exploitation has changed, he said those going abroad in the name of students were facing much exploitation in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha called for making the foreign employment well-managed and effective with the cooperation of all sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project coordinator of ILO, Neha Chaudhary said the ILO has been collaborating with the trade unions for enhancing the access of labourers to information and justice. She said the ILO was also collaborating with NAFEA for reforming the code of conduct of the foreign employment agencies. ILO was also conducting studies on the recruitment process in Nepal in view of the dearth of such studies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of the National Network for Safe Migration, Hari Thapa underscored on cooperation and synergy among the stakeholder agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Asia Coordinator of Recruitment Advisor, Sunil Neupane shared that 2,244 Nepali labourers have so far evaluated the manpower companies whose service they have used in the Recruitment Advisor that commenced from 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the Recruitment Advisor programme is also in operation in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka among other countries of South Asia. Information of European countries has also been started to incorporated in the Recruitment Advisory as the destination countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16633', 'image' => '20230131121435_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 12:13:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI Discusses Connectivity, Regional Trade with NEDFi ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) discussed connectivity issue with the office-bearers of North-Eastern Development Finance Cooperation Ltd (NEDFi) of India. </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 two sides held a meeting in this regard in Kathmandu on Wednesday. </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 delegation of NEDFi is here in course of studying the connectivity project between north east India and Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha, Director General Gokarna Raj Awasthi, and a three-member team of NEFDi under the leadership of Mahendra P Lama, senior professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University were present during the meeting. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the two sides discussed issues related to the recent situation of trade and investment between the two countries and improvement in present trade and investment situation. They also discussed about the possibility of development of regional value chain among Nepal, north-eastern region of India and other south Asian countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Indian team had urged FNCCI to provide suggestions regarding obstruction on trade check points used by both the countries, initiatives to be taken to further facilitate import and export, investment expansion and problems related to import. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI said the two sides also discussed other issues including policy-level problems related to import/export, border security and technical coordination. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">FNCCI President Golchha said Nepal has always expected Indian support in economic development initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The FNCCI shared that it would carry out study regarding the challenges and problems in expansion of regional economic relations including Nepal and India and submit the suggestions soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, FEFDi chairperson PVSLN Murty said small, middle and large scale enterprises have been getting financial aid for the establishment of industrial, infrastructure and agro related projects in north eastern region of India. He said the team was here to carry out a study for coordination with Nepal in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Prof Lama expressed commitment to help address the suggestions received from FNCCI through the authorities concerned. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16647', 'image' => '20230202121524_1675299261.Clipboard15.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 12:14:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'BFIs Increase Spread Rate against the Directive of NRB', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 2: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have increased the spread rate - the difference between the average interest rate of deposits and loans of banks – against the instructions of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Banks that could not expand their business due to lack of liquidity did so to gain profit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the unaudited financial statements published by the banks, most of the commercial banks increased the spread rate in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. Out of the 22 banks in operation, 17 increased their spread rates by mid-January 2023 compared to mid-October 2022. Four of them have lowered the spread rate while that of one commercial bank has remained stable.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After widespread criticism that the banks earning profit while other sectors were struggling due to the current economic crisis, NRB introduced a policy to reduce the spread rate through the first quarterly review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the review of monetary policy, it is announced that the spread rate of commercial banks will be reduced from 4.4 percent to 4 percent and that of development banks and finance companies from 5 percent to 4.6 percent. In order to implement the announcement, NRB issued instructions in mid-December and asked BFIs to reduce the spread rate in two stages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the instructions of NRB, the commercial banks will have to reduce the spread rate to 4.2 percent from mid-April and the development banks and finance companies will have to reduce it to 4.8 percent. From June, commercial banks should apply 4 percent and development banks and finance companies should apply 4.6 percent spread rate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After the spread rate of the banks increased in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, there will be more pressure on the banks in the next quarter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Right now the spread rate of Nabil Bank and Kumari Bank is above 4.4 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In December, the spread rate of 19 banks was above 4 percent while the spread rate of 14 banks was above 4.2 percent. These banks have to reduce the spread rate to maintain the rate specified by the NRB in the next quarter. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of Nepal Bankers Association and Chief Executive Officer of NMB Bank, Sunil KC says that banks will maintain the spread rate as per the instructions of NRB by the third quarter and that will reduce the interest rate of loans. He said, “As the banks have reduced the interest rate on deposits since January, the cost of capital will decrease in April, and the base rate will also decrease.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16646', 'image' => '20230202111324_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 11:12:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Over 55,000 Foreign Tourists Arrived in Nepal via Air Route in January ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 2: A total of 55,074 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in the month of January 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the data of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), more than 55,000 foreign tourists entered Nepal via the air route in the first month of 2023. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane said that arrival of a significant number of tourists even in the off-season was a positive beginning. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 16,436 tourists from India in January. Similarly, 6,561 tourists came from USA, 3,441 from Australia and 2,468 from Bangladesh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It may be noted that 16,436 tourists had visited Nepal in January, 2022 and 8,674 in January, 2021. The latest number is the highest since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal had increased in 2022 following a decline in coronavirus cases. According to the NTB, a total of 614,148 tourists visited Nepal in 2022. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Prior to the onset of Covid-19, a total of 1.197 million foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2019 but the arrival of foreign tourists in Nepal decreased by 81 per cent due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when only 230,085 tourists visited the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 150,962 foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2021 which was less by 34.4 per cent as compared to 2020. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-02', 'modified' => '2023-02-02', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16645', 'image' => '20230202093719_20221111043446_tournba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-02 09:36:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Remittance in Mobile Wallet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: Now, there is no need to go to the office of the remittance company or a bank or financial institution to receive remittance payments sent from abroad. Nepal Rastra Bank issued the Unified Directive 2079 regarding the payment system on Tuesday and made arrangement to deposit remittance directly into mobile wallets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the provision in the directive, the payment service provider can make arrangements with the licensed remittance company so that the money coming from abroad is deposited directly in the electronic wallet operated in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provisions are also made so that a remittance company can operate a wallet company by establishing a subsidiary company. Similarly, NRB also opened applications for new licenses by increasing the paid-up capital of payment service providers and system operating companies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NRB has increased the limit of electronic payments through the unified directive and reduced the transaction fee. According to the instructions of NRB, banks can charge up to Rs 15 for the use of ATMs for inter-bank transactions. Earlier, two transactions per month were free and a maximum fee of Rs 20 was fixed for more than that.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the central bank has made arrangements for transactions up to Rs 300,000 per day through mobile applications and even QR codes. Earlier, the limit for such transactions was Rs 200,000 per day.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Rs 200,000 can be transacted daily from bank account to wallet, Rs 200,000 from wallet to other bank accounts and Rs 50,000 from one wallet to another wallet. Earlier, the limit of such transaction was Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. Although the monthly limit of such transaction is kept unchanged, the daily transaction limit has been increased.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16644', 'image' => '20230201085918_20220303081648_20220210115450_Remittance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 20:58:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Employment Desk Removed at TIA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 1: The government has removed the desk placed at Tribhuvan International Airport for people going for foreign employment. Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal said that this move was taken to ensure that there is no discrimination against those who go for foreign employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a press conference held at the Ministry on Tuesday, Minister Aryal said that from now onwards, there will be just one queue for all travelers including students, tourism, professional and those opting for foreign employment. According to him, the desk set up for foreign employment hurt the self-esteem of Nepali going abroad for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Aryal further said that the call center at the Ministry of Labor has been converted into a four-hour labor assistance center because it is related to laborers living inside and outside Nepal. He said that the time card of all labor-related work will be implemented within 6 months to listen to the complaints and problems of the workers. He said that the ministry has prepared an action plan to resolve the labor-related complaints within the specified time. He said that if the problem is not solved even in six months, he will seek explanations from the government employees.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16643', 'image' => '20230201070028_20200922040433_20200310105652_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 19:00:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16903', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Addressing Multiple Crises Amid Economic Slowdown Key Priority for IFC’s New Regional Vice President', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 1: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Riccardo Puliti as its new regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific. According to IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group, Puliti will oversee IFC’s regional efforts in spurring private sector growth and identifying impactful collaborations for a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery, in response to multiple crises and a deteriorating global economic outlook.