June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels.…
June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels.…
June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML…
June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).…
June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British…
June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within the…
June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance…
June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to…
June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on…
June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the…
June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from…
June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long…
June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power…
June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized…
June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit.…
June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels. Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) requested the metropolis to provide 90 percent exemption on property tax and 100 percent exemption on business tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">HAN argued that tax exemption should be given to protect the hotel business as it is yet to return back to normalcy after being badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Sajan Shakya, general secretary of HAN, informed that they met the mayor of the metropolis Balendra Shah and requested him to give tax exemption just like last year. The government in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has also announced tax exemption for the hotel industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Shakya said that the state is also responsible to provide employment and protect the hotel industry which helps in earning foreign currency. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although Article 12 of the Real Estate Tax Act 2019 exempts property tax for all structures owned by the hotels, they still have to pay property tax as per the Unified Property Tax Act 2074.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The metropolis had provided 65 percent exemption in such tax in fiscal year 2075/76, 75 percent in 2076/77, 75 percent in 2077/78 and 80 percent in 2078/79.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15201', 'image' => '20220617015733_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 13:56:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15458', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'House of Representatives passes Appropriation Bill', 'sub_title' => 'UML boycotts Lower House meeting', 'summary' => 'June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The proposal to pass the Appropriation Bill, 2079 tabled by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma during parliament meeting on Thursday was passed by a majority votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party, the CPN-UML, had boycotted the meeting, accusing Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of involving unauthorized persons in the process of drafting the budget. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting also passed the Finance Bill 2022; Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022 and Bill on Debts and Surety (25th amendment) by a majority of votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the lawmakers’ concerns on Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022, Finance Minister Sharma said debts would be collected only if necessary. Minister Sharma also argued that productions should be encouraged by discouraging loans. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15200', 'image' => '20220617083754_20220605121907_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:37:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IOC sends Revised List of Fuel Price with Increment', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). As per the new list, the prices of petroleum products has increased causing further financial burden to the cash-strapped NOC which depends on government grant to pay the bills to the IOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new price list, price of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel has increased by Rs 6.52, Rs 19.3 and Rs 91.91 per liter respectively. The NOC has to bear the financial burden at the moment while it is yet to decide whether to further increase the fuel price in the country or not. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, petrol is being sold for Rs 178 per liter in the retail market of Nepal while diesel and kerosene are priced at Rs 165 each. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights is being traded for Rs 166 per litre while the price of ATF for international flights has been fixed at USD 1.54 per liter. Cooking gas (LPG) is sold for Rs 1,800 per cylinder in the market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After adjustment of the new price list sent by IOC, NOC will have to pay Rs 209.28 for petrol, Rs 202.16 for diesel and Rs 147.99 for a liter of kerosene including taxes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC has to pay Rs 168.70 for aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 147.89 (international) while the price of LPG will cost Rs 2,551.15 per cylinder. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Accordingly, NOC incurs loss of Rs 31.28 per liter in petrol, Rs 37.16 in diesel, Rs 2.70 in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 751.14 in LPG. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC is projected to incur a total loss of around Rs 4.71 billion within a fortnigh (Rs 950 million loss in petrol, Rs 2.9 billion in diesel, Rs 6.6 million in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 1.1 billion in LPG), said NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, it makes profit from aviation fuel (international) and kerosene. NOC makes a profit of Rs 17.1 per liter from kerosene and Rs 44.63 from aviation fuel (international). (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15199', 'image' => '20220617082823_Fuelprice-800x445.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:27:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Endorse Labour Pact with UK', 'sub_title' => 'Government to accept Rs 366 million grant from Japan ', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions made by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government has agreed to endorse the labour pact with UK.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also agreed to accept a grant of 376 million Japanese yen which is approximately Rs 366 million from the Government of Japan for human resources development of Nepal. According to Minister Karki, the cabinet meeting on June 14 also decided to continue private housing reconstruction until July 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the council of ministers also decided to endorse the action plan, 2078 related to the registration and leasing of government lands, the procedure, 2078 related to the auction and sale of government properties and goods and the standards, 2078 relating to treatment expenditure, reliefs and monetary assistances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Minister Karki clarified that there is no truth in the US military presence in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Karki made such remark while replying to a question raised by media persons while making the decision of the Council of Ministers public on Thursday. Stating that Nepal is a sovereign nation, he claimed that no citizen or army of any other country can freely come here without fulfilling the required processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the MCC project is currently being implemented, Minister Karki said that the the general public will soon reap benefit from the US-funded project. Minister Karki also urged one and all to make joint efforts to help complete the MCC on time for the benefit of the entire nation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15198', 'image' => '20220617081447_20220524091355_ROS_KTM-_6483441(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:14:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reducing Trade Deficit is Government's Top Priority: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within 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"">June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba made such remark while inaugurating the Nepal Chamber Expo-2022 organised by Nepal Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He said it is also the priority of the government to substitute import by producing goods and services that can be produced within the country itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Export promotion and import substitution both would not be possible without the active participation and collaboration from the private sector. The government is willing to move ahead hand-in-hand with the private sector to contain the trade deficit within acceptable limit through export promotion," the Prime Minister reiterated. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He stressed on the need of publicising and expanding the market for domestically-produced goods and suggested displaying country-made goods produced by using domestic raw materials and the indigenous Nepali technology and skills in such trade fairs and exhibitions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba expressed the belief that the exhibition will help in export promotion as well as in the protection and sustainable development of small and medium scale industries of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Local goods manufactured in Nepal and Bangladesh have been kept for display and sale in the trade fair cum exhibition that will last till June 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The expo not only provides the venue for trading of large number of goods at one place but also establishes direct contact between the products and consumers, due to which the producers can contribute to trade promotion by assessing the market demand, Prime Minister Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Prime Minister said that the chamber has worked as a reliable bridge for enhancing collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sector. He hoped the exhibition would be helpful in energizing the domestic trade and economic sectors hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic and further accelerating economic activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event is expected to make the economic atmosphere lively by marketing and internationalization of Nepali products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Interactions scheduled to be held among business communities and information exchanges on import and export on the sidelines of the event will provide a ground for operating and promoting transnational business and trade activities, according to the Prime Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh’s ambassador to Nepal, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury was hopeful of further consolidation of the trade and commercial ties between the two countries through the expo while NCC president Rajendra Malla said the event is mainly aimed at promoting the production and trade of typical Nepali garments made of sisno (nettle) and dhaka items. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15197', 'image' => '20220616042445_ROS_KTM_6483441 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 16:23:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Reluctant to Entrust Health Insurance Programme to Private Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme. The government had announced in the annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year that the health insurance programme, which is currently being run by the Insurance Board under the Ministry of Health, will be entrusted to private insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Replying to a questions raised in the parliament on Wednesday regarding such provision, Minister Khatiwada said that the health insurance program will not be given to the private companies. He said that the program will be continued as per the Health Insurance Act.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The Health Insurance Act has provision for the board to run the programme. Minister Khatiwada clarified that the health insurance programme will be implemented accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“I am not in favor of implementing new provision, nor will I ever do so. Whatever provision and purpose is written down in the prevailing act, health insurance will move forward accordingly. I will be here till mid-December,”</span> Khatiwada said in the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even the Health Insurance Board was dissatisfied with the government's policy for the upcoming fiscal year. The provision to entrust the health insurance programme to the private sector companies was opposed by various stakeholders as well as lawmakers while discussing the budget in the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the health insurance programme operated by the government, five-member families can get medical treatment up to Rs 100,000 annually. To avail such facility, they have to pay an annual premium of Rs 3,500. Despite being called insurance, the government introduced this programme as social security scheme. Stakeholders express that the programme promoted as social security should not be handed to a private company.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15196', 'image' => '20220616030745_health sector.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 15:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15453', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chamber Expo Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The expo is organized by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Trade and Export Promotion Center. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the main objective of the expo is to promote exports and attract foreign investment by focusing on trade interaction, exchange of import and export information and marketing of Nepali products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the international business community will participate in the expo. The chamber expects international participation to provide an opportunity for Nepali entrepreneurs to take a closer look at the economic activities taking place in the international arena, use of new technologies and new dimensions of trade management.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15195', 'image' => '20220616042530_ROS_KTM_IMGL6073.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 14:31:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15452', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'All 7 Provinces Unveil Budget for Upcoming Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday. The budgets made public by the provinces have prioritized agriculture, infrastructure development, health, education employment and tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budgets were presented to the respective provincial assemblies by the provincial governments in accordance with the constitutional provision of announcing budgets of the provinces within the first day of the third month of the year as per the Nepali calendar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 government has announced a budget of Rs 39.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23). Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Province 1, Indra Bahadur Angbo, presented the budget in the Provincial Assembly meeting on Wednesday (June 15). </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"">According to the budget, the Province 1 government plans to achieve economic growth of 5.41 percent during the next fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 3.15 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer at local levels. Of the allocated expenditure, Province 1 government has targeted to finance Rs 4.98 billion through internal revenue, Rs 11.88 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 8.69 billion from conditional grants, Rs 920 billion from matching grants and Rs 256 billion from foreign grants. </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"">Province 1 has given top priority to agriculture, irrigation, energy, communication, transport, health and tourism sectors.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget has given priority to expand tax limit by preserving the tax basis while determining the revenue policy and limits of tax for coming fiscal year, increasing tax participation, capacity building of human resources assigned in revenue administration and adopting revenue mobilization policy to control revenue leakage. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Madhesh Province</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provincial government of Madhes Province has made public a budget of Rs 46.88 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Shailendra Prasad Sah tabled the government's estimated income and expenditure details in Wednesday’s meeting of the Provincial Assembly. Accordingly 21.76 billion (46.44 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs. 25.82 billion (53.21 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 162.44 million (0.35 percent) for conditional grant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes Province has given continuity to the ‘Educate Daughter Campaign’ and has decided to distribute a computer and a laptop to girl students undergoing course in grade 12. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Rs 150 million has been allocated for the Chief Minister's Farmers Upliftment Program in Madhes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes government has allocated Rs 5 million for preparation of provincial agriculture master plan and Rs 178.2 million for commercialization and mechanization of this sector with the objective of developing the agriculture sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A budget of Rs. 282 million has been allocated for livestock insurance and construction of agricultural roads. Likewise, a budget of Rs 72.8 million has been allocated for the Agriculture Knowledge Center. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs. 3.87 billion has been allocated for conditional and matching grants. This grant will be provided to the local level. The grant given to the local level in the current fiscal year will be given according to the progress, said Finance Minister Sah. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Shalikram Jammakattel presented a budget of Rs 70.93 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23 at the meeting of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 19.24 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 41.56 billion for capital expenditure. Likewise, Rs 8.35 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer and Rs 2 billion for financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to agriculture, education and health sectors. The budget includes a plan to set up a chemical fertilizer plant, hospital standardization, a kidney transplant service at Hetauda Hospital, and a science and technology university. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget includes issues such as job creation, development plans for marginalized communities, and declaring the residents of Chepang as a protected area. </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""><strong>Gandaki Province </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister of Gandaki Province Ramjee Prasad Baral unveiled a budget of Rs 35.91 billion for the upcoming fiscal during the Province Assembly meeting on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The annual budget has laid emphasis on health, agriculture and tourism, Minister Baral shared. He further said that the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights, state directive principles, five-year periodic national plan, goals and objectives of first five-year plan of Gandaki Province, Sustainable Development Goals, medium-term expenditure framework of Gandaki Province, provincial government policy and programme and political commitments were taken into consideration while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the budget appropriated for the upcoming fiscal year, Rs 13.268 billion (36.95 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs 22.14 billion (61.66 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 500 million (1.39 percent) for fiscal management. He informed that over Rs 2.11 billion (5.88 percent) has been earmarked for fiscal transfer at local level in the province. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lumbini Province</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has presented a budget of 42.63 billion for fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Cooperatives of Lumbini Province, Krishna Dhoj Khadka, presented the budget at a meeting of Lumbini Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 13.32 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 24.47 billion for capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Khadka said that the budget was prepared keeping agriculture, health, education and physical infrastructure in priority to fulfill the dream of making Lumbini a self-dependent province. A total of Rs 4.83 billion has been allocated for fiscal equalization grant, matching grant, conditional grant and fiscal transfer at local-level through special grant. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government is estimated to receive Rs 7.927 billion from fiscal equalization grant of Nepal Government, Rs 9.234 billion from revenue collection, Rs 6.918 billion from conditional grant, Rs 837 million from matching grant, Rs 860 million from special grant, said the finance minister. The province has estimated to generate Rs 5.09 billion from inland revenue and Rs 325 million from royalty. He further informed that the province government would raise insufficient resources worth to Rs 2.71 billion through domestic borrowing and loan from the central government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Karnali Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government of Karnali Province has presented a budget of Rs 32.61 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Province Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Binda Man Bista presented the annual budget with estimated income and expenditure for upcoming fiscal year in the third meeting of the 10th session of the Provincial Assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Bista said the province government has appropriated around Rs 9.17 billion (28.11 percent) for current expenditure and Rs 19.43 billion (59.58 percent) for capital expenditure in the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated revenue for the upcoming fiscal years include Rs 712.9 million from inland revenue, over Rs 4.55 billion as estimated surplus amount carried over from current fiscal year, Rs 9.02 billion to be received as revenue from the federal government, Rs 10.72 billion to be received as fiscal equalization grant and Rs 5.69 billion to be received as conditional grant. The province government will mobilize matching grant of over Rs 1.21 billion and special grant of Rs 668 million to be received from the federal government for the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sudurpaschim Province</span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Sudurpaschim province government on Wednesday unveiled an estimated budget of Rs 36.746 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the annual budget at Wednesday’s meeting of the Province Assembly, Provincial Minister for Economic Affairs Prakash Rawal said the budget includes Rs 12.295 under recurrent expenditure and Rs 24.147 billion under capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government has allocated Rs 1.364 billion for inter-governmental fiscal transfer and Rs 300 million for financial management. The province government plans to collect Rs 2 billion from Inland Revenue, approximately Rs 9.605 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 49.3 million from royalty, Rs 9 billion from fiscal equalization grant and Rs 7.533 billion surplus to be carried over from the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rawal said other estimated resources include Rs 6.988 billion to be received from conditional grant, Rs 765 million to be received from federal matching grant and Rs 797.8 million to be received as special grant. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15194', 'image' => '20220616122450_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 12:12:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15451', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Draws Government's Attention to Fulfil its Demands ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC has demanded the withdrawal of the decision to increase tax on electric vehicles and the revocation of the reference price by recognising the LC and the banking transaction value. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It stated that the tax policy in the budget will result in further decline of the private sector. NCC said that the existing ceiling of Rs 5 million for value added tax (VAT) is very nominal from the perspective of the increase in the foreign currency exchange rate and the rising inflation. It demanded raising the VAT threshold to Rs 10 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, NCC said the additional customs and excise duty on electric vehicles were not practical in the context of the announcement through the budget of building a self-reliant economy through the use of electricity produced within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber concluded that although the government has adopted the policy of export promotion, it has not been implemented in practice. The NCC drew the attention of the government to create an environment where in the private sector would be able to carry out business in an easy way by maintaining the balance of payment, systematizing the import and encouraging exports. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15193', 'image' => '20220616081448_NCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 08:12:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15450', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Land Use Regulation Denies Opportunity to Students Seeking Visa for Overseas Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia. He has spent hundreds of thousands of rupees since the last four years to fulfill all the criteria required for acquiring degree from Australia. All the money he spent so far will go down the drain if he is unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation published on the Nepal Gazette on June 7 has played the spoilsport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai, who reached the Land Revenue Office, Taplejung on Tuesday to mortgage his ancestral land used for farming for a bank guarantee returned home with his hopes dashed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is unfair to deny keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee when I had already initiated the process a month ago,” said a dejected Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“All of my efforts and the money I spent so far will get wasted if I am unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He is of the view that the Land Revenue Office can hold the transaction of land if someone presents agricultural land as residential land and seeks more loan from bank. However, he genuinely wanted to present the agricultural land as collateral for bank guarantee but said that the Land Revenue Office denied him such permission.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai says that he completed IELTS test, a pre-requisite for studying in Australia, in 2019 but could not proceed ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic while he was making necessary preparation to acquire visa for Australia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now, he has just 15 days to present bank guarantee in order to get a visa. However, he is unable to obtain a bank guarantee as the local unit has not classified agricultural and non-agricultural land yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hari Bhandari of Chitwan is also preparing to visit Australia for the July intake by showing a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million. But he too faces the same problem. Although he spent the whole day at the Land Revenue Office, Chitwan, he couldn’t get necessary documents for the bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">These are just a few representative cases. At present, the thousands of Nepali students seeking visa for the July intake are facing the same problem. Most of the middle-class Nepali students dream of studying abroad by keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation has barred any kind of land-related works until the classification of land into different categories. A large number of aspiring students are currently visiting Land Revenue Offices across the country seeking necessary documents for the bank guarantee. However, all of them have face the same predicament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief of the Land Revenue Office, Panchthar Baburam Pokharel says that some students had visited the office seeking their approval for the bank guarantee. He, however, said that it was not possible to give them recommendation letters in the context that the lands have not been classified yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We feel sorry to see them carrying files and weeping. But our hands are tied by the law. We cannot do anything until the concerned ministry issues another circular in this regard. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15192', 'image' => '20220615054359_edu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 17:43:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15449', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Demand Amendment to Foreign Employment Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although such a policy should be revised every five years, the government is yet to amend the policy brought in 2011, said experts who attended the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“The policy introduced in 2011 was based on the time and circumstances of that period. Now, it is time for the civil society and the government to work together in order to revise the policy,” said Som Luitel, an advocate and labor and immigration expert. He stated that many new arrangements should be made for the rights of the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“Bilateral, regional and international partnerships between supplier and labour destination countries also need to be strengthened. Meanwhile, it is equally important to ensure the rights of migrant workers at all stages of labor migration,”</span> he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Luitel pointed out that it is equally important to link labor migration with development to make the workers skilled and emphasize on reintegration of those returning from foreign employment. He said that the federal structure should have been localized when the country adopted federalism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Speaking at the programme, Hari Bahadur Thapa, chairman of the National Network for Safe Migration said that the policy that was introduced in 2011 when 2 million youths went for foreign employment will not be appropriate in the current situation. He pointed out that a new policy should include workers in the social security scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Narnath Luitel of the trade union said that the structure of the trade union should be in accordance with the provincial structure to protect the rights of the workers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bijaya Rai Shrestha, executive director of AMKAS, said that foreign employment policy should focus on gender. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15191', 'image' => '20220615045346_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 16:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15448', 'article_category_id' => '265', 'title' => 'Industries in Bara-Parsa Corridor Facing Energy Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply. The industrialists have accused Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) of ignoring improvement in supply of electricity despite repeated requests.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the industrialists, the supply to the big industries has not been regular for three days. Those industries received electricity from the NEA's 66 KV transmission line. About half a dozen industries in the corridor that use electricity from this transmission line have been affected.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">An industrialist said that they could not produce goods as NEA did not supply electricity regularly. NEA's Birgunj Distribution Center Chief Jitendra Kumar Jha admitted that there has been a problem in the supply of 66 kV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Industrialists who have been facing a power crisis for the past one and a half months have started protesting against the authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">"Due to NEA's weak infrastructure, industries that have built substations at their own expense to get supply from 66 kV transmission line have not even received regular supply of electricity," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists have also informed the officials of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry about the problem of power supply in the corridor. The chamber’s vice-president Madhav Rajpal said that there was no improvement in the situation despite repeated calls for NEA's attention.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Production in the corridor was halted for about a week after NEA cut off electricity to the industry in the second week of April due to lack of energy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists said that there has been no regular supply of electricity in the corridor since then.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Those industries that are supplied electricity are also affected by power fluctuation. Such industries are currently facing the problem of unannounced load shedding and tripping.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NEA has been shutting down the power supply for hours a day without any notice. The industrialists have demanded regular and standard quality electricity saying that tripping 8/10 times a day results in wastage of raw materials of the industry, equipment get damaged, and causes problems in quality assurance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Entrepreneurs are outraged that NEA has not improved the service despite repeated requests. "Requests have not been heard. Now we have to demonstrate against the authority,” said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Iron, textile, pharmaceutical, and furnace-based industries are most affected. NEA has been saying that more tripping occurs when the electricity demand is high due to the weak capacity of the Birgunj-Parwanipur transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15190', 'image' => '20220615031300_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15447', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Demand Investigation Against Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons. According to media reports on Monday, the Finance Minister allegedly summoned two unauthorized persons to the ministry on the night of May 28 and ordered the top officials of the ministry involved in the preparation of the budget and financial bill to manipulate the tax rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML chief whip Bishal Bhattarai demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe into the allegations against Finance Minister Sharma. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that his attention was drawn to the issues raised by the main opposition party and added that the parliament should be allowed to function after the minister made a statement of public importance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that it was the right of the minister to give an explanation, he urged the UML lawmakers to sit down. On the other hand, UML spokesperson Bhattarai said that he would allow the parliament to function after the investigation into the alleged role of the finance minister. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We urge the speaker to bring the CCTV footage of the finance ministry to the parliament on the night of May 28," he said. The UML spokesperson further insisted that the Finance Minister Sharma should resign.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the House meeting, UML MP and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that it was not morally appropriate for Finance Minister Sharma to hold the post. “Is the finance minister worthy of the post after such a serious allegation? Should the Prime Minister answer this or not?” he questioned. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Pandey further said that the day before the budget was presented in the parliament, it was customary for the Ministry of Finance not to allow anyone except its staff to enter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Especially when the tax rate is being discussed, no one except the minister is allowed to carry the phone and it is customary to keep the secretary's telephone in the drawer and discuss," Pandey said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML lawmakers have accused the finance minister of manipulating customs duty and tax rates to benefit certain business houses.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sharma claimed that the involvement of unauthorized persons in the preparation of the budget was false and fabricated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The allegation that unauthorized persons were involved in manipulating the revenue rate while formulating the budget is misleading, fictional and also a false story. I straight forward refute it,” he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma also claimed that he had fulfilled his responsibilities. According to the minister, the budget was prepared by the Finance Secretary and the Revenue Secretary in collaboration with the subordinate departmental heads and staff after taking suggestions from the stakeholders. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15189', 'image' => '20220615014416_ROS_KTM-4187.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:43:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15446', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Focusing on Debt Recovery', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, banks have already recovered Rs 2 billion between June 3 and June 10. Deposit collection of banks increased by Rs 3 billion during this period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The credit flow of banks had declined by Rs 2 billion in the previous week. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given banks until mid-July to bring the CD ratio within the limit of 90 percent in the current fiscal year. However, due to lack of liquidity in the banking system, the CD ratio of the banks exceeded the target set by NRB and therefore banks have almost stopped credit flow to maintain the ratio.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Lately, banks have been collecting deposits but not disbursing loans. This has resulted in an improvement in the CD ratio of banks. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks has dropped from 90.32 percent to 90.22 percent as of June 10. However, the CD ratio of 15 banks is higher than that specified by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Despite the increase in deposit collection, banks adopted a strategy of reducing credit flow. Lately, banks have been focusing on recovery of loans by halting the flow of new loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks are under pressure to bring the CD ratio within the limits as the central bank has indicated that they will not be given any additional time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Discussions with CEOs</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NRB held a meeting with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of commercial banks last Tuesday to discuss the unhealthy competitions among banks to raise interest rates. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">One week after holding discussions with the bank's managers, NRB indicated that the upcoming monetary policy is going to be strict. Discussion was held in the presence of Deputy Governors Dr Neelam Dhungana and Bam Bahadur Mishra, Executive Director of the Banking and Financial Institutions Regulation Department, Dr Gunakar Bhatt, Executive Director of the Department of Bank Supervision Dev Kumar Dhakal and other high-ranking officials.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15188', 'image' => '20220615011900_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15445', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '281 Arrested on Charges of Tax Fraud and Foreign Exchange Irregularities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 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"">June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department informed that cases have been registered against the defaulters claiming fine of Rs 1.7 billion. Under the revenue leakage, a total of 69 cases have been registered against 203 persons claiming Rs 20.6 billion in fine. Among them, seven were civil servants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 46 cases were registered against 78 people claiming Rs 1.1 billion in fine under the foreign exchange irregularities, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a notice on Tuesday, the department said that it was developing a system to identify the individuals with high net worth as well as fraudsters through digital forensic lab by investigating details in computers and mobiles used by such people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the department urged the consumers to remain alert and aware of those taking undue advantages of people's citizenship and hard economic conditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department said that it focused on the investigations of the cases relating to capital gains tax fraud, use of fake excise stickers and crypto currency and some new issues emerged during the current fiscal year. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15187', 'image' => '20220615074933_taxfraud.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:49:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15459', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'HAN urges Government for Tax Exemption', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels. Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) requested the metropolis to provide 90 percent exemption on property tax and 100 percent exemption on business tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">HAN argued that tax exemption should be given to protect the hotel business as it is yet to return back to normalcy after being badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Sajan Shakya, general secretary of HAN, informed that they met the mayor of the metropolis Balendra Shah and requested him to give tax exemption just like last year. The government in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has also announced tax exemption for the hotel industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Shakya said that the state is also responsible to provide employment and protect the hotel industry which helps in earning foreign currency. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although Article 12 of the Real Estate Tax Act 2019 exempts property tax for all structures owned by the hotels, they still have to pay property tax as per the Unified Property Tax Act 2074.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The metropolis had provided 65 percent exemption in such tax in fiscal year 2075/76, 75 percent in 2076/77, 75 percent in 2077/78 and 80 percent in 2078/79.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15201', 'image' => '20220617015733_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 13:56:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15458', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'House of Representatives passes Appropriation Bill', 'sub_title' => 'UML boycotts Lower House meeting', 'summary' => 'June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The proposal to pass the Appropriation Bill, 2079 tabled by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma during parliament meeting on Thursday was passed by a majority votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party, the CPN-UML, had boycotted the meeting, accusing Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of involving unauthorized persons in the process of drafting the budget. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting also passed the Finance Bill 2022; Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022 and Bill on Debts and Surety (25th amendment) by a majority of votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the lawmakers’ concerns on Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022, Finance Minister Sharma said debts would be collected only if necessary. Minister Sharma also argued that productions should be encouraged by discouraging loans. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15200', 'image' => '20220617083754_20220605121907_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:37:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IOC sends Revised List of Fuel Price with Increment', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). As per the new list, the prices of petroleum products has increased causing further financial burden to the cash-strapped NOC which depends on government grant to pay the bills to the IOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new price list, price of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel has increased by Rs 6.52, Rs 19.3 and Rs 91.91 per liter respectively. The NOC has to bear the financial burden at the moment while it is yet to decide whether to further increase the fuel price in the country or not. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, petrol is being sold for Rs 178 per liter in the retail market of Nepal while diesel and kerosene are priced at Rs 165 each. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights is being traded for Rs 166 per litre while the price of ATF for international flights has been fixed at USD 1.54 per liter. Cooking gas (LPG) is sold for Rs 1,800 per cylinder in the market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After adjustment of the new price list sent by IOC, NOC will have to pay Rs 209.28 for petrol, Rs 202.16 for diesel and Rs 147.99 for a liter of kerosene including taxes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC has to pay Rs 168.70 for aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 147.89 (international) while the price of LPG will cost Rs 2,551.15 per cylinder. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Accordingly, NOC incurs loss of Rs 31.28 per liter in petrol, Rs 37.16 in diesel, Rs 2.70 in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 751.14 in LPG. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC is projected to incur a total loss of around Rs 4.71 billion within a fortnigh (Rs 950 million loss in petrol, Rs 2.9 billion in diesel, Rs 6.6 million in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 1.1 billion in LPG), said NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, it makes profit from aviation fuel (international) and kerosene. NOC makes a profit of Rs 17.1 per liter from kerosene and Rs 44.63 from aviation fuel (international). (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15199', 'image' => '20220617082823_Fuelprice-800x445.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:27:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Endorse Labour Pact with UK', 'sub_title' => 'Government to accept Rs 366 million grant from Japan ', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions made by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government has agreed to endorse the labour pact with UK.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also agreed to accept a grant of 376 million Japanese yen which is approximately Rs 366 million from the Government of Japan for human resources development of Nepal. According to Minister Karki, the cabinet meeting on June 14 also decided to continue private housing reconstruction until July 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the council of ministers also decided to endorse the action plan, 2078 related to the registration and leasing of government lands, the procedure, 2078 related to the auction and sale of government properties and goods and the standards, 2078 relating to treatment expenditure, reliefs and monetary assistances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Minister Karki clarified that there is no truth in the US military presence in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Karki made such remark while replying to a question raised by media persons while making the decision of the Council of Ministers public on Thursday. Stating that Nepal is a sovereign nation, he claimed that no citizen or army of any other country can freely come here without fulfilling the required processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the MCC project is currently being implemented, Minister Karki said that the the general public will soon reap benefit from the US-funded project. Minister Karki also urged one and all to make joint efforts to help complete the MCC on time for the benefit of the entire nation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15198', 'image' => '20220617081447_20220524091355_ROS_KTM-_6483441(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:14:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reducing Trade Deficit is Government's Top Priority: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within 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"">June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba made such remark while inaugurating the Nepal Chamber Expo-2022 organised by Nepal Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He said it is also the priority of the government to substitute import by producing goods and services that can be produced within the country itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Export promotion and import substitution both would not be possible without the active participation and collaboration from the private sector. The government is willing to move ahead hand-in-hand with the private sector to contain the trade deficit within acceptable limit through export promotion," the Prime Minister reiterated. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He stressed on the need of publicising and expanding the market for domestically-produced goods and suggested displaying country-made goods produced by using domestic raw materials and the indigenous Nepali technology and skills in such trade fairs and exhibitions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba expressed the belief that the exhibition will help in export promotion as well as in the protection and sustainable development of small and medium scale industries of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Local goods manufactured in Nepal and Bangladesh have been kept for display and sale in the trade fair cum exhibition that will last till June 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The expo not only provides the venue for trading of large number of goods at one place but also establishes direct contact between the products and consumers, due to which the producers can contribute to trade promotion by assessing the market demand, Prime Minister Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Prime Minister said that the chamber has worked as a reliable bridge for enhancing collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sector. He hoped the exhibition would be helpful in energizing the domestic trade and economic sectors hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic and further accelerating economic activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event is expected to make the economic atmosphere lively by marketing and internationalization of Nepali products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Interactions scheduled to be held among business communities and information exchanges on import and export on the sidelines of the event will provide a ground for operating and promoting transnational business and trade activities, according to the Prime Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh’s ambassador to Nepal, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury was hopeful of further consolidation of the trade and commercial ties between the two countries through the expo while NCC president Rajendra Malla said the event is mainly aimed at promoting the production and trade of typical Nepali garments made of sisno (nettle) and dhaka items. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15197', 'image' => '20220616042445_ROS_KTM_6483441 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 16:23:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Reluctant to Entrust Health Insurance Programme to Private Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme. The government had announced in the annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year that the health insurance programme, which is currently being run by the Insurance Board under the Ministry of Health, will be entrusted to private insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Replying to a questions raised in the parliament on Wednesday regarding such provision, Minister Khatiwada said that the health insurance program will not be given to the private companies. He said that the program will be continued as per the Health Insurance Act.