July 20: Former President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, who is also the vice president of Panchkanya Group, says that although there are immense resources in the country the industries of Nepal are not flourishing due to lack of clear policy of the…
July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100…
July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year…
July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation against the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is having trouble gathering…
July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the…
July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management.…
July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the…
July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension.…
July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop.…
July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the…
July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring…
July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across the…
July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in…
July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at…
July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country.…
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He complained that the government introduces a policy that helps a handful of industries but forces the closure of 10 industries. He argues that such kind of policy cannot lead to the development and expansion of domestic industries. He said that the government should pay special attention to the formulation of industry-friendly policies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha says that the discriminatory policies brought by the government are causing problems. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha also said that Panchkanya Group always wants to assist in the development of the country. No matter which government is in power, Shrestha says that development is inevitable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We have moved forward with the idea of producing the basic goods needed for development internally and we are still on that path.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claims that the commercial companies under the Panchkanya Group work by prioritizing customer satisfaction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, 9/10 industries of Panchkanya Group are operating in the country now. Currently, Panchkanya Group's annual turnover is Rs 8 billion to Rs 10 billion. He said that he has a lot of experience of having to sell goods bought at high prices at low prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Panchkanya Group has become known in the country and abroad in its 50-year journey. According to him, the industry is operating in an area of about 14 bighas in Bhairahawa. The commercial journey of the group which started from Panchkanya Plastics in Kathmandu, spread to finance, bank, insurance, trading, housing, and hydropower as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha informed that the third generation is working in all these industries. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15396', 'image' => '20220720040325_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 16:02:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15654', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow of Banks Exceeds Deposit Collection by RS 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though there was no increase in deposit collection, banks became aggressive in credit expansion, and they had to face a severe liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the commercial banks collected a total of Rs 340 billion in deposits and disbursed loans of Rs 454 billion. Since the beginning of last year, banks were aggressive in providing loans after the liquidity situation eased due to the long-term suspension of credit expansion due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As of mid-July 2021, the total deposit collection of commercial banks was Rs 4213.9 billion, while in mid-June 2022, it reached Rs 4541.44 billion. Last year, Nabil Bank was at the forefront of deposit collection. At the end of the fiscal year, the deposits of Nabil, which started integrated business after acquiring Nepal Bangladesh Bank, increased by Rs 101.56 billion. Nabil acquired Nepal Bangladesh Bank and started an integrated business on June 27.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from the increase in deposits due to mergers, Nepal Bank leads other banks in deposit collection. Its deposits increased by Rs 33.56 billion last year. Similarly, NCC increased deposits by Rs 30 billion, Sanima Bank by Rs 28 billion and Kumari Bank by Rs 25 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deposits of only two banks declined during the last fiscal year. According to the association, deposits of Rastriya Banijya Bank decreased by Rs 7.46 billion rupees and NIC Asia Bank by Rs 5.27 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The total credit flow of commercial banks, which stood at Rs 3720 billion as of mid-July 2021, increased to Rs 4174 billion in mid-July 2022. Nabil Bank is also at the forefront among banks that have increased lending due to the acquisition of another bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the acquisition of Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nabil Bank's credit flow increased by Rs 103.41 billion, including Rs 71 billion invested by Nepal Bangladesh Bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Nepal Bank extended loans worth Rs 35 billion followed by Global IME Bank (Rs 29.71 billion), Rastriya Banijya Bank (Rs 28.89 billion), and NCC Bank (Rs 27.2 billion). Nepal Bankers Association said that the lowest amount of credit disbursement was done by Nepal Investment Bank whose credit expansion increased by Rs 970 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Anil Kumar Upadhyay, president of the association and chief executive officer of the Agricultural Development Bank, said that resource management of banks has become a challenging task. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Our supply side was weak in the 10 years except for the two years affected by the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic,” said Upadhyay, adding, “We were under crisis for eight years.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that when there was enough liquidity during the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic, loans were disbursed at a lower rate than the base rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that due to the lack of resource management, loans were not extended according to demand, and the base rate and interest rate of banks became more expensive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that banks are not in a position to expand credit flow even in the new fiscal year as there is no immediate solution for resource management. Upadhyaya said that money was leaving the country for imports and emphasized the need for policy intervention to encourage investment in the productive sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15395', 'image' => '20220720030235_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 15:01:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15653', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Unhappy Although Agriculture Ministry Claims 76 % Fiscal Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22. Despite the ministry's claim, the farmers are unhappy as they are not getting chemical fertilizers during the time of planting rice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers need nearly 300,000 metric tonnes chemical fertilisers in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July) alone. The government says 218,000 metric tonnes of subsidised fertiliser has been sold during this period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers need 1.2 million metric tonnes of fertiliser annually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The progress in planting rice across the country as of July 12 during the Fiscal Year 2020/21 was 68 percent which declined by 8 percentage points to 60 percent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The government procures 500,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertiliser and the private sector 700,000 metric tonnes," said Govinda Prasad Sharma, the Agricultural Secretary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Agriculture informed that the paddy cultivation has not been encouraging as the farmers have not got sufficient amount of fertiliser by mid-July. The paddy cultivation in Nepal is done until mid-August during the monsoon. Rice plantation was 97 per cent by mid-August last fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said the ministry has successfully carried out 13 major works by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These include: policy and legal arrangements, fixation of the price of various crops and agriculture produce, provision of relief to the farmers affected by the unseasonal rains, import and sale of chemical fertilisers, quality control, implementation of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, technical extension works, genetic improvement, vaccine production and management, livestock services, fishery and crop insurance, export of livestock products, agriculture infrastructure development and listing of farmers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bill to amend the Seeds Act, 2045 and the Plant Protection Act, 2064 has been authenticated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Bird Flu Control Regulations, 2078 and the National Animal Health Policy, 2078, the National Animal Breeding Policy, 2078 have been endorsed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The draft of the National Fisheries Policy has been tabled at the Council of Ministers for its passage and the Food Hygiene and Quality Bill, 2079 in the National Assembly after its deliberation in the legislation committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The drafts of the bills including Animal Welfare, Infectious Animal Disease Control and Agribusiness Promotion have proceeded after their deliberation in the Nepal Law Commission. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15394', 'image' => '20220720013920_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 13:38:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15652', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Probe Committee Struggles to Collect Evidences against Janardan Sharma', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation against the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is having trouble gathering evidences..', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation that the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma invited unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates while preparing the budget for Fiscal Year 2022/23 is having trouble gathering evidences.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is unable to collect enough evidences so far because the Ministry of Finance was not serious about preserving the CCTV footage since the beginning.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee took statements from the members of the core team of the finance ministry involved in the preparation of the budget, including the finance secretary and revenue secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A member of the investigation committee told New Business Age that although the committee took statements from them, no evidence was found to confirm the allegations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">So far, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, Head of Budget Division Chakra Bahadur Budha, Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral, Chief of Administration Division Kedar Sharma, Director General of Customs Department Kamal Bhattarai, Director General of Inland Revenue Department Ritesh Shakya, Under Secretary of the Information Technology Section of the Ministry Theku Shrestha, Under Secretary of Revenue Management Division, Sharad Niraula and Gopal Khatri already given their statements.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">MPs Pradeep Gyawali, Khaga Raj Adhikari and Laxman Lal Karna, who are in the investigation committee, took statements from the finance ministry officials. According to one of the members of the investigation committee, some of those who gave statements answered that they were unaware of the incident on May 28. Some even claimed that such an incident never happened. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been unable to gather evidence since the finance officials who participated in the budget preparation did not give a clear statement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee asked the Ministry of Finance for the CCTV footage of the previous day of budget announcement but did not receive it. According to the ministry, the CCTV was installed 9 years ago and its record-keeping capacity is only of 13 days. That is why the committee is having a hard time getting the CCTV footage.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sources say that after the Ministry of Finance did not provide the CCTV footage, the committee started discussions with the technicians and experts of the Cyber Bureau of the Nepal Police, including a former secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though the then finance minister Sharma resigned after heavy criticism, the core team involved in budget preparation including the finance secretary is still in office. The investigation committee members suspect that they played a role in deleting the CCTV footage of that day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">One of the members said, “Neither the government nor the committee worked to secure the evidence from the beginning.” According to him, as soon as such the incident came to light, the government should have suspended the core team involved in budget preparation and preceded with the investigation process. The members of the investigation committee suspect that the team may have ordered the destruction of evidence while the officials remained in office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Surveillance is ample</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CCTV cameras are installed not only in the ministry of finance but from the entrance gate of Singha Durbar to the ministry. Even the poles around the ministry have CCTV cameras that monitor those who come in and out of the ministry. Any person who reaches the Ministry of Finance is under surveillance of more than a dozen CCTV cameras.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is still not paying attention to look for evidences from the CC cameras of other agencies that lead towards the ministry. Due to the delay in receiving the CCTV footage, doubts have been raised that the parliamentary investigation committee will prepare its report on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => 'evidence, ministry, finance, probe committee, Janardan, Sharma, Madhu, Kumar, Marasini, Krishna, Hari, Pushkar, parliamentary, CCTV, footage', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15393', 'image' => '20220720121510_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 12:14:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15651', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC urges Speaker to Proceed Ahead with Bills Related to Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An NCC delegation led by its President Rajendra Malla called on Speaker Sapkota at the latter's office on Tuesday to take forward 11 such bills. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the visiting NCC delegation, many of the bills related to economy were stuck in the parliament causing a delay in addressing many issues faced by the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They apprised the Speaker that the Bill seeking amendment to Securities Act and the Bill to amend the Bank and Financial Institutions Act-2073 are under deliberation in the Finance Committee of parliament for a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Malla added that the bill formulated to integrate and amend laws related to insurance was also under deliberation in the Finance Committee. He urged the Speaker for his positive intervention towards taking forward those bills ahead of the federal election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he drew the attention of the Speaker to push the bill formulated to regulate and manage cultivation of marijuana, arguing that by exporting marijuana, Nepal could reduce trade deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota expressed his commitment to take initiative to push forward all the stalled bills. </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"">"I have already asked the concerned agencies to take forward some bills. Bill related to budget are almost on the verge of completion. I am aware that other bills should not be stuck in the parliament,” said Speaker Sapkota. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15392', 'image' => '20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 11:58:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15650', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Soaltee Hotel to Extend its Services in Chitwan and Itahari', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. The hotel says the new outlets will provide high-quality service with local flavor to the tourists visiting the country from abroad as well as the domestic tourist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Westend Resort in Chitwan and five-star Soaltee Westend Hotel in Itahari will come into operation before the upcoming Dashain festival. Although the parent company of these two hotels will be Soaltee Hotel, it has been informed that the new hotel in Itahari will be owned by Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd and the resort in Chitwan will be owned by a company called RRGR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Binod Poudel, managing director of Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd, claims that the operation of high-class hotels will help boost the economy of Province 1. Soaltee Hotel decided to give the ownership of the new hotel in Itahari to Hotel Garima and operate it under its own management after realizing the potential of Indian tourists who visit Itahari and nearby areas. According to available data, around 2,000 to 3,000 Indian tourists visit Itahari and its surrounding areas on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the total investment in the hotel to be operated in Itahari will be Rs 1.5 billion. The hotel will have 90 rooms with high-standard facilities. Paudel informed that there will be one presidential suite, 8 suites, 12 executive rooms, 22 deluxe rooms, and 47 standard rooms. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the Soaltee Westend Resort will be built in Patihani of Chitwan with an investment of Rs 1 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The resort will be built in modern and traditional Nepali architectural style. It is said that the walls of the resort will be decorated with paintings reflecting the Tharu culture. According to Soaltee Hotel, the structure will take about 4 years to be ready. There will be 12 luxury villas, 5 control rooms, 3 restaurants, and 100 rooms with bars in the resort.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Hotel says it is planning to operate this resort to provide five-star facilities to foreign and domestic tourists who come to observe the Tharu culture in Chitwan National Park.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the hotels and resorts of Itahari and Chitwan will directly employ around 250 people. It is expected that local products will also find a market after the hotels come into operation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As preparations are being made to open both the hotels before Dashain, the final stage works like decoration, garden construction, and painting are being done at present. There is also a plan to open a casino for foreign tourists. Discussions with various companies are underway for this. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After operating hotels in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj, Soaltee Hotel is going to operate a five-star hotel in Itahari and Chitwan for the first time under its own management with such a large investment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">These hotels are expected to become centers of attraction for foreign tourists visiting Chitwan and Itahari. These structures are expected to be chosen for large commercial and political gatherings and international assemblies and conferences in those areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from this, Soaltee informed that it has initiated necessary works to expand its branches in Pokhara and Tilganga under a new project. A five-star hotel in Pokhara and four-star hotel in Tilganga will be operational within two years. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15391', 'image' => '20220719054707_hotel-exterior-crowne.