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Economies in the Asia and Pacific region continue to suffer from COVD-19 disruptions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and tightening global financial conditions, including through higher food and energy prices, the IFC said citing the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report adding weaker global growth and more frequent disruptive weather events linked to climate change threaten to dampen the region’s growth trajectory.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In taking on the role as IFC’s Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, Puliti stressed the need for more private sector investment, given the limited fiscal space of countries in the region, a statement issued by IFC reads.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“With the global economy facing multiple headwinds this year, there is an urgent need for more private investment in the region to create jobs and boost output,” the statement quoted Puliti as saying. “With the right policies in place to attract and incentivize new investment, countries can leverage private sector financing to help meet their large unmet investment needs. The reality is investment growth in emerging markets and developing economies in Asia and the Pacific – as in the rest of the world – remains below the average rate of the last two decades. That must be turned around as history tells us strong investment growth delivers dividends. It is also vital for climate targets and to progress the development of clean, renewable and affordable energy and seize all the opportunities digital infrastructure can deliver for the region’s people.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">An Italian national, Puliti most recently served as the Vice President for Infrastructure at the World Bank, leading the Bank's global efforts to build effective infrastructure in developing and emerging markets. Previously, Puliti served as Regional Director, Infrastructure, Africa, and before that as Global Director, Energy & Extractives. Before joining the World Bank Group, Puliti was Managing Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Asia and the Pacific is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks, underscoring the need for urgent action to protect the lives and livelihoods of billions of people,” Puliti said. “The region also needs to bridge the massive trillion-dollar infrastructure gap, limiting people’s access to basic services. Gender equality, digital growth, and capital mobilization are also key priorities as IFC continues to work to improve financial inclusion, strengthen health care systems, and increase access to finance for smaller businesses, as they are the engine of growth in the region and key incubators of jobs.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Puliti holds an MBA from Instituto Superior de Estudios de la Empresa (IESE) and completed his postgraduate studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Imperial College.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16642', 'image' => '20230201060731_IFC-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 18:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16902', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rental Vehicles to be Allowed into Singha Durbar from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has made an arrangement for entry of rental vehicles inside the Singha Durbar – the main administrative complex of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Dol Prasad Aryal shared that such an arrangement was made for the people with disabilities to easily enter into the Singha Durbar Complex. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until now, only the vehicles owned by the government or those bearing private, diplomatic and tourist number plates were permitted to enter the country's central administrative building. Taking into the consideration the security issue, the government had been restricting entrance of vehicles-on-rent into the Singha Durbar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The arrangement was made in coordination with the Home Ministry so as to ease the entrance of the people with disabilities to Singha Durbar. It will come to effect from February 1," Minister Aryal said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further informed that security personal would facilitate the entrance of the vehicles carrying PWDs based on the state-provided identity cards. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16641', 'image' => '20230201015828_singhadurbar-1-1310227299.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:57:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16901', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry to Cut Down Recurrent Expenses', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government. The government has come up with an idea to cut off regular spending in an attempt to keep a balance in public finance, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said. </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"">In this regard, the ministry has decided to cut off recurrent expenses as part of its austerity measure. With the implementation of the decision, a total of Rs 10.5 billion would be saved, reads a press statement issued by the MoF on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has decided to increase spending in the national pride and game changer projects, and those substantially contributing to the creation of jobs by re-prioritizing budget expenditure system. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the government has decided to slash 20 percent budget approved for headings including fuel, maintenance, stationery and office materials, newspapers, printing and publication of information, service and consultancy incurred by all the ministries and agencies of the federal government, </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, budget approved for information system and software operation, travel and other allowances, programme cost, monitoring and evaluation cost, staff training, workshop and seminar, sundry expenses, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures and structural improvement of the buildings would also be reduced by 20 percent, the ministry said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to proceed with the procurement process of the projects approved in budget without the consent of the MoF if the procurement process of those projects hasn’t started yet.</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 ministry has also decided not to undertake any survey if it creates new vacancies. It has also decided not to open any new vacant posts and deploy employees exceeding the vacancy quota. If there is a need to deploy any new employ, the ministry has given the approval to take the process ahead by creating temporary posts.</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 ministry has also decided to suspend all seminars, meetings and workshops that causes financial burden to the state coffers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, any government official attending programmes in a foreign trip with public money must seek approval from the MoF. </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 ministry has also decided not to budget transfer from one heading to another.