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The Health Insurance Act has provision for the board to run the programme. Minister Khatiwada clarified that the health insurance programme will be implemented accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“I am not in favor of implementing new provision, nor will I ever do so. Whatever provision and purpose is written down in the prevailing act, health insurance will move forward accordingly. I will be here till mid-December,”</span> Khatiwada said in the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even the Health Insurance Board was dissatisfied with the government's policy for the upcoming fiscal year. The provision to entrust the health insurance programme to the private sector companies was opposed by various stakeholders as well as lawmakers while discussing the budget in the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the health insurance programme operated by the government, five-member families can get medical treatment up to Rs 100,000 annually. To avail such facility, they have to pay an annual premium of Rs 3,500. Despite being called insurance, the government introduced this programme as social security scheme. Stakeholders express that the programme promoted as social security should not be handed to a private company.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15196', 'image' => '20220616030745_health sector.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 15:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15453', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chamber Expo Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The expo is organized by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Trade and Export Promotion Center. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the main objective of the expo is to promote exports and attract foreign investment by focusing on trade interaction, exchange of import and export information and marketing of Nepali products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the international business community will participate in the expo. The chamber expects international participation to provide an opportunity for Nepali entrepreneurs to take a closer look at the economic activities taking place in the international arena, use of new technologies and new dimensions of trade management.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15195', 'image' => '20220616042530_ROS_KTM_IMGL6073.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 14:31:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15452', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'All 7 Provinces Unveil Budget for Upcoming Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday. The budgets made public by the provinces have prioritized agriculture, infrastructure development, health, education employment and tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budgets were presented to the respective provincial assemblies by the provincial governments in accordance with the constitutional provision of announcing budgets of the provinces within the first day of the third month of the year as per the Nepali calendar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 government has announced a budget of Rs 39.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23). Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Province 1, Indra Bahadur Angbo, presented the budget in the Provincial Assembly meeting on Wednesday (June 15). </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"">According to the budget, the Province 1 government plans to achieve economic growth of 5.41 percent during the next fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 3.15 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer at local levels. Of the allocated expenditure, Province 1 government has targeted to finance Rs 4.98 billion through internal revenue, Rs 11.88 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 8.69 billion from conditional grants, Rs 920 billion from matching grants and Rs 256 billion from foreign grants. </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"">Province 1 has given top priority to agriculture, irrigation, energy, communication, transport, health and tourism sectors.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget has given priority to expand tax limit by preserving the tax basis while determining the revenue policy and limits of tax for coming fiscal year, increasing tax participation, capacity building of human resources assigned in revenue administration and adopting revenue mobilization policy to control revenue leakage. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Madhesh Province</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provincial government of Madhes Province has made public a budget of Rs 46.88 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Shailendra Prasad Sah tabled the government's estimated income and expenditure details in Wednesday’s meeting of the Provincial Assembly. Accordingly 21.76 billion (46.44 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs. 25.82 billion (53.21 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 162.44 million (0.35 percent) for conditional grant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes Province has given continuity to the ‘Educate Daughter Campaign’ and has decided to distribute a computer and a laptop to girl students undergoing course in grade 12. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Rs 150 million has been allocated for the Chief Minister's Farmers Upliftment Program in Madhes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes government has allocated Rs 5 million for preparation of provincial agriculture master plan and Rs 178.2 million for commercialization and mechanization of this sector with the objective of developing the agriculture sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A budget of Rs. 282 million has been allocated for livestock insurance and construction of agricultural roads. Likewise, a budget of Rs 72.8 million has been allocated for the Agriculture Knowledge Center. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs. 3.87 billion has been allocated for conditional and matching grants. This grant will be provided to the local level. The grant given to the local level in the current fiscal year will be given according to the progress, said Finance Minister Sah. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Shalikram Jammakattel presented a budget of Rs 70.93 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23 at the meeting of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 19.24 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 41.56 billion for capital expenditure. Likewise, Rs 8.35 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer and Rs 2 billion for financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to agriculture, education and health sectors. The budget includes a plan to set up a chemical fertilizer plant, hospital standardization, a kidney transplant service at Hetauda Hospital, and a science and technology university. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget includes issues such as job creation, development plans for marginalized communities, and declaring the residents of Chepang as a protected area. </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""><strong>Gandaki Province </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister of Gandaki Province Ramjee Prasad Baral unveiled a budget of Rs 35.91 billion for the upcoming fiscal during the Province Assembly meeting on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The annual budget has laid emphasis on health, agriculture and tourism, Minister Baral shared. He further said that the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights, state directive principles, five-year periodic national plan, goals and objectives of first five-year plan of Gandaki Province, Sustainable Development Goals, medium-term expenditure framework of Gandaki Province, provincial government policy and programme and political commitments were taken into consideration while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the budget appropriated for the upcoming fiscal year, Rs 13.268 billion (36.95 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs 22.14 billion (61.66 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 500 million (1.39 percent) for fiscal management. He informed that over Rs 2.11 billion (5.88 percent) has been earmarked for fiscal transfer at local level in the province. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lumbini Province</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has presented a budget of 42.63 billion for fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Cooperatives of Lumbini Province, Krishna Dhoj Khadka, presented the budget at a meeting of Lumbini Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 13.32 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 24.47 billion for capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Khadka said that the budget was prepared keeping agriculture, health, education and physical infrastructure in priority to fulfill the dream of making Lumbini a self-dependent province. A total of Rs 4.83 billion has been allocated for fiscal equalization grant, matching grant, conditional grant and fiscal transfer at local-level through special grant. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government is estimated to receive Rs 7.927 billion from fiscal equalization grant of Nepal Government, Rs 9.234 billion from revenue collection, Rs 6.918 billion from conditional grant, Rs 837 million from matching grant, Rs 860 million from special grant, said the finance minister. The province has estimated to generate Rs 5.09 billion from inland revenue and Rs 325 million from royalty. He further informed that the province government would raise insufficient resources worth to Rs 2.71 billion through domestic borrowing and loan from the central government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Karnali Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government of Karnali Province has presented a budget of Rs 32.61 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Province Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Binda Man Bista presented the annual budget with estimated income and expenditure for upcoming fiscal year in the third meeting of the 10th session of the Provincial Assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Bista said the province government has appropriated around Rs 9.17 billion (28.11 percent) for current expenditure and Rs 19.43 billion (59.58 percent) for capital expenditure in the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated revenue for the upcoming fiscal years include Rs 712.9 million from inland revenue, over Rs 4.55 billion as estimated surplus amount carried over from current fiscal year, Rs 9.02 billion to be received as revenue from the federal government, Rs 10.72 billion to be received as fiscal equalization grant and Rs 5.69 billion to be received as conditional grant. The province government will mobilize matching grant of over Rs 1.21 billion and special grant of Rs 668 million to be received from the federal government for the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sudurpaschim Province</span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Sudurpaschim province government on Wednesday unveiled an estimated budget of Rs 36.746 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the annual budget at Wednesday’s meeting of the Province Assembly, Provincial Minister for Economic Affairs Prakash Rawal said the budget includes Rs 12.295 under recurrent expenditure and Rs 24.147 billion under capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government has allocated Rs 1.364 billion for inter-governmental fiscal transfer and Rs 300 million for financial management. The province government plans to collect Rs 2 billion from Inland Revenue, approximately Rs 9.605 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 49.3 million from royalty, Rs 9 billion from fiscal equalization grant and Rs 7.533 billion surplus to be carried over from the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rawal said other estimated resources include Rs 6.988 billion to be received from conditional grant, Rs 765 million to be received from federal matching grant and Rs 797.8 million to be received as special grant. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15194', 'image' => '20220616122450_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 12:12:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15451', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Draws Government's Attention to Fulfil its Demands ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC has demanded the withdrawal of the decision to increase tax on electric vehicles and the revocation of the reference price by recognising the LC and the banking transaction value. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It stated that the tax policy in the budget will result in further decline of the private sector. NCC said that the existing ceiling of Rs 5 million for value added tax (VAT) is very nominal from the perspective of the increase in the foreign currency exchange rate and the rising inflation. It demanded raising the VAT threshold to Rs 10 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, NCC said the additional customs and excise duty on electric vehicles were not practical in the context of the announcement through the budget of building a self-reliant economy through the use of electricity produced within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber concluded that although the government has adopted the policy of export promotion, it has not been implemented in practice. The NCC drew the attention of the government to create an environment where in the private sector would be able to carry out business in an easy way by maintaining the balance of payment, systematizing the import and encouraging exports. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15193', 'image' => '20220616081448_NCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 08:12:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15450', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Land Use Regulation Denies Opportunity to Students Seeking Visa for Overseas Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia. He has spent hundreds of thousands of rupees since the last four years to fulfill all the criteria required for acquiring degree from Australia. All the money he spent so far will go down the drain if he is unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation published on the Nepal Gazette on June 7 has played the spoilsport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai, who reached the Land Revenue Office, Taplejung on Tuesday to mortgage his ancestral land used for farming for a bank guarantee returned home with his hopes dashed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is unfair to deny keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee when I had already initiated the process a month ago,” said a dejected Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“All of my efforts and the money I spent so far will get wasted if I am unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He is of the view that the Land Revenue Office can hold the transaction of land if someone presents agricultural land as residential land and seeks more loan from bank. However, he genuinely wanted to present the agricultural land as collateral for bank guarantee but said that the Land Revenue Office denied him such permission.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai says that he completed IELTS test, a pre-requisite for studying in Australia, in 2019 but could not proceed ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic while he was making necessary preparation to acquire visa for Australia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now, he has just 15 days to present bank guarantee in order to get a visa. However, he is unable to obtain a bank guarantee as the local unit has not classified agricultural and non-agricultural land yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hari Bhandari of Chitwan is also preparing to visit Australia for the July intake by showing a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million. But he too faces the same problem. Although he spent the whole day at the Land Revenue Office, Chitwan, he couldn’t get necessary documents for the bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">These are just a few representative cases. At present, the thousands of Nepali students seeking visa for the July intake are facing the same problem. Most of the middle-class Nepali students dream of studying abroad by keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation has barred any kind of land-related works until the classification of land into different categories. A large number of aspiring students are currently visiting Land Revenue Offices across the country seeking necessary documents for the bank guarantee. However, all of them have face the same predicament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief of the Land Revenue Office, Panchthar Baburam Pokharel says that some students had visited the office seeking their approval for the bank guarantee. He, however, said that it was not possible to give them recommendation letters in the context that the lands have not been classified yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We feel sorry to see them carrying files and weeping. But our hands are tied by the law. We cannot do anything until the concerned ministry issues another circular in this regard. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15192', 'image' => '20220615054359_edu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 17:43:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15449', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Demand Amendment to Foreign Employment Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although such a policy should be revised every five years, the government is yet to amend the policy brought in 2011, said experts who attended the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“The policy introduced in 2011 was based on the time and circumstances of that period. Now, it is time for the civil society and the government to work together in order to revise the policy,” said Som Luitel, an advocate and labor and immigration expert. He stated that many new arrangements should be made for the rights of the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“Bilateral, regional and international partnerships between supplier and labour destination countries also need to be strengthened. Meanwhile, it is equally important to ensure the rights of migrant workers at all stages of labor migration,”</span> he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Luitel pointed out that it is equally important to link labor migration with development to make the workers skilled and emphasize on reintegration of those returning from foreign employment. He said that the federal structure should have been localized when the country adopted federalism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Speaking at the programme, Hari Bahadur Thapa, chairman of the National Network for Safe Migration said that the policy that was introduced in 2011 when 2 million youths went for foreign employment will not be appropriate in the current situation. He pointed out that a new policy should include workers in the social security scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Narnath Luitel of the trade union said that the structure of the trade union should be in accordance with the provincial structure to protect the rights of the workers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bijaya Rai Shrestha, executive director of AMKAS, said that foreign employment policy should focus on gender. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15191', 'image' => '20220615045346_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 16:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15448', 'article_category_id' => '265', 'title' => 'Industries in Bara-Parsa Corridor Facing Energy Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply. The industrialists have accused Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) of ignoring improvement in supply of electricity despite repeated requests.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the industrialists, the supply to the big industries has not been regular for three days. Those industries received electricity from the NEA's 66 KV transmission line. About half a dozen industries in the corridor that use electricity from this transmission line have been affected.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">An industrialist said that they could not produce goods as NEA did not supply electricity regularly. NEA's Birgunj Distribution Center Chief Jitendra Kumar Jha admitted that there has been a problem in the supply of 66 kV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Industrialists who have been facing a power crisis for the past one and a half months have started protesting against the authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">"Due to NEA's weak infrastructure, industries that have built substations at their own expense to get supply from 66 kV transmission line have not even received regular supply of electricity," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists have also informed the officials of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry about the problem of power supply in the corridor. The chamber’s vice-president Madhav Rajpal said that there was no improvement in the situation despite repeated calls for NEA's attention.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Production in the corridor was halted for about a week after NEA cut off electricity to the industry in the second week of April due to lack of energy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists said that there has been no regular supply of electricity in the corridor since then.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Those industries that are supplied electricity are also affected by power fluctuation. Such industries are currently facing the problem of unannounced load shedding and tripping.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NEA has been shutting down the power supply for hours a day without any notice. The industrialists have demanded regular and standard quality electricity saying that tripping 8/10 times a day results in wastage of raw materials of the industry, equipment get damaged, and causes problems in quality assurance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Entrepreneurs are outraged that NEA has not improved the service despite repeated requests. "Requests have not been heard. Now we have to demonstrate against the authority,” said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Iron, textile, pharmaceutical, and furnace-based industries are most affected. NEA has been saying that more tripping occurs when the electricity demand is high due to the weak capacity of the Birgunj-Parwanipur transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15190', 'image' => '20220615031300_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15447', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Demand Investigation Against Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons. According to media reports on Monday, the Finance Minister allegedly summoned two unauthorized persons to the ministry on the night of May 28 and ordered the top officials of the ministry involved in the preparation of the budget and financial bill to manipulate the tax rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML chief whip Bishal Bhattarai demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe into the allegations against Finance Minister Sharma. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that his attention was drawn to the issues raised by the main opposition party and added that the parliament should be allowed to function after the minister made a statement of public importance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that it was the right of the minister to give an explanation, he urged the UML lawmakers to sit down. On the other hand, UML spokesperson Bhattarai said that he would allow the parliament to function after the investigation into the alleged role of the finance minister. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We urge the speaker to bring the CCTV footage of the finance ministry to the parliament on the night of May 28," he said. The UML spokesperson further insisted that the Finance Minister Sharma should resign.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the House meeting, UML MP and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that it was not morally appropriate for Finance Minister Sharma to hold the post. “Is the finance minister worthy of the post after such a serious allegation? Should the Prime Minister answer this or not?” he questioned. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Pandey further said that the day before the budget was presented in the parliament, it was customary for the Ministry of Finance not to allow anyone except its staff to enter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Especially when the tax rate is being discussed, no one except the minister is allowed to carry the phone and it is customary to keep the secretary's telephone in the drawer and discuss," Pandey said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML lawmakers have accused the finance minister of manipulating customs duty and tax rates to benefit certain business houses.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sharma claimed that the involvement of unauthorized persons in the preparation of the budget was false and fabricated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The allegation that unauthorized persons were involved in manipulating the revenue rate while formulating the budget is misleading, fictional and also a false story. I straight forward refute it,” he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma also claimed that he had fulfilled his responsibilities. According to the minister, the budget was prepared by the Finance Secretary and the Revenue Secretary in collaboration with the subordinate departmental heads and staff after taking suggestions from the stakeholders. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15189', 'image' => '20220615014416_ROS_KTM-4187.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:43:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15446', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Focusing on Debt Recovery', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, banks have already recovered Rs 2 billion between June 3 and June 10. Deposit collection of banks increased by Rs 3 billion during this period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The credit flow of banks had declined by Rs 2 billion in the previous week. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given banks until mid-July to bring the CD ratio within the limit of 90 percent in the current fiscal year. However, due to lack of liquidity in the banking system, the CD ratio of the banks exceeded the target set by NRB and therefore banks have almost stopped credit flow to maintain the ratio.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Lately, banks have been collecting deposits but not disbursing loans. This has resulted in an improvement in the CD ratio of banks. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks has dropped from 90.32 percent to 90.22 percent as of June 10. However, the CD ratio of 15 banks is higher than that specified by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Despite the increase in deposit collection, banks adopted a strategy of reducing credit flow. Lately, banks have been focusing on recovery of loans by halting the flow of new loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks are under pressure to bring the CD ratio within the limits as the central bank has indicated that they will not be given any additional time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Discussions with CEOs</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NRB held a meeting with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of commercial banks last Tuesday to discuss the unhealthy competitions among banks to raise interest rates. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">One week after holding discussions with the bank's managers, NRB indicated that the upcoming monetary policy is going to be strict. Discussion was held in the presence of Deputy Governors Dr Neelam Dhungana and Bam Bahadur Mishra, Executive Director of the Banking and Financial Institutions Regulation Department, Dr Gunakar Bhatt, Executive Director of the Department of Bank Supervision Dev Kumar Dhakal and other high-ranking officials.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15188', 'image' => '20220615011900_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15445', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '281 Arrested on Charges of Tax Fraud and Foreign Exchange Irregularities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 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"">June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department informed that cases have been registered against the defaulters claiming fine of Rs 1.7 billion. Under the revenue leakage, a total of 69 cases have been registered against 203 persons claiming Rs 20.6 billion in fine. Among them, seven were civil servants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 46 cases were registered against 78 people claiming Rs 1.1 billion in fine under the foreign exchange irregularities, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a notice on Tuesday, the department said that it was developing a system to identify the individuals with high net worth as well as fraudsters through digital forensic lab by investigating details in computers and mobiles used by such people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the department urged the consumers to remain alert and aware of those taking undue advantages of people's citizenship and hard economic conditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department said that it focused on the investigations of the cases relating to capital gains tax fraud, use of fake excise stickers and crypto currency and some new issues emerged during the current fiscal year. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15187', 'image' => '20220615074933_taxfraud.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:49:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels. Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) requested the metropolis to provide 90 percent exemption on property tax and 100 percent exemption on business tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">HAN argued that tax exemption should be given to protect the hotel business as it is yet to return back to normalcy after being badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Sajan Shakya, general secretary of HAN, informed that they met the mayor of the metropolis Balendra Shah and requested him to give tax exemption just like last year. The government in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has also announced tax exemption for the hotel industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Shakya said that the state is also responsible to provide employment and protect the hotel industry which helps in earning foreign currency. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although Article 12 of the Real Estate Tax Act 2019 exempts property tax for all structures owned by the hotels, they still have to pay property tax as per the Unified Property Tax Act 2074.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The metropolis had provided 65 percent exemption in such tax in fiscal year 2075/76, 75 percent in 2076/77, 75 percent in 2077/78 and 80 percent in 2078/79.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15201', 'image' => '20220617015733_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 13:56:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15458', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'House of Representatives passes Appropriation Bill', 'sub_title' => 'UML boycotts Lower House meeting', 'summary' => 'June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The proposal to pass the Appropriation Bill, 2079 tabled by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma during parliament meeting on Thursday was passed by a majority votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party, the CPN-UML, had boycotted the meeting, accusing Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of involving unauthorized persons in the process of drafting the budget. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting also passed the Finance Bill 2022; Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022 and Bill on Debts and Surety (25th amendment) by a majority of votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the lawmakers’ concerns on Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022, Finance Minister Sharma said debts would be collected only if necessary. Minister Sharma also argued that productions should be encouraged by discouraging loans. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15200', 'image' => '20220617083754_20220605121907_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:37:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IOC sends Revised List of Fuel Price with Increment', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). As per the new list, the prices of petroleum products has increased causing further financial burden to the cash-strapped NOC which depends on government grant to pay the bills to the IOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new price list, price of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel has increased by Rs 6.52, Rs 19.3 and Rs 91.91 per liter respectively. The NOC has to bear the financial burden at the moment while it is yet to decide whether to further increase the fuel price in the country or not. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, petrol is being sold for Rs 178 per liter in the retail market of Nepal while diesel and kerosene are priced at Rs 165 each. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights is being traded for Rs 166 per litre while the price of ATF for international flights has been fixed at USD 1.54 per liter. Cooking gas (LPG) is sold for Rs 1,800 per cylinder in the market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After adjustment of the new price list sent by IOC, NOC will have to pay Rs 209.28 for petrol, Rs 202.16 for diesel and Rs 147.99 for a liter of kerosene including taxes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC has to pay Rs 168.70 for aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 147.89 (international) while the price of LPG will cost Rs 2,551.15 per cylinder. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Accordingly, NOC incurs loss of Rs 31.28 per liter in petrol, Rs 37.16 in diesel, Rs 2.70 in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 751.14 in LPG. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC is projected to incur a total loss of around Rs 4.71 billion within a fortnigh (Rs 950 million loss in petrol, Rs 2.9 billion in diesel, Rs 6.6 million in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 1.1 billion in LPG), said NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, it makes profit from aviation fuel (international) and kerosene. NOC makes a profit of Rs 17.1 per liter from kerosene and Rs 44.63 from aviation fuel (international). (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15199', 'image' => '20220617082823_Fuelprice-800x445.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:27:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Endorse Labour Pact with UK', 'sub_title' => 'Government to accept Rs 366 million grant from Japan ', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions made by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government has agreed to endorse the labour pact with UK.