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:46:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15649', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '207 Local Levels Fail to Present Budget within Deadline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitution, the local levels should present the budget by the second week of Asar (June). The federal government is required to present its budget on May 29, the province governments on June 15 and the local levels on June 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the total 753 local levels, 546 have already unveiled their policies and programmes and the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration said 30 out of 137 local levels in Province 1, 65 out of 136 local levels in Madhes province, 34 out of 119 local levels in the Bagmati province, nine out of 85 local levels in Gandaki province, 25 out of 109 local levels in Lumbini province, 19 out of 79 local levels in Karnali province and 25 out of 88 local levels in Sudurpaschim province have not yet presented their budgets so far. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15390', 'image' => '20220719050701_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:06:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15648', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia-Ukraine War to Impact Foreign Aid and Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. Likewise, the study has also pointed out the need to review and revise the monetary and financial policy to deal with the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A recent study by the Institute of Policy Research on the impact of events developed after Russia's attack on Ukraine has made it clear that Nepal cannot remain untouched by its multifaceted effects. The study analyzed those effects and recommended policy reforms to deal with the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Given the possible pressure on the market due to inflation, it seems appropriate to review the monetary and financial policies carefully and modify them if necessary,” the study suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report suggests that the government should keep a buffer stock of at least three months to mitigate the problems caused by the rising price of petroleum products. For this, the government needs to start homework to increase electricity consumption, says the report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that since the consumer price index will increase with the increase in the price of petroleum products, the government should keep the prices of basic consumer goods stable and provide special concessions for economically weak consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Since the increase in the price of petroleum products will affect transportation, agriculture and industrial production, the report suggests seeking timely solution through alternative means.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that there may be a global shortage of chemical fertilizers due to the war and therefore Nepal should take immediate steps to address the problem as this war will make the current liquidity crisis more complicated. Likewise, it also suggests restricting the import of luxury goods and facilitating the import of essential goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the study report, defense budgets in Europe, America and some other countries are likely to increase rapidly with increasing hostility. Because of that, there may be a decrease in foreign aid and direct investment. Therefore, it is mentioned in the report that Nepal should strengthen its economic diplomacy in order not to interfere with foreign aid.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this war, there is a possibility that remittances coming to Nepal will also decrease, so it is necessary to start a diplomatic dialogue with the labor destination countries, the report suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15389', 'image' => '20220719044915_55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-cd6d9d5496764459a988fb97e63ab3ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 16:48:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15647', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4000 Sacks of Fertilizer Distributed in 3 Days', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. The fertilizers will also be useful for the paddy which they planted recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The state-owned Salt Trading Corporation Limited, Biratnagar has distributed 2,125 metric tons of DAP and 1,400 metric tons of urea to the farmers. During last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday alone, 4,000 sacks (200 tons) of DAP fertilizer were distributed to the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhuvaneshwar Yadav, a farmer of Gadhi Rural Municipality of Sunsari is excited after receiving DAP fertilizer during the time of p lanting paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the fertilizers that came to Chandradaya Agricultural Cooperative, he got 6 sacks of fertilizer for his two bigaha land. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We got government-subsidized fertilizer and now we don’t have to use low grade Indian fertilizer. More rice will be produced this time,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Suren Prasad Mehta, a farmer of Sunsari Chitaha, also said that he is relieved to get fertilizer amid the rush for sowing. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “We would have to run in all directions seeking fertilizer if it was not obtained. This time, we got fertilizer early and now we are relieved.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nir Bahadur Parajuli, a farmer of Kanepokhari Rural Municipality-1 Hoklabari of Morang, received DAP and urea from the village's agricultural cooperative for planting crop in one bigha of land. He and other farmers of that area are delighted after receiving the government-subsidized fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Radheshyam Chaudhary, head of the Provincial Office of Salt Trading Corporation, Biratnagar, the Biratnagar office distributed the fertilizer in Morang, Sunsari, Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Bhojpur and Sankhuwasabha. Fertilizer is being distributed in Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung from the company's branch in Birtamod, Jhapa.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, fertilizer is being distributed in Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Solukhumbu and Udayapur from Siraha's Lahan branch as it is close to Lahan. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The contribution of paddy to the GDP of Nepal is 7 percent and 20 percent to the total agricultural production. The government has been giving a subsidy of Rs 4,500 per bag (50 kg) of DAP fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> In Province 1, 70,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in one season. Chaudhary said that the fertilizer that came under the quota given by the government for distribution is now being distributed in 14 districts of Province 1.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, the Salt Trading Corporation is distributing fertilizers based on the quota allocated to municipalities by the Provincial Fertilizer Committee. Fertilizer is being distributed through cooperatives consisting of dealers and farmers recommended by the fertilizer committee formed in the rural municipality. Almost 700,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in Nepal annually for agriculture.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture, 83,300 hectares of paddy cultivation is done in Morang and 64,000 hectares in Jhapa of province 1. Similarly, paddy is planted in 53,000 hectares in Sunsari, 8,737 in Taplejung, 13,851 in Sankhuwasabha, 1,525 in Solukhambu, 9,200 in Panchthar, 14,815 in Ilam, 18,000 in Bhojpur, 10,175 in Tehrathum, 7,950 in Dhankuta, 13,300 in Udaipur, 4,400 in Okhaldhunga and 12,893 hectares in Khotang.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15388', 'image' => '20220719033558_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 15:35:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15646', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Income Growth of Industries Shrinks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries. The report contains detailed data on the condition of the manufacturing industry and the service industry during the third quarter of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the report, the production capacity of the business have slumped in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. During the review period, the production capacity of the industries was 66.81 percent against 71 percent in the second quarter. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review period (mid-January to mid-March), it was found that the manufacturing industry paid an average of 10.96 percent interest. Such interest was 9.4 percent in the same period of the previous year. Similarly, the service sector industries paid an average of 10.92 percent interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study shows that manufacturing industries borrowed 31 percent of the working capital from banks and financial institutions. In the previous quarter, the industries had borrowed 34.4 percent of the working capital. The report shows that the growth rate of income of the industries in the third quarter compared was 12.82 percent against 27.1 percent in the second quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the participants in the study, 81 percent of industrialists said that they are ready for new investments. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The confederation said that the industrial situation report was prepared by focusing on the monetary policy of this fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was released by Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Dilendra Prasad Badu on Monday. Unveiling the report, Minister Badu said that such reports will help in portraying the industrial environment of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bishnu Kumar Aggarwal, president of the confederation, stated that there has been a significant drop in market demand and this has reduced the income of the industries. He also informed that for the first time in Nepal, the confederation conducted a survey and published an industrial report on behalf of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Birendra Raj Pandey, vice president of the confederation, expressed his opinion saying that the report will help to increase the credibility of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15387', 'image' => '20220719014636_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 13:45:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15645', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CPN UML to Deploy People's Representatives for Market Monitoring', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">UML deputy general secretary Pradeep Gyawali shared this information at an event organised on Monday by the party's Department of Consumers' Welfare Protection and Good Governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party resorted to this move as prices of essentials have soared allegedly due to interferences by middlepersons. Gyawali said this happened because the regulator of the state has become 'weak'. He stressed the need for controlling inflation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the Department chief Yagya Raj Sunuwar accused the government of failing to control inflation. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15386', 'image' => '20220719082945_20220623032220_market monitoring.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:28:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Infection Rising Again', 'sub_title' => 'Kathmandu is the only district with more than 500 active cases', 'summary' => 'July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across 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"">July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the virus claimed one life on Monday taking the death toll to 11,854. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, 48 infected persons recovered from the deadly disease. With this, the number of people recovering from the disease has climbed to 968,064 till date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the number of active cases of coronavius across the country stands at 1,776. Among them, 1,709 are being treated in home isolation, 75 in institutional isolation, 15 in ICU and one with ventilator support. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the 77 districts, Kathmandu is the only district having over 500 active cases of COVID-19 at present. Taplejung, Manang, Mustang, Jajarkot, Kalikot, Mugu, Bajura and Dadheldhura have no active case of COVID-19. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15385', 'image' => '20220719082700_20220630115224_health-ministry.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Form Experts' Panel to Construct Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry said it has decided to form a panel of experts to locate an appropriate site for the construction of an airport to in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The civil aviation's regulatory body CAAN decided to form the panel which would get final shape after approval from the cabinet meeting within a few days. The construction of the Nijgadh International Airport would be forwarded based on the study report presented by the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the International Relations Committee of the federal parliament held on Monday, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the airport would be constructed with least environmental damage based on the experts' recommendation in line with the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cost of the Nijgadh International Airport, the much-hyped national pride project, is estimated to be around Rs 120 billion in the preliminary phase. So far, as much as 8,050 hectares of land has been acquired and around Rs 3 billion spent for the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The International Relations Committee Chairperson Pabitra Niraula Kharel said the project should be advanced without further delay since it is vital for Nepal's development and economic prosperity. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She also said the committee would take its decision after holding consultations with the Minister for Law and Justice by internalising the full text of the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the SC has paved the way for the construction of the Nijgadh International Airport and now the ministry and line agencies should proceed without further delay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Director General of CAAN Pradip Adhikari shared about administrative and other decisions taken in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the meeting, lawmakers Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Surendra Kumar Karki, Dev Prakash Timalsina, Chand Tara Kumari, Pushpa Kumari Karn Kayastha, Dipak Prakash Bhatta, Mohan Baniya and Renuka Gurung shared common views stating that the airport was appropriate from all perspectives thus a state-of-the-art airport in Nijgadh should be constructed as soon as possible. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15384', 'image' => '20220719082541_20220605082424_Environment (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Break Likely to End from Tuesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present. Light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to take place in some places of hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, there will be partly to generally cloudy weather throughout the country tonight (July 18) and light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to occur in some places of the hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country. There are chances of heavy rainfall in one or two places of Sudur Paschim Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division's analysis, currently the axis of monsoon trough is located towards the south from the normal position. The country is witnessing a rise in temperature for the past few days. It said that the shifting of monsoon trough towards the south from the normal position caused a monsoon break, leading to the temperature rise. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist Hira Bhatarai said this year more heat has been felt in hill regions including the Kathmandu Valley than in previous years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Bhattarai, the monsoon trough is likely to move back towards Nepal from Tuesday with the possibility of rainfall, giving some respite from the heat. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15383', 'image' => '20220718075009_image_750x_62a32cee152ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 19:49:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Capital Expenditure Weakest in a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. The country witnessed budget announcement by two finance ministers in just one fiscal year while the pace of development could not gain momentum due to the incompetence of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then finance minister Bishnu Poudel had announced a budget through ordinance on May 29, 2021 for the last fiscal year which concluded on July 16. However, a mandamus order by the Supreme Court to reinstate the parliament dissolved by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli led to the downfall of Oli government. Then, a new government’s finance minister Janardan Sharma introduced a replacement budget stating that the government would spend 10 percent of the allocated capital budget every month. However, the government failed to work as per its commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Office of the Auditor General, the government had allocated a budget of Rs 378.9 billion for capital expenditure in the fiscal year 2021/22 but was able to spend only 216.37 billion which is 57.23 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Data released by the Office of the Auditor General has revealed that the government spent as much as Rs 79 billion in the last month (mid-June to mid-July) of the last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure which was Rs 137 billion in mid-June increased to Rs 216 billion in mid-July. The government was under pressure to spend towards the end of the fiscal year as it did not pay much attention in spending budget in the starting period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The capital expenditure of the government in the last fiscal year was the weakest in the past decade except for the spending during the Covid-19 period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure in FY 2013/14 was 75 percent which increased to 84 percent in FY 2016/17 before plunging to 74 percent (FY 2014/15) and 58 percent (FY 2015/16). The government’s capital expenditure then increased to 86 percent in the next fiscal year (FY 2018/19). It then dropped to 46 percent during the pandemic era in FY 2019/20 before rising to 64 percent in FY 2020/21.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has always failed in spending budget. Although the government signs work execution agreements with the officials who spend budget, such agreements have hardly yielded any results. The government has stopped signing such agreements after the onset of Covid-19 due to which the work execution of the government officials have been affected due to lack of evaluation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr Pushparaj Kandel terms the government’s failure to spend capital budget as its ‘incompetence’. He argues that the capital budget could not be spent because the government failed to create a conducive environment for spending the budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Kandel, the development works have slumped due to various reasons including the transfer of civil servants , government’s lack of interest to control inflation and its failure to take the construction entrepreneurs in confidence.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Auditor General Navaraj Dhungana blames political instability, inflation and construction holiday announced by the contractors as the main reasons for the poor spending of capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Dhungana, although the government amended the Public Procurement Act, it did so quite late thereby affecting the construction works. The construction entrepreneurs are yet to collect Rs 5 billion from the Department of Roads and Rs 20 billion from other government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s policy is also to blame for the poor capital spending. The government has been amending the Public Procurement Regulation time and again to address the problems of construction entrepreneurs but this has created instability. The government amended the reculation for the 12<sup>th</sup> time just last month. The same regulation has been amended 7 times in the last 3 years.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15382', 'image' => '20220718041402_capital expenditure.