</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 ministry has decided to stop execution of budgetary projects and programmes which are yet to start and not to create extra burden of payment in the current fiscal year. The decision is applicable to all universities, foundation/academy, regulatory bodies, boards and all constitutional bodies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has also decided to instruct the province and local governments to reduce expenditure, excluding mandatory obligations under the recurrent heading by 20 percent. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16640', 'image' => '20230201014752_finance_ministry_copy1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 13:46:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16900', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Trans-Himalayan Districts Experience Dry Spell, No Snowfall and Rain this Winter ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: "Just a cold breeze, but no snowfall," said Ash Bahadur Thakali, a local of Thini village in Mustang. "By this time last year, we had experienced snowfall several times. There is no indication of snowfall this time around," he reflected. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Mustang has not witnessed snowfall this winter even though the winter season is about to end. Villages and settlements are drying up due to lack of rainfall this season. The cliffs and ridges look dry and nude, not appealing anymore. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In absence of snowfall, farmers are worried about their crops. Their harvests are on the verge of wilting, especially in the areas having no irrigation facilities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thakali said winter crops such as barley, wheat, onion and potato do not show any sign of 'yielding' in absence of snowfall. The popular tourism destinations of the trans-Himalayan district which looked majestic with snow in the winter season now appear to be deserted, he lamented. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Deepak Lalchan, an apple farmer of Gharpajhong-2, Marfa, said moisture required for fruits and crops is lacking as snowfall is yet to occurr. "Most probably apple yield will be badly affected because there is no adequate moisture," he said, adding, "Marfa has irrigation facility and is not in a worrisome state." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nevertheless, farmers of Thasang which is a fertile land for barley are worried because of the dry spell. There is no facility of irrigation in Thasang. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Himalayan life along with cultivation has also been affected in the absence of snowfall and rain. Lalchan shared that they were now experiencing warm weather when it is the time for chilling cold. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Those descending to plain and city areas to ward off the chilly days are also surprised to know 'there was no snowfall in the high-altitude areas this time". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Acting Chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre Mustang, Prakash Bastakoti said quantity and quality of the winter crops would be affected if there is no snowfall and rain in the winter. "Production would drop if the moisture necessary for flowering of apple trees is not adequately maintained," he said, adding the farmers are awaiting for snowfall for cultivation of potato and for already-cultivated barley and wheat to grow. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bastakoti observed, "No snowfall till the onset of February could be because of the effects of climate change. If this trend continues to prevail new variant of crops would get entry in the Himalayan region. Production of indigenous crops may plummet". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lately, the upper belt of Mustang has also witnessed the production of vegetable items such as cucumber and tomato, Bastakoti shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Not only Mustang, no Himalayan districts and higher altitude areas of Gandaki province have experienced snowfall in the season as of now. Even no rainfall has occurred. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Gandaki Province Agriculture Development Directorate, Basudev Regmi said the unexpected climate condition has direct bearing on the winter crops cultivated in the high altitude areas of Mustang, Manang, Myagdi and Baglung. "Loss and damage is incurred in the areas having no irrigation facilities in the absence of snowfall and rain". </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist at the Weather Forecasting Division, Sanjeeb Adhikari said immediately there is no chance of rainfall in the Gandaki province areas. The prevailing weather system would not bring rain despite hazy skies, he added. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16639', 'image' => '20230201123523_20220331114824_459932_589579011065826_229923417_o.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 12:34:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16899', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labour Ministry to begin Time Card System within Six Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has announced to begin time card system in its line agencies to ensure timely and accessible service delivery to the service seekers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Laobur, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal on Tuesday committed to implement the idea of time card system within six months as part of timely service delivery. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Preparations are afoot to implement time card to provide labour-related service in the given time,” Minister Aryal said, adding that the civil servants must furnish reason for failure in service delivery. Minister Aryal directed the officials saying that dillydallying will not be tolerated in the offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the ministry has brought the ‘Shramadhan: 24-Hour Labour Assistance Centre’ into operation from Tuesday. The labourers from home and abroad can lodge their complaints, difficulties and grievances at the centre, which works as a call centre round-the-clock. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Minister Aryal shared that a mobile app of Shramadhan would also be made public within six months. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16638', 'image' => '20230201115519_HRB-KTM-MinisterAryalb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:53:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16898', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Appeal Registered at Apex Court against Release of Cricketer Lamichhane ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 1: An appeal has been registered at the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the High Court Patan to release suspended national cricket team captain, Sandeep Lamichhane, on bail. Lamichhane is accused of raping a minor. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday filed the appeal at the apex court against the decision of the high court. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Scrapping the order of the District Court Kathmandu to remand Lamichhane to judicial custody, the High Court decided to release him conditionally with a bail amount of Rs 2 million. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A divisional bench of Patan High Court judges Ramesh Dhakal and Dhrubaraj Nandan on January 12 had issued the order to release Lamichhane on bail. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A charge sheet was registered against Lamichahne on September 5 accusing him of raping a 17-year-old girl. Lamichhane's lawyer had been claiming that the adolescent girl was not a minor on age ground. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After the registration of the charge sheet, Lamichhane was kept in judicial custody. Police had apprehended him from the Tribhuvan International Airport on October 6 last year. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-02-01', 'modified' => '2023-02-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16637', 'image' => '20230201111639_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-02-01 11:14:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16897', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Demand for Gold in International Market Highest in Over a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The demand for gold in the international market has reached the highest level since 2011. Data show that this is the result of the increasing purchases from central banks and other investors seeking shelter from rocketing inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The demand for the precious yellow metal, traditionally a safe haven for investment in times of economic and geopolitical turmoil, rocketed almost a fifth to 4,740.7 tonnes in 2022 from the previous year, AFP reported citing the World Gold Council (WGC).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, purchases from central banks more than doubled to reach 1,136 tonnes, the highest total for more than five decades, as the Ukraine war fuelled inflation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold is very much... a long-term store of value and the fact is it performs well in a time of crisis," AFP quoted WGC analyst Louise Street as saying.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"If you consider what's been happening in the backdrop of 2022, with geopolitics and rising inflation, those remain important drivers of demand."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Gold demand faces mixed prospects in 2023 but with upside potential," the WGC said, adding that investment will likely be supported by elevated recession and geopolitical risks, and jewellery demand should benefit from continued recovery in China.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">"Central bank buying could struggle to match 2022, however," it cautioned.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The gold price had rebounded sharply in March 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the metal ended on a stable note to gain 1.25 percent in value over the course of the year, AFP added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the context of Nepal, gold is being traded at Rs 105,800 per tola (11.66 gm), which is slightly less than the all-time high price of Rs 106,000 on January 26.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association Chair Manik Ratna Shakya, the prices of gold and silver have soared in the Nepali market due to the rise in the international market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Prices of gold and silver are determined based on the international market prices.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16636', 'image' => '20230131074147_20230126043339_collage (90).jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 19:41:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16896', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Corruption Perceptions Index Down in Nepal, says TI Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Nepal has made improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by jumping seven spots in the ranking published by Transparency International (TI). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In a report of 2022 unveiled by Nepal chapter of TI, Nepal has scored 34 points to rank 110th out of 180 countries. It was in 117th position with 33 points in 2021. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organising a programme on Tueday, Transparency International Nepal informed about the situation of the world and Nepal in the CPI. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The imports and exports decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021. Nepal got more points in the survey of the World Economic Forum due to the decline in corruption relating to import and export," said Padmini Pradhananga, chairperson of TI Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Denmark is in the first position with 90 points while Somalia is in the last position with 12 points. Of the 180 countries, 58 countries have received more than 50 points. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Six different international organisations--- World Bank, World Economic Forum, Global Insight, Bartelesmann Foundation, World Justice and Varieties of Democratic Project (V-Dem) had carried out the survey of CPI in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The survey was carried out on various topics, including work performance of public office holders, access of civil society to information, import, export, public service, contract, judicial decision, trade, business, corruption, bribe, misuse of public post by the government representatives, parliament, judiciary and security bodies for personal interest. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Transparency Intentional unveils Corruption Perceptions Index every year. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => 'CPI, 2022, corruption, perceptions, index, improvement, Nepal, Transparency, International', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16635', 'image' => '20230131051847_CPI2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 17:16:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16895', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Entrepreneurs Protest against Banks’ Atrocities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 31: The Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) resorted to protest saying that the interest rates of banks and atrocities on entrepreneurs are increasing. On Monday, the federation protested against the banks as well as the government at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joining the protest along with NNFE were New Baneshwor Business Association, Lalitpur Readymade Garment Business Association, Nepal Complex Business Association and others who protested at Maitighar with banners and placards.