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also agreed to accept a grant of 376 million Japanese yen which is approximately Rs 366 million from the Government of Japan for human resources development of Nepal. According to Minister Karki, the cabinet meeting on June 14 also decided to continue private housing reconstruction until July 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the council of ministers also decided to endorse the action plan, 2078 related to the registration and leasing of government lands, the procedure, 2078 related to the auction and sale of government properties and goods and the standards, 2078 relating to treatment expenditure, reliefs and monetary assistances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Minister Karki clarified that there is no truth in the US military presence in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Karki made such remark while replying to a question raised by media persons while making the decision of the Council of Ministers public on Thursday. Stating that Nepal is a sovereign nation, he claimed that no citizen or army of any other country can freely come here without fulfilling the required processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the MCC project is currently being implemented, Minister Karki said that the the general public will soon reap benefit from the US-funded project. Minister Karki also urged one and all to make joint efforts to help complete the MCC on time for the benefit of the entire nation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15198', 'image' => '20220617081447_20220524091355_ROS_KTM-_6483441(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:14:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reducing Trade Deficit is Government's Top Priority: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within 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"">June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba made such remark while inaugurating the Nepal Chamber Expo-2022 organised by Nepal Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He said it is also the priority of the government to substitute import by producing goods and services that can be produced within the country itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Export promotion and import substitution both would not be possible without the active participation and collaboration from the private sector. The government is willing to move ahead hand-in-hand with the private sector to contain the trade deficit within acceptable limit through export promotion," the Prime Minister reiterated. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He stressed on the need of publicising and expanding the market for domestically-produced goods and suggested displaying country-made goods produced by using domestic raw materials and the indigenous Nepali technology and skills in such trade fairs and exhibitions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba expressed the belief that the exhibition will help in export promotion as well as in the protection and sustainable development of small and medium scale industries of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Local goods manufactured in Nepal and Bangladesh have been kept for display and sale in the trade fair cum exhibition that will last till June 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The expo not only provides the venue for trading of large number of goods at one place but also establishes direct contact between the products and consumers, due to which the producers can contribute to trade promotion by assessing the market demand, Prime Minister Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Prime Minister said that the chamber has worked as a reliable bridge for enhancing collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sector. He hoped the exhibition would be helpful in energizing the domestic trade and economic sectors hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic and further accelerating economic activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event is expected to make the economic atmosphere lively by marketing and internationalization of Nepali products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Interactions scheduled to be held among business communities and information exchanges on import and export on the sidelines of the event will provide a ground for operating and promoting transnational business and trade activities, according to the Prime Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh’s ambassador to Nepal, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury was hopeful of further consolidation of the trade and commercial ties between the two countries through the expo while NCC president Rajendra Malla said the event is mainly aimed at promoting the production and trade of typical Nepali garments made of sisno (nettle) and dhaka items. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15197', 'image' => '20220616042445_ROS_KTM_6483441 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 16:23:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Reluctant to Entrust Health Insurance Programme to Private Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme. The government had announced in the annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year that the health insurance programme, which is currently being run by the Insurance Board under the Ministry of Health, will be entrusted to private insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Replying to a questions raised in the parliament on Wednesday regarding such provision, Minister Khatiwada said that the health insurance program will not be given to the private companies. He said that the program will be continued as per the Health Insurance Act.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The Health Insurance Act has provision for the board to run the programme. Minister Khatiwada clarified that the health insurance programme will be implemented accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“I am not in favor of implementing new provision, nor will I ever do so. Whatever provision and purpose is written down in the prevailing act, health insurance will move forward accordingly. I will be here till mid-December,”</span> Khatiwada said in the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even the Health Insurance Board was dissatisfied with the government's policy for the upcoming fiscal year. The provision to entrust the health insurance programme to the private sector companies was opposed by various stakeholders as well as lawmakers while discussing the budget in the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the health insurance programme operated by the government, five-member families can get medical treatment up to Rs 100,000 annually. To avail such facility, they have to pay an annual premium of Rs 3,500. Despite being called insurance, the government introduced this programme as social security scheme. Stakeholders express that the programme promoted as social security should not be handed to a private company.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15196', 'image' => '20220616030745_health sector.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 15:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15453', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chamber Expo Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The expo is organized by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Trade and Export Promotion Center. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the main objective of the expo is to promote exports and attract foreign investment by focusing on trade interaction, exchange of import and export information and marketing of Nepali products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the international business community will participate in the expo. The chamber expects international participation to provide an opportunity for Nepali entrepreneurs to take a closer look at the economic activities taking place in the international arena, use of new technologies and new dimensions of trade management.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15195', 'image' => '20220616042530_ROS_KTM_IMGL6073.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 14:31:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15452', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'All 7 Provinces Unveil Budget for Upcoming Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday. The budgets made public by the provinces have prioritized agriculture, infrastructure development, health, education employment and tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budgets were presented to the respective provincial assemblies by the provincial governments in accordance with the constitutional provision of announcing budgets of the provinces within the first day of the third month of the year as per the Nepali calendar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 government has announced a budget of Rs 39.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23). Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Province 1, Indra Bahadur Angbo, presented the budget in the Provincial Assembly meeting on Wednesday (June 15). </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"">According to the budget, the Province 1 government plans to achieve economic growth of 5.41 percent during the next fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 3.15 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer at local levels. Of the allocated expenditure, Province 1 government has targeted to finance Rs 4.98 billion through internal revenue, Rs 11.88 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 8.69 billion from conditional grants, Rs 920 billion from matching grants and Rs 256 billion from foreign grants. </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"">Province 1 has given top priority to agriculture, irrigation, energy, communication, transport, health and tourism sectors.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget has given priority to expand tax limit by preserving the tax basis while determining the revenue policy and limits of tax for coming fiscal year, increasing tax participation, capacity building of human resources assigned in revenue administration and adopting revenue mobilization policy to control revenue leakage. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Madhesh Province</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provincial government of Madhes Province has made public a budget of Rs 46.88 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Shailendra Prasad Sah tabled the government's estimated income and expenditure details in Wednesday’s meeting of the Provincial Assembly. Accordingly 21.76 billion (46.44 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs. 25.82 billion (53.21 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 162.44 million (0.35 percent) for conditional grant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes Province has given continuity to the ‘Educate Daughter Campaign’ and has decided to distribute a computer and a laptop to girl students undergoing course in grade 12. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Rs 150 million has been allocated for the Chief Minister's Farmers Upliftment Program in Madhes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes government has allocated Rs 5 million for preparation of provincial agriculture master plan and Rs 178.2 million for commercialization and mechanization of this sector with the objective of developing the agriculture sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A budget of Rs. 282 million has been allocated for livestock insurance and construction of agricultural roads. Likewise, a budget of Rs 72.8 million has been allocated for the Agriculture Knowledge Center. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs. 3.87 billion has been allocated for conditional and matching grants. This grant will be provided to the local level. The grant given to the local level in the current fiscal year will be given according to the progress, said Finance Minister Sah. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Shalikram Jammakattel presented a budget of Rs 70.93 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23 at the meeting of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 19.24 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 41.56 billion for capital expenditure. Likewise, Rs 8.35 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer and Rs 2 billion for financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to agriculture, education and health sectors. The budget includes a plan to set up a chemical fertilizer plant, hospital standardization, a kidney transplant service at Hetauda Hospital, and a science and technology university. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget includes issues such as job creation, development plans for marginalized communities, and declaring the residents of Chepang as a protected area. </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""><strong>Gandaki Province </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister of Gandaki Province Ramjee Prasad Baral unveiled a budget of Rs 35.91 billion for the upcoming fiscal during the Province Assembly meeting on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The annual budget has laid emphasis on health, agriculture and tourism, Minister Baral shared. He further said that the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights, state directive principles, five-year periodic national plan, goals and objectives of first five-year plan of Gandaki Province, Sustainable Development Goals, medium-term expenditure framework of Gandaki Province, provincial government policy and programme and political commitments were taken into consideration while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the budget appropriated for the upcoming fiscal year, Rs 13.268 billion (36.95 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs 22.14 billion (61.66 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 500 million (1.39 percent) for fiscal management. He informed that over Rs 2.11 billion (5.88 percent) has been earmarked for fiscal transfer at local level in the province. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lumbini Province</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has presented a budget of 42.63 billion for fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Cooperatives of Lumbini Province, Krishna Dhoj Khadka, presented the budget at a meeting of Lumbini Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 13.32 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 24.47 billion for capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Khadka said that the budget was prepared keeping agriculture, health, education and physical infrastructure in priority to fulfill the dream of making Lumbini a self-dependent province. A total of Rs 4.83 billion has been allocated for fiscal equalization grant, matching grant, conditional grant and fiscal transfer at local-level through special grant. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government is estimated to receive Rs 7.927 billion from fiscal equalization grant of Nepal Government, Rs 9.234 billion from revenue collection, Rs 6.918 billion from conditional grant, Rs 837 million from matching grant, Rs 860 million from special grant, said the finance minister. The province has estimated to generate Rs 5.09 billion from inland revenue and Rs 325 million from royalty. He further informed that the province government would raise insufficient resources worth to Rs 2.71 billion through domestic borrowing and loan from the central government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Karnali Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government of Karnali Province has presented a budget of Rs 32.61 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Province Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Binda Man Bista presented the annual budget with estimated income and expenditure for upcoming fiscal year in the third meeting of the 10th session of the Provincial Assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Bista said the province government has appropriated around Rs 9.17 billion (28.11 percent) for current expenditure and Rs 19.43 billion (59.58 percent) for capital expenditure in the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated revenue for the upcoming fiscal years include Rs 712.9 million from inland revenue, over Rs 4.55 billion as estimated surplus amount carried over from current fiscal year, Rs 9.02 billion to be received as revenue from the federal government, Rs 10.72 billion to be received as fiscal equalization grant and Rs 5.69 billion to be received as conditional grant. The province government will mobilize matching grant of over Rs 1.21 billion and special grant of Rs 668 million to be received from the federal government for the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sudurpaschim Province</span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Sudurpaschim province government on Wednesday unveiled an estimated budget of Rs 36.746 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the annual budget at Wednesday’s meeting of the Province Assembly, Provincial Minister for Economic Affairs Prakash Rawal said the budget includes Rs 12.295 under recurrent expenditure and Rs 24.147 billion under capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government has allocated Rs 1.364 billion for inter-governmental fiscal transfer and Rs 300 million for financial management. The province government plans to collect Rs 2 billion from Inland Revenue, approximately Rs 9.605 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 49.3 million from royalty, Rs 9 billion from fiscal equalization grant and Rs 7.533 billion surplus to be carried over from the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rawal said other estimated resources include Rs 6.988 billion to be received from conditional grant, Rs 765 million to be received from federal matching grant and Rs 797.8 million to be received as special grant. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15194', 'image' => '20220616122450_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 12:12:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15451', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Draws Government's Attention to Fulfil its Demands ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC has demanded the withdrawal of the decision to increase tax on electric vehicles and the revocation of the reference price by recognising the LC and the banking transaction value. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It stated that the tax policy in the budget will result in further decline of the private sector. NCC said that the existing ceiling of Rs 5 million for value added tax (VAT) is very nominal from the perspective of the increase in the foreign currency exchange rate and the rising inflation. It demanded raising the VAT threshold to Rs 10 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, NCC said the additional customs and excise duty on electric vehicles were not practical in the context of the announcement through the budget of building a self-reliant economy through the use of electricity produced within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber concluded that although the government has adopted the policy of export promotion, it has not been implemented in practice. The NCC drew the attention of the government to create an environment where in the private sector would be able to carry out business in an easy way by maintaining the balance of payment, systematizing the import and encouraging exports. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15193', 'image' => '20220616081448_NCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 08:12:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15450', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Land Use Regulation Denies Opportunity to Students Seeking Visa for Overseas Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia. He has spent hundreds of thousands of rupees since the last four years to fulfill all the criteria required for acquiring degree from Australia. All the money he spent so far will go down the drain if he is unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation published on the Nepal Gazette on June 7 has played the spoilsport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai, who reached the Land Revenue Office, Taplejung on Tuesday to mortgage his ancestral land used for farming for a bank guarantee returned home with his hopes dashed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is unfair to deny keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee when I had already initiated the process a month ago,” said a dejected Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“All of my efforts and the money I spent so far will get wasted if I am unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He is of the view that the Land Revenue Office can hold the transaction of land if someone presents agricultural land as residential land and seeks more loan from bank. However, he genuinely wanted to present the agricultural land as collateral for bank guarantee but said that the Land Revenue Office denied him such permission.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai says that he completed IELTS test, a pre-requisite for studying in Australia, in 2019 but could not proceed ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic while he was making necessary preparation to acquire visa for Australia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now, he has just 15 days to present bank guarantee in order to get a visa. However, he is unable to obtain a bank guarantee as the local unit has not classified agricultural and non-agricultural land yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hari Bhandari of Chitwan is also preparing to visit Australia for the July intake by showing a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million. But he too faces the same problem. Although he spent the whole day at the Land Revenue Office, Chitwan, he couldn’t get necessary documents for the bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">These are just a few representative cases. At present, the thousands of Nepali students seeking visa for the July intake are facing the same problem. Most of the middle-class Nepali students dream of studying abroad by keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation has barred any kind of land-related works until the classification of land into different categories. A large number of aspiring students are currently visiting Land Revenue Offices across the country seeking necessary documents for the bank guarantee. However, all of them have face the same predicament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief of the Land Revenue Office, Panchthar Baburam Pokharel says that some students had visited the office seeking their approval for the bank guarantee. He, however, said that it was not possible to give them recommendation letters in the context that the lands have not been classified yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We feel sorry to see them carrying files and weeping. But our hands are tied by the law. We cannot do anything until the concerned ministry issues another circular in this regard. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15192', 'image' => '20220615054359_edu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 17:43:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15449', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Demand Amendment to Foreign Employment Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although such a policy should be revised every five years, the government is yet to amend the policy brought in 2011, said experts who attended the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“The policy introduced in 2011 was based on the time and circumstances of that period. Now, it is time for the civil society and the government to work together in order to revise the policy,” said Som Luitel, an advocate and labor and immigration expert. He stated that many new arrangements should be made for the rights of the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“Bilateral, regional and international partnerships between supplier and labour destination countries also need to be strengthened. Meanwhile, it is equally important to ensure the rights of migrant workers at all stages of labor migration,”</span> he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Luitel pointed out that it is equally important to link labor migration with development to make the workers skilled and emphasize on reintegration of those returning from foreign employment. He said that the federal structure should have been localized when the country adopted federalism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Speaking at the programme, Hari Bahadur Thapa, chairman of the National Network for Safe Migration said that the policy that was introduced in 2011 when 2 million youths went for foreign employment will not be appropriate in the current situation. He pointed out that a new policy should include workers in the social security scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Narnath Luitel of the trade union said that the structure of the trade union should be in accordance with the provincial structure to protect the rights of the workers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bijaya Rai Shrestha, executive director of AMKAS, said that foreign employment policy should focus on gender. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15191', 'image' => '20220615045346_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 16:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15448', 'article_category_id' => '265', 'title' => 'Industries in Bara-Parsa Corridor Facing Energy Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply. The industrialists have accused Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) of ignoring improvement in supply of electricity despite repeated requests.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the industrialists, the supply to the big industries has not been regular for three days. Those industries received electricity from the NEA's 66 KV transmission line. About half a dozen industries in the corridor that use electricity from this transmission line have been affected.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">An industrialist said that they could not produce goods as NEA did not supply electricity regularly. NEA's Birgunj Distribution Center Chief Jitendra Kumar Jha admitted that there has been a problem in the supply of 66 kV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Industrialists who have been facing a power crisis for the past one and a half months have started protesting against the authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">"Due to NEA's weak infrastructure, industries that have built substations at their own expense to get supply from 66 kV transmission line have not even received regular supply of electricity," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists have also informed the officials of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry about the problem of power supply in the corridor. The chamber’s vice-president Madhav Rajpal said that there was no improvement in the situation despite repeated calls for NEA's attention.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Production in the corridor was halted for about a week after NEA cut off electricity to the industry in the second week of April due to lack of energy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists said that there has been no regular supply of electricity in the corridor since then.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Those industries that are supplied electricity are also affected by power fluctuation. Such industries are currently facing the problem of unannounced load shedding and tripping.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NEA has been shutting down the power supply for hours a day without any notice. The industrialists have demanded regular and standard quality electricity saying that tripping 8/10 times a day results in wastage of raw materials of the industry, equipment get damaged, and causes problems in quality assurance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Entrepreneurs are outraged that NEA has not improved the service despite repeated requests. "Requests have not been heard. Now we have to demonstrate against the authority,” said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Iron, textile, pharmaceutical, and furnace-based industries are most affected. NEA has been saying that more tripping occurs when the electricity demand is high due to the weak capacity of the Birgunj-Parwanipur transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15190', 'image' => '20220615031300_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15447', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Demand Investigation Against Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons. According to media reports on Monday, the Finance Minister allegedly summoned two unauthorized persons to the ministry on the night of May 28 and ordered the top officials of the ministry involved in the preparation of the budget and financial bill to manipulate the tax rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML chief whip Bishal Bhattarai demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe into the allegations against Finance Minister Sharma. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that his attention was drawn to the issues raised by the main opposition party and added that the parliament should be allowed to function after the minister made a statement of public importance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that it was the right of the minister to give an explanation, he urged the UML lawmakers to sit down. On the other hand, UML spokesperson Bhattarai said that he would allow the parliament to function after the investigation into the alleged role of the finance minister. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We urge the speaker to bring the CCTV footage of the finance ministry to the parliament on the night of May 28," he said. The UML spokesperson further insisted that the Finance Minister Sharma should resign.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the House meeting, UML MP and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that it was not morally appropriate for Finance Minister Sharma to hold the post. “Is the finance minister worthy of the post after such a serious allegation? Should the Prime Minister answer this or not?” he questioned. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Pandey further said that the day before the budget was presented in the parliament, it was customary for the Ministry of Finance not to allow anyone except its staff to enter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Especially when the tax rate is being discussed, no one except the minister is allowed to carry the phone and it is customary to keep the secretary's telephone in the drawer and discuss," Pandey said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML lawmakers have accused the finance minister of manipulating customs duty and tax rates to benefit certain business houses.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sharma claimed that the involvement of unauthorized persons in the preparation of the budget was false and fabricated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The allegation that unauthorized persons were involved in manipulating the revenue rate while formulating the budget is misleading, fictional and also a false story. I straight forward refute it,” he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma also claimed that he had fulfilled his responsibilities. According to the minister, the budget was prepared by the Finance Secretary and the Revenue Secretary in collaboration with the subordinate departmental heads and staff after taking suggestions from the stakeholders. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15189', 'image' => '20220615014416_ROS_KTM-4187.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:43:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15446', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Focusing on Debt Recovery', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, banks have already recovered Rs 2 billion between June 3 and June 10. Deposit collection of banks increased by Rs 3 billion during this period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The credit flow of banks had declined by Rs 2 billion in the previous week. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given banks until mid-July to bring the CD ratio within the limit of 90 percent in the current fiscal year. However, due to lack of liquidity in the banking system, the CD ratio of the banks exceeded the target set by NRB and therefore banks have almost stopped credit flow to maintain the ratio.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Lately, banks have been collecting deposits but not disbursing loans. This has resulted in an improvement in the CD ratio of banks. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks has dropped from 90.32 percent to 90.22 percent as of June 10. However, the CD ratio of 15 banks is higher than that specified by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Despite the increase in deposit collection, banks adopted a strategy of reducing credit flow. Lately, banks have been focusing on recovery of loans by halting the flow of new loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks are under pressure to bring the CD ratio within the limits as the central bank has indicated that they will not be given any additional time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Discussions with CEOs</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NRB held a meeting with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of commercial banks last Tuesday to discuss the unhealthy competitions among banks to raise interest rates. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">One week after holding discussions with the bank's managers, NRB indicated that the upcoming monetary policy is going to be strict. Discussion was held in the presence of Deputy Governors Dr Neelam Dhungana and Bam Bahadur Mishra, Executive Director of the Banking and Financial Institutions Regulation Department, Dr Gunakar Bhatt, Executive Director of the Department of Bank Supervision Dev Kumar Dhakal and other high-ranking officials.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15188', 'image' => '20220615011900_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15445', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '281 Arrested on Charges of Tax Fraud and Foreign Exchange Irregularities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 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"">June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department informed that cases have been registered against the defaulters claiming fine of Rs 1.7 billion. Under the revenue leakage, a total of 69 cases have been registered against 203 persons claiming Rs 20.6 billion in fine. Among them, seven were civil servants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 46 cases were registered against 78 people claiming Rs 1.1 billion in fine under the foreign exchange irregularities, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a notice on Tuesday, the department said that it was developing a system to identify the individuals with high net worth as well as fraudsters through digital forensic lab by investigating details in computers and mobiles used by such people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the department urged the consumers to remain alert and aware of those taking undue advantages of people's citizenship and hard economic conditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department said that it focused on the investigations of the cases relating to capital gains tax fraud, use of fake excise stickers and crypto currency and some new issues emerged during the current fiscal year. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15187', 'image' => '20220615074933_taxfraud.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:49:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 17: Hoteliers have urged the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to give exemption on integrated property tax and business tax that is levied on hotels. Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) requested the metropolis to provide 90 percent exemption on property tax and 100 percent exemption on business tax.