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 16:02:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15655', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Industries Fail to Prosper due to Lack of Clear Policy’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: Former President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, who is also the vice president of Panchkanya Group, says that although there are immense resources in the country the industries of Nepal are not flourishing due to lack of clear policy of the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: Former President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, who is also the vice president of Panchkanya Group, says that although there are immense resources in the country the industries of Nepal are not flourishing due to lack of clear policy of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In a conversation with New Business Age, Shrestha said that the size of the economy has increased, but the government is yet to come up with a clear policy. He complained that the government introduces a policy that helps a handful of industries but forces the closure of 10 industries. He argues that such kind of policy cannot lead to the development and expansion of domestic industries. He said that the government should pay special attention to the formulation of industry-friendly policies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha says that the discriminatory policies brought by the government are causing problems. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha also said that Panchkanya Group always wants to assist in the development of the country. No matter which government is in power, Shrestha says that development is inevitable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We have moved forward with the idea of producing the basic goods needed for development internally and we are still on that path.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claims that the commercial companies under the Panchkanya Group work by prioritizing customer satisfaction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, 9/10 industries of Panchkanya Group are operating in the country now. Currently, Panchkanya Group's annual turnover is Rs 8 billion to Rs 10 billion. He said that he has a lot of experience of having to sell goods bought at high prices at low prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Panchkanya Group has become known in the country and abroad in its 50-year journey. According to him, the industry is operating in an area of about 14 bighas in Bhairahawa. The commercial journey of the group which started from Panchkanya Plastics in Kathmandu, spread to finance, bank, insurance, trading, housing, and hydropower as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha informed that the third generation is working in all these industries. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15396', 'image' => '20220720040325_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 16:02:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15654', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow of Banks Exceeds Deposit Collection by RS 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though there was no increase in deposit collection, banks became aggressive in credit expansion, and they had to face a severe liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the commercial banks collected a total of Rs 340 billion in deposits and disbursed loans of Rs 454 billion. Since the beginning of last year, banks were aggressive in providing loans after the liquidity situation eased due to the long-term suspension of credit expansion due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As of mid-July 2021, the total deposit collection of commercial banks was Rs 4213.9 billion, while in mid-June 2022, it reached Rs 4541.44 billion. Last year, Nabil Bank was at the forefront of deposit collection. At the end of the fiscal year, the deposits of Nabil, which started integrated business after acquiring Nepal Bangladesh Bank, increased by Rs 101.56 billion. Nabil acquired Nepal Bangladesh Bank and started an integrated business on June 27.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from the increase in deposits due to mergers, Nepal Bank leads other banks in deposit collection. Its deposits increased by Rs 33.56 billion last year. Similarly, NCC increased deposits by Rs 30 billion, Sanima Bank by Rs 28 billion and Kumari Bank by Rs 25 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deposits of only two banks declined during the last fiscal year. According to the association, deposits of Rastriya Banijya Bank decreased by Rs 7.46 billion rupees and NIC Asia Bank by Rs 5.27 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The total credit flow of commercial banks, which stood at Rs 3720 billion as of mid-July 2021, increased to Rs 4174 billion in mid-July 2022. Nabil Bank is also at the forefront among banks that have increased lending due to the acquisition of another bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the acquisition of Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nabil Bank's credit flow increased by Rs 103.41 billion, including Rs 71 billion invested by Nepal Bangladesh Bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Nepal Bank extended loans worth Rs 35 billion followed by Global IME Bank (Rs 29.71 billion), Rastriya Banijya Bank (Rs 28.89 billion), and NCC Bank (Rs 27.2 billion). Nepal Bankers Association said that the lowest amount of credit disbursement was done by Nepal Investment Bank whose credit expansion increased by Rs 970 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Anil Kumar Upadhyay, president of the association and chief executive officer of the Agricultural Development Bank, said that resource management of banks has become a challenging task. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Our supply side was weak in the 10 years except for the two years affected by the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic,” said Upadhyay, adding, “We were under crisis for eight years.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that when there was enough liquidity during the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic, loans were disbursed at a lower rate than the base rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that due to the lack of resource management, loans were not extended according to demand, and the base rate and interest rate of banks became more expensive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that banks are not in a position to expand credit flow even in the new fiscal year as there is no immediate solution for resource management. Upadhyaya said that money was leaving the country for imports and emphasized the need for policy intervention to encourage investment in the productive sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15395', 'image' => '20220720030235_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 15:01:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15653', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Unhappy Although Agriculture Ministry Claims 76 % Fiscal Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22. Despite the ministry's claim, the farmers are unhappy as they are not getting chemical fertilizers during the time of planting rice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers need nearly 300,000 metric tonnes chemical fertilisers in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July) alone. The government says 218,000 metric tonnes of subsidised fertiliser has been sold during this period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers need 1.2 million metric tonnes of fertiliser annually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The progress in planting rice across the country as of July 12 during the Fiscal Year 2020/21 was 68 percent which declined by 8 percentage points to 60 percent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The government procures 500,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertiliser and the private sector 700,000 metric tonnes," said Govinda Prasad Sharma, the Agricultural Secretary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Agriculture informed that the paddy cultivation has not been encouraging as the farmers have not got sufficient amount of fertiliser by mid-July. The paddy cultivation in Nepal is done until mid-August during the monsoon. Rice plantation was 97 per cent by mid-August last fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said the ministry has successfully carried out 13 major works by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These include: policy and legal arrangements, fixation of the price of various crops and agriculture produce, provision of relief to the farmers affected by the unseasonal rains, import and sale of chemical fertilisers, quality control, implementation of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, technical extension works, genetic improvement, vaccine production and management, livestock services, fishery and crop insurance, export of livestock products, agriculture infrastructure development and listing of farmers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bill to amend the Seeds Act, 2045 and the Plant Protection Act, 2064 has been authenticated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Bird Flu Control Regulations, 2078 and the National Animal Health Policy, 2078, the National Animal Breeding Policy, 2078 have been endorsed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The draft of the National Fisheries Policy has been tabled at the Council of Ministers for its passage and the Food Hygiene and Quality Bill, 2079 in the National Assembly after its deliberation in the legislation committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The drafts of the bills including Animal Welfare, Infectious Animal Disease Control and Agribusiness Promotion have proceeded after their deliberation in the Nepal Law Commission. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15394', 'image' => '20220720013920_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 13:38:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15652', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Probe Committee Struggles to Collect Evidences against Janardan Sharma', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation against the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is having trouble gathering evidences..', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation that the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma invited unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates while preparing the budget for Fiscal Year 2022/23 is having trouble gathering evidences.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is unable to collect enough evidences so far because the Ministry of Finance was not serious about preserving the CCTV footage since the beginning.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee took statements from the members of the core team of the finance ministry involved in the preparation of the budget, including the finance secretary and revenue secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A member of the investigation committee told New Business Age that although the committee took statements from them, no evidence was found to confirm the allegations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">So far, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, Head of Budget Division Chakra Bahadur Budha, Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral, Chief of Administration Division Kedar Sharma, Director General of Customs Department Kamal Bhattarai, Director General of Inland Revenue Department Ritesh Shakya, Under Secretary of the Information Technology Section of the Ministry Theku Shrestha, Under Secretary of Revenue Management Division, Sharad Niraula and Gopal Khatri already given their statements.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">MPs Pradeep Gyawali, Khaga Raj Adhikari and Laxman Lal Karna, who are in the investigation committee, took statements from the finance ministry officials. According to one of the members of the investigation committee, some of those who gave statements answered that they were unaware of the incident on May 28. Some even claimed that such an incident never happened. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been unable to gather evidence since the finance officials who participated in the budget preparation did not give a clear statement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee asked the Ministry of Finance for the CCTV footage of the previous day of budget announcement but did not receive it. According to the ministry, the CCTV was installed 9 years ago and its record-keeping capacity is only of 13 days. That is why the committee is having a hard time getting the CCTV footage.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sources say that after the Ministry of Finance did not provide the CCTV footage, the committee started discussions with the technicians and experts of the Cyber Bureau of the Nepal Police, including a former secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though the then finance minister Sharma resigned after heavy criticism, the core team involved in budget preparation including the finance secretary is still in office. The investigation committee members suspect that they played a role in deleting the CCTV footage of that day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">One of the members said, “Neither the government nor the committee worked to secure the evidence from the beginning.” According to him, as soon as such the incident came to light, the government should have suspended the core team involved in budget preparation and preceded with the investigation process. The members of the investigation committee suspect that the team may have ordered the destruction of evidence while the officials remained in office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Surveillance is ample</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CCTV cameras are installed not only in the ministry of finance but from the entrance gate of Singha Durbar to the ministry. Even the poles around the ministry have CCTV cameras that monitor those who come in and out of the ministry. Any person who reaches the Ministry of Finance is under surveillance of more than a dozen CCTV cameras.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is still not paying attention to look for evidences from the CC cameras of other agencies that lead towards the ministry. Due to the delay in receiving the CCTV footage, doubts have been raised that the parliamentary investigation committee will prepare its report on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => 'evidence, ministry, finance, probe committee, Janardan, Sharma, Madhu, Kumar, Marasini, Krishna, Hari, Pushkar, parliamentary, CCTV, footage', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15393', 'image' => '20220720121510_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 12:14:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15651', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC urges Speaker to Proceed Ahead with Bills Related to Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An NCC delegation led by its President Rajendra Malla called on Speaker Sapkota at the latter's office on Tuesday to take forward 11 such bills. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the visiting NCC delegation, many of the bills related to economy were stuck in the parliament causing a delay in addressing many issues faced by the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They apprised the Speaker that the Bill seeking amendment to Securities Act and the Bill to amend the Bank and Financial Institutions Act-2073 are under deliberation in the Finance Committee of parliament for a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Malla added that the bill formulated to integrate and amend laws related to insurance was also under deliberation in the Finance Committee. He urged the Speaker for his positive intervention towards taking forward those bills ahead of the federal election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he drew the attention of the Speaker to push the bill formulated to regulate and manage cultivation of marijuana, arguing that by exporting marijuana, Nepal could reduce trade deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota expressed his commitment to take initiative to push forward all the stalled bills. </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"">"I have already asked the concerned agencies to take forward some bills. Bill related to budget are almost on the verge of completion. I am aware that other bills should not be stuck in the parliament,” said Speaker Sapkota. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15392', 'image' => '20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 11:58:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15650', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Soaltee Hotel to Extend its Services in Chitwan and Itahari', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. The hotel says the new outlets will provide high-quality service with local flavor to the tourists visiting the country from abroad as well as the domestic tourist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Westend Resort in Chitwan and five-star Soaltee Westend Hotel in Itahari will come into operation before the upcoming Dashain festival. Although the parent company of these two hotels will be Soaltee Hotel, it has been informed that the new hotel in Itahari will be owned by Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd and the resort in Chitwan will be owned by a company called RRGR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Binod Poudel, managing director of Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd, claims that the operation of high-class hotels will help boost the economy of Province 1. Soaltee Hotel decided to give the ownership of the new hotel in Itahari to Hotel Garima and operate it under its own management after realizing the potential of Indian tourists who visit Itahari and nearby areas. According to available data, around 2,000 to 3,000 Indian tourists visit Itahari and its surrounding areas on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the total investment in the hotel to be operated in Itahari will be Rs 1.5 billion. The hotel will have 90 rooms with high-standard facilities. Paudel informed that there will be one presidential suite, 8 suites, 12 executive rooms, 22 deluxe rooms, and 47 standard rooms. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the Soaltee Westend Resort will be built in Patihani of Chitwan with an investment of Rs 1 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The resort will be built in modern and traditional Nepali architectural style. It is said that the walls of the resort will be decorated with paintings reflecting the Tharu culture. According to Soaltee Hotel, the structure will take about 4 years to be ready. There will be 12 luxury villas, 5 control rooms, 3 restaurants, and 100 rooms with bars in the resort.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Hotel says it is planning to operate this resort to provide five-star facilities to foreign and domestic tourists who come to observe the Tharu culture in Chitwan National Park.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the hotels and resorts of Itahari and Chitwan will directly employ around 250 people. It is expected that local products will also find a market after the hotels come into operation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As preparations are being made to open both the hotels before Dashain, the final stage works like decoration, garden construction, and painting are being done at present. There is also a plan to open a casino for foreign tourists. Discussions with various companies are underway for this. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After operating hotels in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj, Soaltee Hotel is going to operate a five-star hotel in Itahari and Chitwan for the first time under its own management with such a large investment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">These hotels are expected to become centers of attraction for foreign tourists visiting Chitwan and Itahari. These structures are expected to be chosen for large commercial and political gatherings and international assemblies and conferences in those areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from this, Soaltee informed that it has initiated necessary works to expand its branches in Pokhara and Tilganga under a new project. A five-star hotel in Pokhara and four-star hotel in Tilganga will be operational within two years. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15391', 'image' => '20220719054707_hotel-exterior-crowne.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:46:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15649', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '207 Local Levels Fail to Present Budget within Deadline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitution, the local levels should present the budget by the second week of Asar (June). The federal government is required to present its budget on May 29, the province governments on June 15 and the local levels on June 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the total 753 local levels, 546 have already unveiled their policies and programmes and the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration said 30 out of 137 local levels in Province 1, 65 out of 136 local levels in Madhes province, 34 out of 119 local levels in the Bagmati province, nine out of 85 local levels in Gandaki province, 25 out of 109 local levels in Lumbini province, 19 out of 79 local levels in Karnali province and 25 out of 88 local levels in Sudurpaschim province have not yet presented their budgets so far. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15390', 'image' => '20220719050701_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:06:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15648', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia-Ukraine War to Impact Foreign Aid and Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. Likewise, the study has also pointed out the need to review and revise the monetary and financial policy to deal with the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A recent study by the Institute of Policy Research on the impact of events developed after Russia's attack on Ukraine has made it clear that Nepal cannot remain untouched by its multifaceted effects. The study analyzed those effects and recommended policy reforms to deal with the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Given the possible pressure on the market due to inflation, it seems appropriate to review the monetary and financial policies carefully and modify them if necessary,” the study suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report suggests that the government should keep a buffer stock of at least three months to mitigate the problems caused by the rising price of petroleum products. For this, the government needs to start homework to increase electricity consumption, says the report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that since the consumer price index will increase with the increase in the price of petroleum products, the government should keep the prices of basic consumer goods stable and provide special concessions for economically weak consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Since the increase in the price of petroleum products will affect transportation, agriculture and industrial production, the report suggests seeking timely solution through alternative means.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that there may be a global shortage of chemical fertilizers due to the war and therefore Nepal should take immediate steps to address the problem as this war will make the current liquidity crisis more complicated. Likewise, it also suggests restricting the import of luxury goods and facilitating the import of essential goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the study report, defense budgets in Europe, America and some other countries are likely to increase rapidly with increasing hostility. Because of that, there may be a decrease in foreign aid and direct investment. Therefore, it is mentioned in the report that Nepal should strengthen its economic diplomacy in order not to interfere with foreign aid.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this war, there is a possibility that remittances coming to Nepal will also decrease, so it is necessary to start a diplomatic dialogue with the labor destination countries, the report suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15389', 'image' => '20220719044915_55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-cd6d9d5496764459a988fb97e63ab3ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 16:48:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15647', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4000 Sacks of Fertilizer Distributed in 3 Days', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. The fertilizers will also be useful for the paddy which they planted recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The state-owned Salt Trading Corporation Limited, Biratnagar has distributed 2,125 metric tons of DAP and 1,400 metric tons of urea to the farmers. During last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday alone, 4,000 sacks (200 tons) of DAP fertilizer were distributed to the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhuvaneshwar Yadav, a farmer of Gadhi Rural Municipality of Sunsari is excited after receiving DAP fertilizer during the time of p lanting paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the fertilizers that came to Chandradaya Agricultural Cooperative, he got 6 sacks of fertilizer for his two bigaha land. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We got government-subsidized fertilizer and now we don’t have to use low grade Indian fertilizer. More rice will be produced this time,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Suren Prasad Mehta, a farmer of Sunsari Chitaha, also said that he is relieved to get fertilizer amid the rush for sowing. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “We would have to run in all directions seeking fertilizer if it was not obtained. This time, we got fertilizer early and now we are relieved.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nir Bahadur Parajuli, a farmer of Kanepokhari Rural Municipality-1 Hoklabari of Morang, received DAP and urea from the village's agricultural cooperative for planting crop in one bigha of land. He and other farmers of that area are delighted after receiving the government-subsidized fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Radheshyam Chaudhary, head of the Provincial Office of Salt Trading Corporation, Biratnagar, the Biratnagar office distributed the fertilizer in Morang, Sunsari, Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Bhojpur and Sankhuwasabha. Fertilizer is being distributed in Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung from the company's branch in Birtamod, Jhapa.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, fertilizer is being distributed in Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Solukhumbu and Udayapur from Siraha's Lahan branch as it is close to Lahan. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The contribution of paddy to the GDP of Nepal is 7 percent and 20 percent to the total agricultural production. The government has been giving a subsidy of Rs 4,500 per bag (50 kg) of DAP fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> In Province 1, 70,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in one season. Chaudhary said that the fertilizer that came under the quota given by the government for distribution is now being distributed in 14 districts of Province 1.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, the Salt Trading Corporation is distributing fertilizers based on the quota allocated to municipalities by the Provincial Fertilizer Committee. Fertilizer is being distributed through cooperatives consisting of dealers and farmers recommended by the fertilizer committee formed in the rural municipality. Almost 700,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in Nepal annually for agriculture.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture, 83,300 hectares of paddy cultivation is done in Morang and 64,000 hectares in Jhapa of province 1. Similarly, paddy is planted in 53,000 hectares in Sunsari, 8,737 in Taplejung, 13,851 in Sankhuwasabha, 1,525 in Solukhambu, 9,200 in Panchthar, 14,815 in Ilam, 18,000 in Bhojpur, 10,175 in Tehrathum, 7,950 in Dhankuta, 13,300 in Udaipur, 4,400 in Okhaldhunga and 12,893 hectares in Khotang.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15388', 'image' => '20220719033558_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 15:35:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15646', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Income Growth of Industries Shrinks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries. The report contains detailed data on the condition of the manufacturing industry and the service industry during the third quarter of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the report, the production capacity of the business have slumped in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. During the review period, the production capacity of the industries was 66.81 percent against 71 percent in the second quarter. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review period (mid-January to mid-March), it was found that the manufacturing industry paid an average of 10.96 percent interest. Such interest was 9.4 percent in the same period of the previous year. Similarly, the service sector industries paid an average of 10.92 percent interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study shows that manufacturing industries borrowed 31 percent of the working capital from banks and financial institutions. In the previous quarter, the industries had borrowed 34.4 percent of the working capital. The report shows that the growth rate of income of the industries in the third quarter compared was 12.82 percent against 27.1 percent in the second quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the participants in the study, 81 percent of industrialists said that they are ready for new investments. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The confederation said that the industrial situation report was prepared by focusing on the monetary policy of this fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was released by Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Dilendra Prasad Badu on Monday. Unveiling the report, Minister Badu said that such reports will help in portraying the industrial environment of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bishnu Kumar Aggarwal, president of the confederation, stated that there has been a significant drop in market demand and this has reduced the income of the industries. He also informed that for the first time in Nepal, the confederation conducted a survey and published an industrial report on behalf of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Birendra Raj Pandey, vice president of the confederation, expressed his opinion saying that the report will help to increase the credibility of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15387', 'image' => '20220719014636_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 13:45:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15645', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CPN UML to Deploy People's Representatives for Market Monitoring', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">UML deputy general secretary Pradeep Gyawali shared this information at an event organised on Monday by the party's Department of Consumers' Welfare Protection and Good Governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party resorted to this move as prices of essentials have soared allegedly due to interferences by middlepersons. Gyawali said this happened because the regulator of the state has become 'weak'. He stressed the need for controlling inflation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the Department chief Yagya Raj Sunuwar accused the government of failing to control inflation. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15386', 'image' => '20220719082945_20220623032220_market monitoring.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:28:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Infection Rising Again', 'sub_title' => 'Kathmandu is the only district with more than 500 active cases', 'summary' => 'July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across 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"">July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the virus claimed one life on Monday taking the death toll to 11,854. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, 48 infected persons recovered from the deadly disease. With this, the number of people recovering from the disease has climbed to 968,064 till date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the number of active cases of coronavius across the country stands at 1,776. Among them, 1,709 are being treated in home isolation, 75 in institutional isolation, 15 in ICU and one with ventilator support. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the 77 districts, Kathmandu is the only district having over 500 active cases of COVID-19 at present. Taplejung, Manang, Mustang, Jajarkot, Kalikot, Mugu, Bajura and Dadheldhura have no active case of COVID-19. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15385', 'image' => '20220719082700_20220630115224_health-ministry.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Form Experts' Panel to Construct Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry said it has decided to form a panel of experts to locate an appropriate site for the construction of an airport to in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The civil aviation's regulatory body CAAN decided to form the panel which would get final shape after approval from the cabinet meeting within a few days. The construction of the Nijgadh International Airport would be forwarded based on the study report presented by the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the International Relations Committee of the federal parliament held on Monday, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the airport would be constructed with least environmental damage based on the experts' recommendation in line with the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cost of the Nijgadh International Airport, the much-hyped national pride project, is estimated to be around Rs 120 billion in the preliminary phase. So far, as much as 8,050 hectares of land has been acquired and around Rs 3 billion spent for the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The International Relations Committee Chairperson Pabitra Niraula Kharel said the project should be advanced without further delay since it is vital for Nepal's development and economic prosperity. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She also said the committee would take its decision after holding consultations with the Minister for Law and Justice by internalising the full text of the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the SC has paved the way for the construction of the Nijgadh International Airport and now the ministry and line agencies should proceed without further delay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Director General of CAAN Pradip Adhikari shared about administrative and other decisions taken in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the meeting, lawmakers Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Surendra Kumar Karki, Dev Prakash Timalsina, Chand Tara Kumari, Pushpa Kumari Karn Kayastha, Dipak Prakash Bhatta, Mohan Baniya and Renuka Gurung shared common views stating that the airport was appropriate from all perspectives thus a state-of-the-art airport in Nijgadh should be constructed as soon as possible. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15384', 'image' => '20220719082541_20220605082424_Environment (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Break Likely to End from Tuesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present. Light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to take place in some places of hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, there will be partly to generally cloudy weather throughout the country tonight (July 18) and light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to occur in some places of the hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country. There are chances of heavy rainfall in one or two places of Sudur Paschim Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division's analysis, currently the axis of monsoon trough is located towards the south from the normal position. The country is witnessing a rise in temperature for the past few days. It said that the shifting of monsoon trough towards the south from the normal position caused a monsoon break, leading to the temperature rise. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist Hira Bhatarai said this year more heat has been felt in hill regions including the Kathmandu Valley than in previous years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Bhattarai, the monsoon trough is likely to move back towards Nepal from Tuesday with the possibility of rainfall, giving some respite from the heat. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15383', 'image' => '20220718075009_image_750x_62a32cee152ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 19:49:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Capital Expenditure Weakest in a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. The country witnessed budget announcement by two finance ministers in just one fiscal year while the pace of development could not gain momentum due to the incompetence of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then finance minister Bishnu Poudel had announced a budget through ordinance on May 29, 2021 for the last fiscal year which concluded on July 16. However, a mandamus order by the Supreme Court to reinstate the parliament dissolved by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli led to the downfall of Oli government. Then, a new government’s finance minister Janardan Sharma introduced a replacement budget stating that the government would spend 10 percent of the allocated capital budget every month. However, the government failed to work as per its commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Office of the Auditor General, the government had allocated a budget of Rs 378.9 billion for capital expenditure in the fiscal year 2021/22 but was able to spend only 216.37 billion which is 57.23 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Data released by the Office of the Auditor General has revealed that the government spent as much as Rs 79 billion in the last month (mid-June to mid-July) of the last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure which was Rs 137 billion in mid-June increased to Rs 216 billion in mid-July. The government was under pressure to spend towards the end of the fiscal year as it did not pay much attention in spending budget in the starting period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The capital expenditure of the government in the last fiscal year was the weakest in the past decade except for the spending during the Covid-19 period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure in FY 2013/14 was 75 percent which increased to 84 percent in FY 2016/17 before plunging to 74 percent (FY 2014/15) and 58 percent (FY 2015/16). The government’s capital expenditure then increased to 86 percent in the next fiscal year (FY 2018/19). It then dropped to 46 percent during the pandemic era in FY 2019/20 before rising to 64 percent in FY 2020/21.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has always failed in spending budget. Although the government signs work execution agreements with the officials who spend budget, such agreements have hardly yielded any results. The government has stopped signing such agreements after the onset of Covid-19 due to which the work execution of the government officials have been affected due to lack of evaluation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr Pushparaj Kandel terms the government’s failure to spend capital budget as its ‘incompetence’. He argues that the capital budget could not be spent because the government failed to create a conducive environment for spending the budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Kandel, the development works have slumped due to various reasons including the transfer of civil servants , government’s lack of interest to control inflation and its failure to take the construction entrepreneurs in confidence.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Auditor General Navaraj Dhungana blames political instability, inflation and construction holiday announced by the contractors as the main reasons for the poor spending of capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Dhungana, although the government amended the Public Procurement Act, it did so quite late thereby affecting the construction works. The construction entrepreneurs are yet to collect Rs 5 billion from the Department of Roads and Rs 20 billion from other government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s policy is also to blame for the poor capital spending. The government has been amending the Public Procurement Regulation time and again to address the problems of construction entrepreneurs but this has created instability. The government amended the reculation for the 12<sup>th</sup> time just last month. The same regulation has been amended 7 times in the last 3 years.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15382', 'image' => '20220718041402_capital expenditure.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 16:02:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15655', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Industries Fail to Prosper due to Lack of Clear Policy’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: Former President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, who is also the vice president of Panchkanya Group, says that although there are immense resources in the country the industries of Nepal are not flourishing due to lack of clear policy of the government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: Former President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, who is also the vice president of Panchkanya Group, says that although there are immense resources in the country the industries of Nepal are not flourishing due to lack of clear policy of the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In a conversation with New Business Age, Shrestha said that the size of the economy has increased, but the government is yet to come up with a clear policy. He complained that the government introduces a policy that helps a handful of industries but forces the closure of 10 industries. He argues that such kind of policy cannot lead to the development and expansion of domestic industries. He said that the government should pay special attention to the formulation of industry-friendly policies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha says that the discriminatory policies brought by the government are causing problems. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha also said that Panchkanya Group always wants to assist in the development of the country. No matter which government is in power, Shrestha says that development is inevitable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We have moved forward with the idea of producing the basic goods needed for development internally and we are still on that path.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claims that the commercial companies under the Panchkanya Group work by prioritizing customer satisfaction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, 9/10 industries of Panchkanya Group are operating in the country now. Currently, Panchkanya Group's annual turnover is Rs 8 billion to Rs 10 billion. He said that he has a lot of experience of having to sell goods bought at high prices at low prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Panchkanya Group has become known in the country and abroad in its 50-year journey. According to him, the industry is operating in an area of about 14 bighas in Bhairahawa. The commercial journey of the group which started from Panchkanya Plastics in Kathmandu, spread to finance, bank, insurance, trading, housing, and hydropower as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha informed that the third generation is working in all these industries. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15396', 'image' => '20220720040325_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 16:02:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15654', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow of Banks Exceeds Deposit Collection by RS 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though there was no increase in deposit collection, banks became aggressive in credit expansion, and they had to face a severe liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the commercial banks collected a total of Rs 340 billion in deposits and disbursed loans of Rs 454 billion. Since the beginning of last year, banks were aggressive in providing loans after the liquidity situation eased due to the long-term suspension of credit expansion due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As of mid-July 2021, the total deposit collection of commercial banks was Rs 4213.9 billion, while in mid-June 2022, it reached Rs 4541.44 billion. Last year, Nabil Bank was at the forefront of deposit collection. At the end of the fiscal year, the deposits of Nabil, which started integrated business after acquiring Nepal Bangladesh Bank, increased by Rs 101.56 billion. Nabil acquired Nepal Bangladesh Bank and started an integrated business on June 27.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from the increase in deposits due to mergers, Nepal Bank leads other banks in deposit collection. Its deposits increased by Rs 33.56 billion last year. Similarly, NCC increased deposits by Rs 30 billion, Sanima Bank by Rs 28 billion and Kumari Bank by Rs 25 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deposits of only two banks declined during the last fiscal year. According to the association, deposits of Rastriya Banijya Bank decreased by Rs 7.46 billion rupees and NIC Asia Bank by Rs 5.27 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The total credit flow of commercial banks, which stood at Rs 3720 billion as of mid-July 2021, increased to Rs 4174 billion in mid-July 2022. Nabil Bank is also at the forefront among banks that have increased lending due to the acquisition of another bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the acquisition of Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nabil Bank's credit flow increased by Rs 103.41 billion, including Rs 71 billion invested by Nepal Bangladesh Bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Nepal Bank extended loans worth Rs 35 billion followed by Global IME Bank (Rs 29.71 billion), Rastriya Banijya Bank (Rs 28.89 billion), and NCC Bank (Rs 27.2 billion). Nepal Bankers Association said that the lowest amount of credit disbursement was done by Nepal Investment Bank whose credit expansion increased by Rs 970 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Anil Kumar Upadhyay, president of the association and chief executive officer of the Agricultural Development Bank, said that resource management of banks has become a challenging task. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Our supply side was weak in the 10 years except for the two years affected by the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic,” said Upadhyay, adding, “We were under crisis for eight years.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that when there was enough liquidity during the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic, loans were disbursed at a lower rate than the base rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that due to the lack of resource management, loans were not extended according to demand, and the base rate and interest rate of banks became more expensive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that banks are not in a position to expand credit flow even in the new fiscal year as there is no immediate solution for resource management. Upadhyaya said that money was leaving the country for imports and emphasized the need for policy intervention to encourage investment in the productive sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15395', 'image' => '20220720030235_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 15:01:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15653', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Unhappy Although Agriculture Ministry Claims 76 % Fiscal Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22. Despite the ministry's claim, the farmers are unhappy as they are not getting chemical fertilizers during the time of planting rice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers need nearly 300,000 metric tonnes chemical fertilisers in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July) alone. The government says 218,000 metric tonnes of subsidised fertiliser has been sold during this period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers need 1.2 million metric tonnes of fertiliser annually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The progress in planting rice across the country as of July 12 during the Fiscal Year 2020/21 was 68 percent which declined by 8 percentage points to 60 percent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The government procures 500,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertiliser and the private sector 700,000 metric tonnes," said Govinda Prasad Sharma, the Agricultural Secretary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Agriculture informed that the paddy cultivation has not been encouraging as the farmers have not got sufficient amount of fertiliser by mid-July. The paddy cultivation in Nepal is done until mid-August during the monsoon. Rice plantation was 97 per cent by mid-August last fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said the ministry has successfully carried out 13 major works by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These include: policy and legal arrangements, fixation of the price of various crops and agriculture produce, provision of relief to the farmers affected by the unseasonal rains, import and sale of chemical fertilisers, quality control, implementation of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, technical extension works, genetic improvement, vaccine production and management, livestock services, fishery and crop insurance, export of livestock products, agriculture infrastructure development and listing of farmers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bill to amend the Seeds Act, 2045 and the Plant Protection Act, 2064 has been authenticated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Bird Flu Control Regulations, 2078 and the National Animal Health Policy, 2078, the National Animal Breeding Policy, 2078 have been endorsed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The draft of the National Fisheries Policy has been tabled at the Council of Ministers for its passage and the Food Hygiene and Quality Bill, 2079 in the National Assembly after its deliberation in the legislation committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The drafts of the bills including Animal Welfare, Infectious Animal Disease Control and Agribusiness Promotion have proceeded after their deliberation in the Nepal Law Commission. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15394', 'image' => '20220720013920_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 13:38:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15652', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Probe Committee Struggles to Collect Evidences against Janardan Sharma', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation against the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is having trouble gathering evidences..', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation that the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma invited unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates while preparing the budget for Fiscal Year 2022/23 is having trouble gathering evidences.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is unable to collect enough evidences so far because the Ministry of Finance was not serious about preserving the CCTV footage since the beginning.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee took statements from the members of the core team of the finance ministry involved in the preparation of the budget, including the finance secretary and revenue secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A member of the investigation committee told New Business Age that although the committee took statements from them, no evidence was found to confirm the allegations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">So far, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, Head of Budget Division Chakra Bahadur Budha, Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral, Chief of Administration Division Kedar Sharma, Director General of Customs Department Kamal Bhattarai, Director General of Inland Revenue Department Ritesh Shakya, Under Secretary of the Information Technology Section of the Ministry Theku Shrestha, Under Secretary of Revenue Management Division, Sharad Niraula and Gopal Khatri already given their statements.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">MPs Pradeep Gyawali, Khaga Raj Adhikari and Laxman Lal Karna, who are in the investigation committee, took statements from the finance ministry officials. According to one of the members of the investigation committee, some of those who gave statements answered that they were unaware of the incident on May 28. Some even claimed that such an incident never happened. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been unable to gather evidence since the finance officials who participated in the budget preparation did not give a clear statement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee asked the Ministry of Finance for the CCTV footage of the previous day of budget announcement but did not receive it. According to the ministry, the CCTV was installed 9 years ago and its record-keeping capacity is only of 13 days. That is why the committee is having a hard time getting the CCTV footage.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sources say that after the Ministry of Finance did not provide the CCTV footage, the committee started discussions with the technicians and experts of the Cyber Bureau of the Nepal Police, including a former secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though the then finance minister Sharma resigned after heavy criticism, the core team involved in budget preparation including the finance secretary is still in office. The investigation committee members suspect that they played a role in deleting the CCTV footage of that day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">One of the members said, “Neither the government nor the committee worked to secure the evidence from the beginning.” According to him, as soon as such the incident came to light, the government should have suspended the core team involved in budget preparation and preceded with the investigation process. The members of the investigation committee suspect that the team may have ordered the destruction of evidence while the officials remained in office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Surveillance is ample</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CCTV cameras are installed not only in the ministry of finance but from the entrance gate of Singha Durbar to the ministry. Even the poles around the ministry have CCTV cameras that monitor those who come in and out of the ministry. Any person who reaches the Ministry of Finance is under surveillance of more than a dozen CCTV cameras.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is still not paying attention to look for evidences from the CC cameras of other agencies that lead towards the ministry. Due to the delay in receiving the CCTV footage, doubts have been raised that the parliamentary investigation committee will prepare its report on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => 'evidence, ministry, finance, probe committee, Janardan, Sharma, Madhu, Kumar, Marasini, Krishna, Hari, Pushkar, parliamentary, CCTV, footage', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15393', 'image' => '20220720121510_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 12:14:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15651', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC urges Speaker to Proceed Ahead with Bills Related to Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An NCC delegation led by its President Rajendra Malla called on Speaker Sapkota at the latter's office on Tuesday to take forward 11 such bills. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the visiting NCC delegation, many of the bills related to economy were stuck in the parliament causing a delay in addressing many issues faced by the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They apprised the Speaker that the Bill seeking amendment to Securities Act and the Bill to amend the Bank and Financial Institutions Act-2073 are under deliberation in the Finance Committee of parliament for a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Malla added that the bill formulated to integrate and amend laws related to insurance was also under deliberation in the Finance Committee. He urged the Speaker for his positive intervention towards taking forward those bills ahead of the federal election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he drew the attention of the Speaker to push the bill formulated to regulate and manage cultivation of marijuana, arguing that by exporting marijuana, Nepal could reduce trade deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota expressed his commitment to take initiative to push forward all the stalled bills. </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"">"I have already asked the concerned agencies to take forward some bills. Bill related to budget are almost on the verge of completion. I am aware that other bills should not be stuck in the parliament,” said Speaker Sapkota. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15392', 'image' => '20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 11:58:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15650', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Soaltee Hotel to Extend its Services in Chitwan and Itahari', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. The hotel says the new outlets will provide high-quality service with local flavor to the tourists visiting the country from abroad as well as the domestic tourist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Westend Resort in Chitwan and five-star Soaltee Westend Hotel in Itahari will come into operation before the upcoming Dashain festival. Although the parent company of these two hotels will be Soaltee Hotel, it has been informed that the new hotel in Itahari will be owned by Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd and the resort in Chitwan will be owned by a company called RRGR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Binod Poudel, managing director of Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd, claims that the operation of high-class hotels will help boost the economy of Province 1. Soaltee Hotel decided to give the ownership of the new hotel in Itahari to Hotel Garima and operate it under its own management after realizing the potential of Indian tourists who visit Itahari and nearby areas. According to available data, around 2,000 to 3,000 Indian tourists visit Itahari and its surrounding areas on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the total investment in the hotel to be operated in Itahari will be Rs 1.5 billion. The hotel will have 90 rooms with high-standard facilities. Paudel informed that there will be one presidential suite, 8 suites, 12 executive rooms, 22 deluxe rooms, and 47 standard rooms. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the Soaltee Westend Resort will be built in Patihani of Chitwan with an investment of Rs 1 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The resort will be built in modern and traditional Nepali architectural style. It is said that the walls of the resort will be decorated with paintings reflecting the Tharu culture. According to Soaltee Hotel, the structure will take about 4 years to be ready. There will be 12 luxury villas, 5 control rooms, 3 restaurants, and 100 rooms with bars in the resort.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Hotel says it is planning to operate this resort to provide five-star facilities to foreign and domestic tourists who come to observe the Tharu culture in Chitwan National Park.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the hotels and resorts of Itahari and Chitwan will directly employ around 250 people. It is expected that local products will also find a market after the hotels come into operation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As preparations are being made to open both the hotels before Dashain, the final stage works like decoration, garden construction, and painting are being done at present. There is also a plan to open a casino for foreign tourists. Discussions with various companies are underway for this. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After operating hotels in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj, Soaltee Hotel is going to operate a five-star hotel in Itahari and Chitwan for the first time under its own management with such a large investment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">These hotels are expected to become centers of attraction for foreign tourists visiting Chitwan and Itahari. These structures are expected to be chosen for large commercial and political gatherings and international assemblies and conferences in those areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from this, Soaltee informed that it has initiated necessary works to expand its branches in Pokhara and Tilganga under a new project. A five-star hotel in Pokhara and four-star hotel in Tilganga will be operational within two years. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15391', 'image' => '20220719054707_hotel-exterior-crowne.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:46:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15649', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '207 Local Levels Fail to Present Budget within Deadline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitution, the local levels should present the budget by the second week of Asar (June). The federal government is required to present its budget on May 29, the province governments on June 15 and the local levels on June 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the total 753 local levels, 546 have already unveiled their policies and programmes and the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration said 30 out of 137 local levels in Province 1, 65 out of 136 local levels in Madhes province, 34 out of 119 local levels in the Bagmati province, nine out of 85 local levels in Gandaki province, 25 out of 109 local levels in Lumbini province, 19 out of 79 local levels in Karnali province and 25 out of 88 local levels in Sudurpaschim province have not yet presented their budgets so far. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15390', 'image' => '20220719050701_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:06:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15648', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia-Ukraine War to Impact Foreign Aid and Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. Likewise, the study has also pointed out the need to review and revise the monetary and financial policy to deal with the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A recent study by the Institute of Policy Research on the impact of events developed after Russia's attack on Ukraine has made it clear that Nepal cannot remain untouched by its multifaceted effects. The study analyzed those effects and recommended policy reforms to deal with the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Given the possible pressure on the market due to inflation, it seems appropriate to review the monetary and financial policies carefully and modify them if necessary,” the study suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report suggests that the government should keep a buffer stock of at least three months to mitigate the problems caused by the rising price of petroleum products. For this, the government needs to start homework to increase electricity consumption, says the report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that since the consumer price index will increase with the increase in the price of petroleum products, the government should keep the prices of basic consumer goods stable and provide special concessions for economically weak consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Since the increase in the price of petroleum products will affect transportation, agriculture and industrial production, the report suggests seeking timely solution through alternative means.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that there may be a global shortage of chemical fertilizers due to the war and therefore Nepal should take immediate steps to address the problem as this war will make the current liquidity crisis more complicated. Likewise, it also suggests restricting the import of luxury goods and facilitating the import of essential goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the study report, defense budgets in Europe, America and some other countries are likely to increase rapidly with increasing hostility. Because of that, there may be a decrease in foreign aid and direct investment. Therefore, it is mentioned in the report that Nepal should strengthen its economic diplomacy in order not to interfere with foreign aid.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this war, there is a possibility that remittances coming to Nepal will also decrease, so it is necessary to start a diplomatic dialogue with the labor destination countries, the report suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15389', 'image' => '20220719044915_55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-cd6d9d5496764459a988fb97e63ab3ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 16:48:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15647', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4000 Sacks of Fertilizer Distributed in 3 Days', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. The fertilizers will also be useful for the paddy which they planted recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The state-owned Salt Trading Corporation Limited, Biratnagar has distributed 2,125 metric tons of DAP and 1,400 metric tons of urea to the farmers. During last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday alone, 4,000 sacks (200 tons) of DAP fertilizer were distributed to the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhuvaneshwar Yadav, a farmer of Gadhi Rural Municipality of Sunsari is excited after receiving DAP fertilizer during the time of p lanting paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the fertilizers that came to Chandradaya Agricultural Cooperative, he got 6 sacks of fertilizer for his two bigaha land. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We got government-subsidized fertilizer and now we don’t have to use low grade Indian fertilizer. More rice will be produced this time,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Suren Prasad Mehta, a farmer of Sunsari Chitaha, also said that he is relieved to get fertilizer amid the rush for sowing. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “We would have to run in all directions seeking fertilizer if it was not obtained. This time, we got fertilizer early and now we are relieved.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nir Bahadur Parajuli, a farmer of Kanepokhari Rural Municipality-1 Hoklabari of Morang, received DAP and urea from the village's agricultural cooperative for planting crop in one bigha of land. He and other farmers of that area are delighted after receiving the government-subsidized fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Radheshyam Chaudhary, head of the Provincial Office of Salt Trading Corporation, Biratnagar, the Biratnagar office distributed the fertilizer in Morang, Sunsari, Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Bhojpur and Sankhuwasabha. Fertilizer is being distributed in Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung from the company's branch in Birtamod, Jhapa.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, fertilizer is being distributed in Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Solukhumbu and Udayapur from Siraha's Lahan branch as it is close to Lahan. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The contribution of paddy to the GDP of Nepal is 7 percent and 20 percent to the total agricultural production. The government has been giving a subsidy of Rs 4,500 per bag (50 kg) of DAP fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> In Province 1, 70,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in one season. Chaudhary said that the fertilizer that came under the quota given by the government for distribution is now being distributed in 14 districts of Province 1.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, the Salt Trading Corporation is distributing fertilizers based on the quota allocated to municipalities by the Provincial Fertilizer Committee. Fertilizer is being distributed through cooperatives consisting of dealers and farmers recommended by the fertilizer committee formed in the rural municipality. Almost 700,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in Nepal annually for agriculture.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture, 83,300 hectares of paddy cultivation is done in Morang and 64,000 hectares in Jhapa of province 1. Similarly, paddy is planted in 53,000 hectares in Sunsari, 8,737 in Taplejung, 13,851 in Sankhuwasabha, 1,525 in Solukhambu, 9,200 in Panchthar, 14,815 in Ilam, 18,000 in Bhojpur, 10,175 in Tehrathum, 7,950 in Dhankuta, 13,300 in Udaipur, 4,400 in Okhaldhunga and 12,893 hectares in Khotang.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15388', 'image' => '20220719033558_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 15:35:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15646', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Income Growth of Industries Shrinks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries. The report contains detailed data on the condition of the manufacturing industry and the service industry during the third quarter of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the report, the production capacity of the business have slumped in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. During the review period, the production capacity of the industries was 66.81 percent against 71 percent in the second quarter. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review period (mid-January to mid-March), it was found that the manufacturing industry paid an average of 10.96 percent interest. Such interest was 9.4 percent in the same period of the previous year. Similarly, the service sector industries paid an average of 10.92 percent interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study shows that manufacturing industries borrowed 31 percent of the working capital from banks and financial institutions. In the previous quarter, the industries had borrowed 34.4 percent of the working capital. The report shows that the growth rate of income of the industries in the third quarter compared was 12.82 percent against 27.1 percent in the second quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the participants in the study, 81 percent of industrialists said that they are ready for new investments. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The confederation said that the industrial situation report was prepared by focusing on the monetary policy of this fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was released by Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Dilendra Prasad Badu on Monday. Unveiling the report, Minister Badu said that such reports will help in portraying the industrial environment of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bishnu Kumar Aggarwal, president of the confederation, stated that there has been a significant drop in market demand and this has reduced the income of the industries. He also informed that for the first time in Nepal, the confederation conducted a survey and published an industrial report on behalf of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Birendra Raj Pandey, vice president of the confederation, expressed his opinion saying that the report will help to increase the credibility of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15387', 'image' => '20220719014636_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 13:45:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15645', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CPN UML to Deploy People's Representatives for Market Monitoring', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">UML deputy general secretary Pradeep Gyawali shared this information at an event organised on Monday by the party's Department of Consumers' Welfare Protection and Good Governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party resorted to this move as prices of essentials have soared allegedly due to interferences by middlepersons. Gyawali said this happened because the regulator of the state has become 'weak'. He stressed the need for controlling inflation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the Department chief Yagya Raj Sunuwar accused the government of failing to control inflation. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15386', 'image' => '20220719082945_20220623032220_market monitoring.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:28:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Infection Rising Again', 'sub_title' => 'Kathmandu is the only district with more than 500 active cases', 'summary' => 'July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across 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"">July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the virus claimed one life on Monday taking the death toll to 11,854. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, 48 infected persons recovered from the deadly disease. With this, the number of people recovering from the disease has climbed to 968,064 till date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the number of active cases of coronavius across the country stands at 1,776. Among them, 1,709 are being treated in home isolation, 75 in institutional isolation, 15 in ICU and one with ventilator support. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the 77 districts, Kathmandu is the only district having over 500 active cases of COVID-19 at present. Taplejung, Manang, Mustang, Jajarkot, Kalikot, Mugu, Bajura and Dadheldhura have no active case of COVID-19. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15385', 'image' => '20220719082700_20220630115224_health-ministry.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Form Experts' Panel to Construct Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry said it has decided to form a panel of experts to locate an appropriate site for the construction of an airport to in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The civil aviation's regulatory body CAAN decided to form the panel which would get final shape after approval from the cabinet meeting within a few days. The construction of the Nijgadh International Airport would be forwarded based on the study report presented by the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the International Relations Committee of the federal parliament held on Monday, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the airport would be constructed with least environmental damage based on the experts' recommendation in line with the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cost of the Nijgadh International Airport, the much-hyped national pride project, is estimated to be around Rs 120 billion in the preliminary phase. So far, as much as 8,050 hectares of land has been acquired and around Rs 3 billion spent for the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The International Relations Committee Chairperson Pabitra Niraula Kharel said the project should be advanced without further delay since it is vital for Nepal's development and economic prosperity. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She also said the committee would take its decision after holding consultations with the Minister for Law and Justice by internalising the full text of the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the SC has paved the way for the construction of the Nijgadh International Airport and now the ministry and line agencies should proceed without further delay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Director General of CAAN Pradip Adhikari shared about administrative and other decisions taken in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the meeting, lawmakers Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Surendra Kumar Karki, Dev Prakash Timalsina, Chand Tara Kumari, Pushpa Kumari Karn Kayastha, Dipak Prakash Bhatta, Mohan Baniya and Renuka Gurung shared common views stating that the airport was appropriate from all perspectives thus a state-of-the-art airport in Nijgadh should be constructed as soon as possible. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15384', 'image' => '20220719082541_20220605082424_Environment (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Break Likely to End from Tuesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present. Light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to take place in some places of hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, there will be partly to generally cloudy weather throughout the country tonight (July 18) and light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to occur in some places of the hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country. There are chances of heavy rainfall in one or two places of Sudur Paschim Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division's analysis, currently the axis of monsoon trough is located towards the south from the normal position. The country is witnessing a rise in temperature for the past few days. It said that the shifting of monsoon trough towards the south from the normal position caused a monsoon break, leading to the temperature rise. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist Hira Bhatarai said this year more heat has been felt in hill regions including the Kathmandu Valley than in previous years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Bhattarai, the monsoon trough is likely to move back towards Nepal from Tuesday with the possibility of rainfall, giving some respite from the heat. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15383', 'image' => '20220718075009_image_750x_62a32cee152ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 19:49:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Capital Expenditure Weakest in a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. The country witnessed budget announcement by two finance ministers in just one fiscal year while the pace of development could not gain momentum due to the incompetence of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then finance minister Bishnu Poudel had announced a budget through ordinance on May 29, 2021 for the last fiscal year which concluded on July 16. However, a mandamus order by the Supreme Court to reinstate the parliament dissolved by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli led to the downfall of Oli government. Then, a new government’s finance minister Janardan Sharma introduced a replacement budget stating that the government would spend 10 percent of the allocated capital budget every month. However, the government failed to work as per its commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Office of the Auditor General, the government had allocated a budget of Rs 378.9 billion for capital expenditure in the fiscal year 2021/22 but was able to spend only 216.37 billion which is 57.23 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Data released by the Office of the Auditor General has revealed that the government spent as much as Rs 79 billion in the last month (mid-June to mid-July) of the last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure which was Rs 137 billion in mid-June increased to Rs 216 billion in mid-July. The government was under pressure to spend towards the end of the fiscal year as it did not pay much attention in spending budget in the starting period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The capital expenditure of the government in the last fiscal year was the weakest in the past decade except for the spending during the Covid-19 period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure in FY 2013/14 was 75 percent which increased to 84 percent in FY 2016/17 before plunging to 74 percent (FY 2014/15) and 58 percent (FY 2015/16). The government’s capital expenditure then increased to 86 percent in the next fiscal year (FY 2018/19). It then dropped to 46 percent during the pandemic era in FY 2019/20 before rising to 64 percent in FY 2020/21.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has always failed in spending budget. Although the government signs work execution agreements with the officials who spend budget, such agreements have hardly yielded any results. The government has stopped signing such agreements after the onset of Covid-19 due to which the work execution of the government officials have been affected due to lack of evaluation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr Pushparaj Kandel terms the government’s failure to spend capital budget as its ‘incompetence’. He argues that the capital budget could not be spent because the government failed to create a conducive environment for spending the budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Kandel, the development works have slumped due to various reasons including the transfer of civil servants , government’s lack of interest to control inflation and its failure to take the construction entrepreneurs in confidence.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Auditor General Navaraj Dhungana blames political instability, inflation and construction holiday announced by the contractors as the main reasons for the poor spending of capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Dhungana, although the government amended the Public Procurement Act, it did so quite late thereby affecting the construction works. The construction entrepreneurs are yet to collect Rs 5 billion from the Department of Roads and Rs 20 billion from other government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s policy is also to blame for the poor capital spending. The government has been amending the Public Procurement Regulation time and again to address the problems of construction entrepreneurs but this has created instability. The government amended the reculation for the 12<sup>th</sup> time just last month. The same regulation has been amended 7 times in the last 3 years.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15382', 'image' => '20220718041402_capital expenditure.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 16:02:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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He complained that the government introduces a policy that helps a handful of industries but forces the closure of 10 industries. He argues that such kind of policy cannot lead to the development and expansion of domestic industries. He said that the government should pay special attention to the formulation of industry-friendly policies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha says that the discriminatory policies brought by the government are causing problems. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha also said that Panchkanya Group always wants to assist in the development of the country. No matter which government is in power, Shrestha says that development is inevitable.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We have moved forward with the idea of producing the basic goods needed for development internally and we are still on that path.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He claims that the commercial companies under the Panchkanya Group work by prioritizing customer satisfaction.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to him, 9/10 industries of Panchkanya Group are operating in the country now. Currently, Panchkanya Group's annual turnover is Rs 8 billion to Rs 10 billion. He said that he has a lot of experience of having to sell goods bought at high prices at low prices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Panchkanya Group has become known in the country and abroad in its 50-year journey. According to him, the industry is operating in an area of about 14 bighas in Bhairahawa. The commercial journey of the group which started from Panchkanya Plastics in Kathmandu, spread to finance, bank, insurance, trading, housing, and hydropower as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shrestha informed that the third generation is working in all these industries. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15396', 'image' => '20220720040325_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 16:02:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15654', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Credit Flow of Banks Exceeds Deposit Collection by RS 100 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: Credit flow of commercial banks in the last fiscal year exceeded deposit collection by Rs 100 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though there was no increase in deposit collection, banks became aggressive in credit expansion, and they had to face a severe liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, the commercial banks collected a total of Rs 340 billion in deposits and disbursed loans of Rs 454 billion. Since the beginning of last year, banks were aggressive in providing loans after the liquidity situation eased due to the long-term suspension of credit expansion due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As of mid-July 2021, the total deposit collection of commercial banks was Rs 4213.9 billion, while in mid-June 2022, it reached Rs 4541.44 billion. Last year, Nabil Bank was at the forefront of deposit collection. At the end of the fiscal year, the deposits of Nabil, which started integrated business after acquiring Nepal Bangladesh Bank, increased by Rs 101.56 billion. Nabil acquired Nepal Bangladesh Bank and started an integrated business on June 27.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from the increase in deposits due to mergers, Nepal Bank leads other banks in deposit collection. Its deposits increased by Rs 33.56 billion last year. Similarly, NCC increased deposits by Rs 30 billion, Sanima Bank by Rs 28 billion and Kumari Bank by Rs 25 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Deposits of only two banks declined during the last fiscal year. According to the association, deposits of Rastriya Banijya Bank decreased by Rs 7.46 billion rupees and NIC Asia Bank by Rs 5.27 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The total credit flow of commercial banks, which stood at Rs 3720 billion as of mid-July 2021, increased to Rs 4174 billion in mid-July 2022. Nabil Bank is also at the forefront among banks that have increased lending due to the acquisition of another bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the acquisition of Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nabil Bank's credit flow increased by Rs 103.41 billion, including Rs 71 billion invested by Nepal Bangladesh Bank.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Nepal Bank extended loans worth Rs 35 billion followed by Global IME Bank (Rs 29.71 billion), Rastriya Banijya Bank (Rs 28.89 billion), and NCC Bank (Rs 27.2 billion). Nepal Bankers Association said that the lowest amount of credit disbursement was done by Nepal Investment Bank whose credit expansion increased by Rs 970 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Anil Kumar Upadhyay, president of the association and chief executive officer of the Agricultural Development Bank, said that resource management of banks has become a challenging task. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Our supply side was weak in the 10 years except for the two years affected by the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic,” said Upadhyay, adding, “We were under crisis for eight years.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that when there was enough liquidity during the earthquake and Covid-19 pandemic, loans were disbursed at a lower rate than the base rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that due to the lack of resource management, loans were not extended according to demand, and the base rate and interest rate of banks became more expensive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that banks are not in a position to expand credit flow even in the new fiscal year as there is no immediate solution for resource management. Upadhyaya said that money was leaving the country for imports and emphasized the need for policy intervention to encourage investment in the productive sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15395', 'image' => '20220720030235_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 15:01:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15653', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Unhappy Although Agriculture Ministry Claims 76 % Fiscal Progress', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has claimed of achieving 76 per cent progress in terms of fiscal management by the end of the Fiscal Year 2021/22. Despite the ministry's claim, the farmers are unhappy as they are not getting chemical fertilizers during the time of planting rice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The farmers need nearly 300,000 metric tonnes chemical fertilisers in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July) alone. The government says 218,000 metric tonnes of subsidised fertiliser has been sold during this period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers need 1.2 million metric tonnes of fertiliser annually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The progress in planting rice across the country as of July 12 during the Fiscal Year 2020/21 was 68 percent which declined by 8 percentage points to 60 percent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The government procures 500,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertiliser and the private sector 700,000 metric tonnes," said Govinda Prasad Sharma, the Agricultural Secretary. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Agriculture informed that the paddy cultivation has not been encouraging as the farmers have not got sufficient amount of fertiliser by mid-July. The paddy cultivation in Nepal is done until mid-August during the monsoon. Rice plantation was 97 per cent by mid-August last fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the ministry Prakash Kumar Sanjel said the ministry has successfully carried out 13 major works by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">These include: policy and legal arrangements, fixation of the price of various crops and agriculture produce, provision of relief to the farmers affected by the unseasonal rains, import and sale of chemical fertilisers, quality control, implementation of the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project, technical extension works, genetic improvement, vaccine production and management, livestock services, fishery and crop insurance, export of livestock products, agriculture infrastructure development and listing of farmers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The bill to amend the Seeds Act, 2045 and the Plant Protection Act, 2064 has been authenticated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Bird Flu Control Regulations, 2078 and the National Animal Health Policy, 2078, the National Animal Breeding Policy, 2078 have been endorsed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The draft of the National Fisheries Policy has been tabled at the Council of Ministers for its passage and the Food Hygiene and Quality Bill, 2079 in the National Assembly after its deliberation in the legislation committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The drafts of the bills including Animal Welfare, Infectious Animal Disease Control and Agribusiness Promotion have proceeded after their deliberation in the Nepal Law Commission. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15394', 'image' => '20220720013920_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 13:38:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15652', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Probe Committee Struggles to Collect Evidences against Janardan Sharma', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation against the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma is having trouble gathering evidences..', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 20: The Parliamentary Special Probe Committee formed to investigate the allegation that the then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma invited unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates while preparing the budget for Fiscal Year 2022/23 is having trouble gathering evidences.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is unable to collect enough evidences so far because the Ministry of Finance was not serious about preserving the CCTV footage since the beginning.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee took statements from the members of the core team of the finance ministry involved in the preparation of the budget, including the finance secretary and revenue secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A member of the investigation committee told New Business Age that although the committee took statements from them, no evidence was found to confirm the allegations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">So far, Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, Head of Budget Division Chakra Bahadur Budha, Chief of Revenue Management Division Bhupal Baral, Chief of Administration Division Kedar Sharma, Director General of Customs Department Kamal Bhattarai, Director General of Inland Revenue Department Ritesh Shakya, Under Secretary of the Information Technology Section of the Ministry Theku Shrestha, Under Secretary of Revenue Management Division, Sharad Niraula and Gopal Khatri already given their statements.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">MPs Pradeep Gyawali, Khaga Raj Adhikari and Laxman Lal Karna, who are in the investigation committee, took statements from the finance ministry officials. According to one of the members of the investigation committee, some of those who gave statements answered that they were unaware of the incident on May 28. Some even claimed that such an incident never happened. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been unable to gather evidence since the finance officials who participated in the budget preparation did not give a clear statement.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investigation committee asked the Ministry of Finance for the CCTV footage of the previous day of budget announcement but did not receive it. According to the ministry, the CCTV was installed 9 years ago and its record-keeping capacity is only of 13 days. That is why the committee is having a hard time getting the CCTV footage.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sources say that after the Ministry of Finance did not provide the CCTV footage, the committee started discussions with the technicians and experts of the Cyber Bureau of the Nepal Police, including a former secretary. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though the then finance minister Sharma resigned after heavy criticism, the core team involved in budget preparation including the finance secretary is still in office. The investigation committee members suspect that they played a role in deleting the CCTV footage of that day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">One of the members said, “Neither the government nor the committee worked to secure the evidence from the beginning.” According to him, as soon as such the incident came to light, the government should have suspended the core team involved in budget preparation and preceded with the investigation process. The members of the investigation committee suspect that the team may have ordered the destruction of evidence while the officials remained in office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Surveillance is ample</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CCTV cameras are installed not only in the ministry of finance but from the entrance gate of Singha Durbar to the ministry. Even the poles around the ministry have CCTV cameras that monitor those who come in and out of the ministry. Any person who reaches the Ministry of Finance is under surveillance of more than a dozen CCTV cameras.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee is still not paying attention to look for evidences from the CC cameras of other agencies that lead towards the ministry. Due to the delay in receiving the CCTV footage, doubts have been raised that the parliamentary investigation committee will prepare its report on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => 'evidence, ministry, finance, probe committee, Janardan, Sharma, Madhu, Kumar, Marasini, Krishna, Hari, Pushkar, parliamentary, CCTV, footage', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15393', 'image' => '20220720121510_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 12:14:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15651', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC urges Speaker to Proceed Ahead with Bills Related to Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 20: The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has urged Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota to take forward the bills related to economy/finance under consideration or deliberation in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An NCC delegation led by its President Rajendra Malla called on Speaker Sapkota at the latter's office on Tuesday to take forward 11 such bills. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the visiting NCC delegation, many of the bills related to economy were stuck in the parliament causing a delay in addressing many issues faced by the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They apprised the Speaker that the Bill seeking amendment to Securities Act and the Bill to amend the Bank and Financial Institutions Act-2073 are under deliberation in the Finance Committee of parliament for a long time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">President Malla added that the bill formulated to integrate and amend laws related to insurance was also under deliberation in the Finance Committee. He urged the Speaker for his positive intervention towards taking forward those bills ahead of the federal election. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, he drew the attention of the Speaker to push the bill formulated to regulate and manage cultivation of marijuana, arguing that by exporting marijuana, Nepal could reduce trade deficit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Sapkota expressed his commitment to take initiative to push forward all the stalled bills. </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"">"I have already asked the concerned agencies to take forward some bills. Bill related to budget are almost on the verge of completion. I am aware that other bills should not be stuck in the parliament,” said Speaker Sapkota. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-20', 'modified' => '2022-07-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15392', 'image' => '20220720115910_NCCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-20 11:58:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15650', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Soaltee Hotel to Extend its Services in Chitwan and Itahari', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: Soaltee Hotel, a five-star hotel based in Kathmandu, is preparing to operate a new hotel each in Chitwan and Itahari under its own management. The hotel says the new outlets will provide high-quality service with local flavor to the tourists visiting the country from abroad as well as the domestic tourist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Westend Resort in Chitwan and five-star Soaltee Westend Hotel in Itahari will come into operation before the upcoming Dashain festival. Although the parent company of these two hotels will be Soaltee Hotel, it has been informed that the new hotel in Itahari will be owned by Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd and the resort in Chitwan will be owned by a company called RRGR.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Binod Poudel, managing director of Hotel Garima Pvt Ltd, claims that the operation of high-class hotels will help boost the economy of Province 1. Soaltee Hotel decided to give the ownership of the new hotel in Itahari to Hotel Garima and operate it under its own management after realizing the potential of Indian tourists who visit Itahari and nearby areas. According to available data, around 2,000 to 3,000 Indian tourists visit Itahari and its surrounding areas on a daily basis. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the total investment in the hotel to be operated in Itahari will be Rs 1.5 billion. The hotel will have 90 rooms with high-standard facilities. Paudel informed that there will be one presidential suite, 8 suites, 12 executive rooms, 22 deluxe rooms, and 47 standard rooms. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the Soaltee Westend Resort will be built in Patihani of Chitwan with an investment of Rs 1 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The resort will be built in modern and traditional Nepali architectural style. It is said that the walls of the resort will be decorated with paintings reflecting the Tharu culture. According to Soaltee Hotel, the structure will take about 4 years to be ready. There will be 12 luxury villas, 5 control rooms, 3 restaurants, and 100 rooms with bars in the resort.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Soaltee Hotel says it is planning to operate this resort to provide five-star facilities to foreign and domestic tourists who come to observe the Tharu culture in Chitwan National Park.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">It is estimated that the hotels and resorts of Itahari and Chitwan will directly employ around 250 people. It is expected that local products will also find a market after the hotels come into operation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As preparations are being made to open both the hotels before Dashain, the final stage works like decoration, garden construction, and painting are being done at present. There is also a plan to open a casino for foreign tourists. Discussions with various companies are underway for this. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After operating hotels in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj, Soaltee Hotel is going to operate a five-star hotel in Itahari and Chitwan for the first time under its own management with such a large investment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">These hotels are expected to become centers of attraction for foreign tourists visiting Chitwan and Itahari. These structures are expected to be chosen for large commercial and political gatherings and international assemblies and conferences in those areas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apart from this, Soaltee informed that it has initiated necessary works to expand its branches in Pokhara and Tilganga under a new project. A five-star hotel in Pokhara and four-star hotel in Tilganga will be operational within two years. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-27', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15391', 'image' => '20220719054707_hotel-exterior-crowne.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:46:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15649', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '207 Local Levels Fail to Present Budget within Deadline ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Two hundred and seven local levels are yet to present their estimates of income and expenditure (budget) for the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) within the stipulated date fixed by the constitution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the constitution, the local levels should present the budget by the second week of Asar (June). The federal government is required to present its budget on May 29, the province governments on June 15 and the local levels on June 24. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the total 753 local levels, 546 have already unveiled their policies and programmes and the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration said 30 out of 137 local levels in Province 1, 65 out of 136 local levels in Madhes province, 34 out of 119 local levels in the Bagmati province, nine out of 85 local levels in Gandaki province, 25 out of 109 local levels in Lumbini province, 19 out of 79 local levels in Karnali province and 25 out of 88 local levels in Sudurpaschim province have not yet presented their budgets so far. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15390', 'image' => '20220719050701_Budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 17:06:20', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15648', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia-Ukraine War to Impact Foreign Aid and Investment in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: A government study has shown that foreign aid and investment received by Nepal may be affected due to the Russia-Ukraine tension. Likewise, the study has also pointed out the need to review and revise the monetary and financial policy to deal with the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A recent study by the Institute of Policy Research on the impact of events developed after Russia's attack on Ukraine has made it clear that Nepal cannot remain untouched by its multifaceted effects. The study analyzed those effects and recommended policy reforms to deal with the crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Given the possible pressure on the market due to inflation, it seems appropriate to review the monetary and financial policies carefully and modify them if necessary,” the study suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report suggests that the government should keep a buffer stock of at least three months to mitigate the problems caused by the rising price of petroleum products. For this, the government needs to start homework to increase electricity consumption, says the report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that since the consumer price index will increase with the increase in the price of petroleum products, the government should keep the prices of basic consumer goods stable and provide special concessions for economically weak consumers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Since the increase in the price of petroleum products will affect transportation, agriculture and industrial production, the report suggests seeking timely solution through alternative means.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study concluded that there may be a global shortage of chemical fertilizers due to the war and therefore Nepal should take immediate steps to address the problem as this war will make the current liquidity crisis more complicated. Likewise, it also suggests restricting the import of luxury goods and facilitating the import of essential goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the study report, defense budgets in Europe, America and some other countries are likely to increase rapidly with increasing hostility. Because of that, there may be a decrease in foreign aid and direct investment. Therefore, it is mentioned in the report that Nepal should strengthen its economic diplomacy in order not to interfere with foreign aid.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this war, there is a possibility that remittances coming to Nepal will also decrease, so it is necessary to start a diplomatic dialogue with the labor destination countries, the report suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15389', 'image' => '20220719044915_55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-55b440fe95ca489daa722b05451d5075-cd6d9d5496764459a988fb97e63ab3ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 16:48:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15647', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '4000 Sacks of Fertilizer Distributed in 3 Days', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The farmers of Morang are relieved after receiving chemical fertilizers including DAP and urea for sowing new lot of crop. The fertilizers will also be useful for the paddy which they planted recently.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The state-owned Salt Trading Corporation Limited, Biratnagar has distributed 2,125 metric tons of DAP and 1,400 metric tons of urea to the farmers. During last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday alone, 4,000 sacks (200 tons) of DAP fertilizer were distributed to the farmers.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bhuvaneshwar Yadav, a farmer of Gadhi Rural Municipality of Sunsari is excited after receiving DAP fertilizer during the time of p lanting paddy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the fertilizers that came to Chandradaya Agricultural Cooperative, he got 6 sacks of fertilizer for his two bigaha land. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We got government-subsidized fertilizer and now we don’t have to use low grade Indian fertilizer. More rice will be produced this time,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Suren Prasad Mehta, a farmer of Sunsari Chitaha, also said that he is relieved to get fertilizer amid the rush for sowing. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “We would have to run in all directions seeking fertilizer if it was not obtained. This time, we got fertilizer early and now we are relieved.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nir Bahadur Parajuli, a farmer of Kanepokhari Rural Municipality-1 Hoklabari of Morang, received DAP and urea from the village's agricultural cooperative for planting crop in one bigha of land. He and other farmers of that area are delighted after receiving the government-subsidized fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Radheshyam Chaudhary, head of the Provincial Office of Salt Trading Corporation, Biratnagar, the Biratnagar office distributed the fertilizer in Morang, Sunsari, Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Bhojpur and Sankhuwasabha. Fertilizer is being distributed in Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung from the company's branch in Birtamod, Jhapa.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, fertilizer is being distributed in Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Solukhumbu and Udayapur from Siraha's Lahan branch as it is close to Lahan. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The contribution of paddy to the GDP of Nepal is 7 percent and 20 percent to the total agricultural production. The government has been giving a subsidy of Rs 4,500 per bag (50 kg) of DAP fertilizer.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> In Province 1, 70,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in one season. Chaudhary said that the fertilizer that came under the quota given by the government for distribution is now being distributed in 14 districts of Province 1.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, the Salt Trading Corporation is distributing fertilizers based on the quota allocated to municipalities by the Provincial Fertilizer Committee. Fertilizer is being distributed through cooperatives consisting of dealers and farmers recommended by the fertilizer committee formed in the rural municipality. Almost 700,000 metric tons of fertilizer is required in Nepal annually for agriculture.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the data of the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture, 83,300 hectares of paddy cultivation is done in Morang and 64,000 hectares in Jhapa of province 1. Similarly, paddy is planted in 53,000 hectares in Sunsari, 8,737 in Taplejung, 13,851 in Sankhuwasabha, 1,525 in Solukhambu, 9,200 in Panchthar, 14,815 in Ilam, 18,000 in Bhojpur, 10,175 in Tehrathum, 7,950 in Dhankuta, 13,300 in Udaipur, 4,400 in Okhaldhunga and 12,893 hectares in Khotang.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15388', 'image' => '20220719033558_Fertilizer.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 15:35:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15646', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Income Growth of Industries Shrinks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 19: The latest study report prepared by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has revealed that there has been a decline in the growth rate of income of the industries. The report contains detailed data on the condition of the manufacturing industry and the service industry during the third quarter of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the report, the production capacity of the business have slumped in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. During the review period, the production capacity of the industries was 66.81 percent against 71 percent in the second quarter. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review period (mid-January to mid-March), it was found that the manufacturing industry paid an average of 10.96 percent interest. Such interest was 9.4 percent in the same period of the previous year. Similarly, the service sector industries paid an average of 10.92 percent interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study shows that manufacturing industries borrowed 31 percent of the working capital from banks and financial institutions. In the previous quarter, the industries had borrowed 34.4 percent of the working capital. The report shows that the growth rate of income of the industries in the third quarter compared was 12.82 percent against 27.1 percent in the second quarter.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Among the participants in the study, 81 percent of industrialists said that they are ready for new investments. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The confederation said that the industrial situation report was prepared by focusing on the monetary policy of this fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was released by Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Dilendra Prasad Badu on Monday. Unveiling the report, Minister Badu said that such reports will help in portraying the industrial environment of Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bishnu Kumar Aggarwal, president of the confederation, stated that there has been a significant drop in market demand and this has reduced the income of the industries. He also informed that for the first time in Nepal, the confederation conducted a survey and published an industrial report on behalf of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Birendra Raj Pandey, vice president of the confederation, expressed his opinion saying that the report will help to increase the credibility of the private sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15387', 'image' => '20220719014636_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 13:45:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15645', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CPN UML to Deploy People's Representatives for Market Monitoring', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: The CPN (UML) has decided to deploy its elected people's representatives to monitor the market in view of soaring inflation. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">UML deputy general secretary Pradeep Gyawali shared this information at an event organised on Monday by the party's Department of Consumers' Welfare Protection and Good Governance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party resorted to this move as prices of essentials have soared allegedly due to interferences by middlepersons. Gyawali said this happened because the regulator of the state has become 'weak'. He stressed the need for controlling inflation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, the Department chief Yagya Raj Sunuwar accused the government of failing to control inflation. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15386', 'image' => '20220719082945_20220623032220_market monitoring.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:28:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Covid-19 Infection Rising Again', 'sub_title' => 'Kathmandu is the only district with more than 500 active cases', 'summary' => 'July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across 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"">July 19: The government on Monday confirmed 457 new cases of Covid-19 across the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the virus claimed one life on Monday taking the death toll to 11,854. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, 48 infected persons recovered from the deadly disease. With this, the number of people recovering from the disease has climbed to 968,064 till date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Currently, the number of active cases of coronavius across the country stands at 1,776. Among them, 1,709 are being treated in home isolation, 75 in institutional isolation, 15 in ICU and one with ventilator support. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Among the 77 districts, Kathmandu is the only district having over 500 active cases of COVID-19 at present. Taplejung, Manang, Mustang, Jajarkot, Kalikot, Mugu, Bajura and Dadheldhura have no active case of COVID-19. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15385', 'image' => '20220719082700_20220630115224_health-ministry.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:46', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Form Experts' Panel to Construct Nijgadh Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 19: Following the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have decided to take the needful steps to construct an international airport in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry said it has decided to form a panel of experts to locate an appropriate site for the construction of an airport to in Nijgadh. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The civil aviation's regulatory body CAAN decided to form the panel which would get final shape after approval from the cabinet meeting within a few days. The construction of the Nijgadh International Airport would be forwarded based on the study report presented by the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting of the International Relations Committee of the federal parliament held on Monday, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha shared that the airport would be constructed with least environmental damage based on the experts' recommendation in line with the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cost of the Nijgadh International Airport, the much-hyped national pride project, is estimated to be around Rs 120 billion in the preliminary phase. So far, as much as 8,050 hectares of land has been acquired and around Rs 3 billion spent for the project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The International Relations Committee Chairperson Pabitra Niraula Kharel said the project should be advanced without further delay since it is vital for Nepal's development and economic prosperity. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">She also said the committee would take its decision after holding consultations with the Minister for Law and Justice by internalising the full text of the SC verdict. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the SC has paved the way for the construction of the Nijgadh International Airport and now the ministry and line agencies should proceed without further delay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, Director General of CAAN Pradip Adhikari shared about administrative and other decisions taken in this regard. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the meeting, lawmakers Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Surendra Kumar Karki, Dev Prakash Timalsina, Chand Tara Kumari, Pushpa Kumari Karn Kayastha, Dipak Prakash Bhatta, Mohan Baniya and Renuka Gurung shared common views stating that the airport was appropriate from all perspectives thus a state-of-the-art airport in Nijgadh should be constructed as soon as possible. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-19', 'modified' => '2022-07-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15384', 'image' => '20220719082541_20220605082424_Environment (4).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-19 08:25:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Break Likely to End from Tuesday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 18: The weather throughout the country is partly to generally cloudy at present. Light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to take place in some places of hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, there will be partly to generally cloudy weather throughout the country tonight (July 18) and light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely to occur in some places of the hill districts of the country and in one or two places in the rest of the country. There are chances of heavy rainfall in one or two places of Sudur Paschim Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the division's analysis, currently the axis of monsoon trough is located towards the south from the normal position. The country is witnessing a rise in temperature for the past few days. It said that the shifting of monsoon trough towards the south from the normal position caused a monsoon break, leading to the temperature rise. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meteorologist Hira Bhatarai said this year more heat has been felt in hill regions including the Kathmandu Valley than in previous years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Bhattarai, the monsoon trough is likely to move back towards Nepal from Tuesday with the possibility of rainfall, giving some respite from the heat. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15383', 'image' => '20220718075009_image_750x_62a32cee152ae.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 19:49:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Capital Expenditure Weakest in a Decade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bijay Damase</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 18: Political instability, economic crisis and inflation have taken toll on development and construction works of the country. The country witnessed budget announcement by two finance ministers in just one fiscal year while the pace of development could not gain momentum due to the incompetence of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then finance minister Bishnu Poudel had announced a budget through ordinance on May 29, 2021 for the last fiscal year which concluded on July 16. However, a mandamus order by the Supreme Court to reinstate the parliament dissolved by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli led to the downfall of Oli government. Then, a new government’s finance minister Janardan Sharma introduced a replacement budget stating that the government would spend 10 percent of the allocated capital budget every month. However, the government failed to work as per its commitment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Office of the Auditor General, the government had allocated a budget of Rs 378.9 billion for capital expenditure in the fiscal year 2021/22 but was able to spend only 216.37 billion which is 57.23 percent of the allocated budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Data released by the Office of the Auditor General has revealed that the government spent as much as Rs 79 billion in the last month (mid-June to mid-July) of the last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure which was Rs 137 billion in mid-June increased to Rs 216 billion in mid-July. The government was under pressure to spend towards the end of the fiscal year as it did not pay much attention in spending budget in the starting period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The capital expenditure of the government in the last fiscal year was the weakest in the past decade except for the spending during the Covid-19 period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s capital expenditure in FY 2013/14 was 75 percent which increased to 84 percent in FY 2016/17 before plunging to 74 percent (FY 2014/15) and 58 percent (FY 2015/16). The government’s capital expenditure then increased to 86 percent in the next fiscal year (FY 2018/19). It then dropped to 46 percent during the pandemic era in FY 2019/20 before rising to 64 percent in FY 2020/21.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has always failed in spending budget. Although the government signs work execution agreements with the officials who spend budget, such agreements have hardly yielded any results. The government has stopped signing such agreements after the onset of Covid-19 due to which the work execution of the government officials have been affected due to lack of evaluation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Former Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr Pushparaj Kandel terms the government’s failure to spend capital budget as its ‘incompetence’. He argues that the capital budget could not be spent because the government failed to create a conducive environment for spending the budget.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Kandel, the development works have slumped due to various reasons including the transfer of civil servants , government’s lack of interest to control inflation and its failure to take the construction entrepreneurs in confidence.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Deputy Auditor General Navaraj Dhungana blames political instability, inflation and construction holiday announced by the contractors as the main reasons for the poor spending of capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Dhungana, although the government amended the Public Procurement Act, it did so quite late thereby affecting the construction works. The construction entrepreneurs are yet to collect Rs 5 billion from the Department of Roads and Rs 20 billion from other government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government’s policy is also to blame for the poor capital spending. The government has been amending the Public Procurement Regulation time and again to address the problems of construction entrepreneurs but this has created instability. The government amended the reculation for the 12<sup>th</sup> time just last month. The same regulation has been amended 7 times in the last 3 years.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-18', 'modified' => '2022-07-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15382', 'image' => '20220718041402_capital expenditure.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-18 16:02:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