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Entrepreneurs said that the government adopted a discriminatory policy towards entrepreneurs and because the entrepreneurs have been victimized when banks and financial institutions spread terror, they were forced to protest. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President of the Federation, Kumar Karki said that the banks started auctioning the houses by giving just 35 days’ notice to the entrepreneurs even though they were willing to p ay the loan and had asked for more time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that due to the high interest rates of banks, blacklisting and mortgage auctions, entrepreneurs are discouraged from doing business. He therefore urged the state to stop activities like increasing interest rates, blacklisting and mortgage auctions. He alleged that the banks did not give them time to pay the loan even when they asked for it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He warned that if the demands put forth by the Federation are not met, there will be a series of protests. The former president of the federation, Naresh Katuwal said that they were forced to agitate because the government did not fulfill their demands for a long time. He alleges that banks created panic by raising interest rates. He said that if the entrepreneur's demands are not addressed immediately, a massive protest will be initiated.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Lakshmi Khadka, the vice president of the federation said that the tendency of banks to auction mortgages at half the valuation has increased. She complained that the banks were harassing them by making the interest rate high where they should have eased the situation. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Saroj Kumar Shrestha, president of the National Business Association said that due to the high interest rates of the banks, there is a situation where they have to stop the business. He said that the government needs to control the high interest rates of banks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16634', 'image' => '20230131025746_Protest.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 14:56:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16894', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Lament Lax Implementation of Labour Agreements ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 31: Foreign employment stakeholders have complained that the labour agreements reached with various countries were not implemented effectively by the Government of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the government has signed labour agreement with Malaysia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries for supplying the labourers at zero cost, this provision is not being implemented, according to the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a discussion programme entitled "recruitment advisor's progress and the role of stakeholder bodies in fair recruitment process" on Monday, they stressed on the effective implementation of the labour agreements. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has been conducting this programme in collaboration with the International Trade Union Confederation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An assessment by labourers using the Recruitment Advisor shows that 98 per cent of the labourers had to pay the recruitment fees for foreign employment. Those labourers who paid fees had to pay Rs 100,000 per person on an average. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">General Secretary of South Asian Regional Trade Union Council (SARTUC) Laxman Basnet said that the employers of the destination countries have shared that they have been paying the recruitment fees of the labourers while the foreign employment agencies in Nepal have been complaining that they were not getting the service fees from the employers and hence could not supply the labourers at nominal cost. Basnet demanded to find out the problem in such a scenario. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He said although the labourers are handed a receipt of payment of Rs 10,000 as recruitment fees, in practice they have to pay hundred thousand. It is difficult to raise voice against this unfair recruitment practice in the international forums for lack of evidence, he complained. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) Rajendra Bhandari stressed on the need of making the service charge due to the manpower companies well-managed. Saying that the process of supplying the labourers was highly cumbersome, he pointed out the need of amending the clauses 15 to 19 of the Foreign Employment Act. Bhandari further said the provision of revoking the registration of the manpower agency failing to send 100 labourers in a year was wrong and called for amending this provision as well. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">GEFONT president Binod Shrestha called for putting a stop to the unfair practice of charging hundred thousand rupees as fee from the labourers in violation of the provision of zero fees. Stating the form of exploitation has changed, he said those going abroad in the name of students were facing much exploitation in recent days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shrestha called for making the foreign employment well-managed and effective with the cooperation of all sides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Project coordinator of ILO, Neha Chaudhary said the ILO has been collaborating with the trade unions for enhancing the access of labourers to information and justice. She said the ILO was also collaborating with NAFEA for reforming the code of conduct of the foreign employment agencies. ILO was also conducting studies on the recruitment process in Nepal in view of the dearth of such studies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President of the National Network for Safe Migration, Hari Thapa underscored on cooperation and synergy among the stakeholder agencies. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">South Asia Coordinator of Recruitment Advisor, Sunil Neupane shared that 2,244 Nepali labourers have so far evaluated the manpower companies whose service they have used in the Recruitment Advisor that commenced from 2017. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the Recruitment Advisor programme is also in operation in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka among other countries of South Asia. Information of European countries has also been started to incorporated in the Recruitment Advisory as the destination countries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2023-01-31', 'modified' => '2023-01-31', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '16633', 'image' => '20230131121435_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2023-01-31 12:13:48', '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