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">HAN argued that tax exemption should be given to protect the hotel business as it is yet to return back to normalcy after being badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Sajan Shakya, general secretary of HAN, informed that they met the mayor of the metropolis Balendra Shah and requested him to give tax exemption just like last year. The government in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has also announced tax exemption for the hotel industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Shakya said that the state is also responsible to provide employment and protect the hotel industry which helps in earning foreign currency. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although Article 12 of the Real Estate Tax Act 2019 exempts property tax for all structures owned by the hotels, they still have to pay property tax as per the Unified Property Tax Act 2074.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The metropolis had provided 65 percent exemption in such tax in fiscal year 2075/76, 75 percent in 2076/77, 75 percent in 2077/78 and 80 percent in 2078/79.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15201', 'image' => '20220617015733_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 13:56:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15458', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'House of Representatives passes Appropriation Bill', 'sub_title' => 'UML boycotts Lower House meeting', 'summary' => 'June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The House of Representatives has passed the Appropriation Bill, 2079 BS on Thursday amid protest from UML lawmakers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The proposal to pass the Appropriation Bill, 2079 tabled by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma during parliament meeting on Thursday was passed by a majority votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The main opposition party, the CPN-UML, had boycotted the meeting, accusing Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of involving unauthorized persons in the process of drafting the budget. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting also passed the Finance Bill 2022; Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022 and Bill on Debts and Surety (25th amendment) by a majority of votes. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Responding to the lawmakers’ concerns on Bill Designed to Recover Public Debt 2022, Finance Minister Sharma said debts would be collected only if necessary. Minister Sharma also argued that productions should be encouraged by discouraging loans. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15200', 'image' => '20220617083754_20220605121907_Parliament.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:37:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15457', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IOC sends Revised List of Fuel Price with Increment', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a revised list of fuel prices to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). As per the new list, the prices of petroleum products has increased causing further financial burden to the cash-strapped NOC which depends on government grant to pay the bills to the IOC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new price list, price of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel has increased by Rs 6.52, Rs 19.3 and Rs 91.91 per liter respectively. The NOC has to bear the financial burden at the moment while it is yet to decide whether to further increase the fuel price in the country or not. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At present, petrol is being sold for Rs 178 per liter in the retail market of Nepal while diesel and kerosene are priced at Rs 165 each. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic flights is being traded for Rs 166 per litre while the price of ATF for international flights has been fixed at USD 1.54 per liter. Cooking gas (LPG) is sold for Rs 1,800 per cylinder in the market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">After adjustment of the new price list sent by IOC, NOC will have to pay Rs 209.28 for petrol, Rs 202.16 for diesel and Rs 147.99 for a liter of kerosene including taxes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, NOC has to pay Rs 168.70 for aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 147.89 (international) while the price of LPG will cost Rs 2,551.15 per cylinder. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Accordingly, NOC incurs loss of Rs 31.28 per liter in petrol, Rs 37.16 in diesel, Rs 2.70 in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 751.14 in LPG. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC is projected to incur a total loss of around Rs 4.71 billion within a fortnigh (Rs 950 million loss in petrol, Rs 2.9 billion in diesel, Rs 6.6 million in aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 1.1 billion in LPG), said NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">However, it makes profit from aviation fuel (international) and kerosene. NOC makes a profit of Rs 17.1 per liter from kerosene and Rs 44.63 from aviation fuel (international). (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15199', 'image' => '20220617082823_Fuelprice-800x445.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:27:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15456', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Endorse Labour Pact with UK', 'sub_title' => 'Government to accept Rs 366 million grant from Japan ', 'summary' => 'June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 17: The Government of Nepal had decided to endorse the bilateral labour agreement with the British government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions made by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government has agreed to endorse the labour pact with UK.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has also agreed to accept a grant of 376 million Japanese yen which is approximately Rs 366 million from the Government of Japan for human resources development of Nepal. According to Minister Karki, the cabinet meeting on June 14 also decided to continue private housing reconstruction until July 16.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the council of ministers also decided to endorse the action plan, 2078 related to the registration and leasing of government lands, the procedure, 2078 related to the auction and sale of government properties and goods and the standards, 2078 relating to treatment expenditure, reliefs and monetary assistances.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Minister Karki clarified that there is no truth in the US military presence in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Karki made such remark while replying to a question raised by media persons while making the decision of the Council of Ministers public on Thursday. Stating that Nepal is a sovereign nation, he claimed that no citizen or army of any other country can freely come here without fulfilling the required processes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the MCC project is currently being implemented, Minister Karki said that the the general public will soon reap benefit from the US-funded project. Minister Karki also urged one and all to make joint efforts to help complete the MCC on time for the benefit of the entire nation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-17', 'modified' => '2022-06-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15198', 'image' => '20220617081447_20220524091355_ROS_KTM-_6483441(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-17 08:14:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15455', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reducing Trade Deficit is Government's Top Priority: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within 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"">June 16: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government has given high priority to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion and production of highest quality of goods within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba made such remark while inaugurating the Nepal Chamber Expo-2022 organised by Nepal Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He said it is also the priority of the government to substitute import by producing goods and services that can be produced within the country itself. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Export promotion and import substitution both would not be possible without the active participation and collaboration from the private sector. The government is willing to move ahead hand-in-hand with the private sector to contain the trade deficit within acceptable limit through export promotion," the Prime Minister reiterated. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He stressed on the need of publicising and expanding the market for domestically-produced goods and suggested displaying country-made goods produced by using domestic raw materials and the indigenous Nepali technology and skills in such trade fairs and exhibitions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba expressed the belief that the exhibition will help in export promotion as well as in the protection and sustainable development of small and medium scale industries of Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Local goods manufactured in Nepal and Bangladesh have been kept for display and sale in the trade fair cum exhibition that will last till June 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The expo not only provides the venue for trading of large number of goods at one place but also establishes direct contact between the products and consumers, due to which the producers can contribute to trade promotion by assessing the market demand, Prime Minister Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Prime Minister said that the chamber has worked as a reliable bridge for enhancing collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sector. He hoped the exhibition would be helpful in energizing the domestic trade and economic sectors hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic and further accelerating economic activities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event is expected to make the economic atmosphere lively by marketing and internationalization of Nepali products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Interactions scheduled to be held among business communities and information exchanges on import and export on the sidelines of the event will provide a ground for operating and promoting transnational business and trade activities, according to the Prime Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh’s ambassador to Nepal, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury was hopeful of further consolidation of the trade and commercial ties between the two countries through the expo while NCC president Rajendra Malla said the event is mainly aimed at promoting the production and trade of typical Nepali garments made of sisno (nettle) and dhaka items. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15197', 'image' => '20220616042445_ROS_KTM_6483441 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 16:23:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15454', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Reluctant to Entrust Health Insurance Programme to Private Sector', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada has said that private insurance companies will not be entrusted with the health insurance programme. The government had announced in the annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year that the health insurance programme, which is currently being run by the Insurance Board under the Ministry of Health, will be entrusted to private insurance companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Replying to a questions raised in the parliament on Wednesday regarding such provision, Minister Khatiwada said that the health insurance program will not be given to the private companies. He said that the program will be continued as per the Health Insurance Act.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The Health Insurance Act has provision for the board to run the programme. Minister Khatiwada clarified that the health insurance programme will be implemented accordingly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“I am not in favor of implementing new provision, nor will I ever do so. Whatever provision and purpose is written down in the prevailing act, health insurance will move forward accordingly. I will be here till mid-December,”</span> Khatiwada said in the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Even the Health Insurance Board was dissatisfied with the government's policy for the upcoming fiscal year. The provision to entrust the health insurance programme to the private sector companies was opposed by various stakeholders as well as lawmakers while discussing the budget in the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the health insurance programme operated by the government, five-member families can get medical treatment up to Rs 100,000 annually. To avail such facility, they have to pay an annual premium of Rs 3,500. Despite being called insurance, the government introduced this programme as social security scheme. Stakeholders express that the programme promoted as social security should not be handed to a private company.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15196', 'image' => '20220616030745_health sector.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 15:06:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15453', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Chamber Expo Kicks Off', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 16: The fifth edition 'Nepal Chamber Expo 2022' is being held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu from June 16 to 20. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The expo is organized by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Trade and Export Promotion Center. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the main objective of the expo is to promote exports and attract foreign investment by focusing on trade interaction, exchange of import and export information and marketing of Nepali products.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the chamber, the international business community will participate in the expo. The chamber expects international participation to provide an opportunity for Nepali entrepreneurs to take a closer look at the economic activities taking place in the international arena, use of new technologies and new dimensions of trade management.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15195', 'image' => '20220616042530_ROS_KTM_IMGL6073.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 14:31:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15452', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'All 7 Provinces Unveil Budget for Upcoming Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: All seven provincial governments unveiled their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) on Wednesday. The budgets made public by the provinces have prioritized agriculture, infrastructure development, health, education employment and tourism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budgets were presented to the respective provincial assemblies by the provincial governments in accordance with the constitutional provision of announcing budgets of the provinces within the first day of the third month of the year as per the Nepali calendar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Province 1 government has announced a budget of Rs 39.73 billion for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23). Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Province 1, Indra Bahadur Angbo, presented the budget in the Provincial Assembly meeting on Wednesday (June 15). </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"">According to the budget, the Province 1 government plans to achieve economic growth of 5.41 percent during the next fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 3.15 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer at local levels. Of the allocated expenditure, Province 1 government has targeted to finance Rs 4.98 billion through internal revenue, Rs 11.88 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 8.69 billion from conditional grants, Rs 920 billion from matching grants and Rs 256 billion from foreign grants. </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"">Province 1 has given top priority to agriculture, irrigation, energy, communication, transport, health and tourism sectors.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget has given priority to expand tax limit by preserving the tax basis while determining the revenue policy and limits of tax for coming fiscal year, increasing tax participation, capacity building of human resources assigned in revenue administration and adopting revenue mobilization policy to control revenue leakage. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Madhesh Province</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The provincial government of Madhes Province has made public a budget of Rs 46.88 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Shailendra Prasad Sah tabled the government's estimated income and expenditure details in Wednesday’s meeting of the Provincial Assembly. Accordingly 21.76 billion (46.44 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs. 25.82 billion (53.21 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 162.44 million (0.35 percent) for conditional grant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes Province has given continuity to the ‘Educate Daughter Campaign’ and has decided to distribute a computer and a laptop to girl students undergoing course in grade 12. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Rs 150 million has been allocated for the Chief Minister's Farmers Upliftment Program in Madhes. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Madhes government has allocated Rs 5 million for preparation of provincial agriculture master plan and Rs 178.2 million for commercialization and mechanization of this sector with the objective of developing the agriculture sector. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A budget of Rs. 282 million has been allocated for livestock insurance and construction of agricultural roads. Likewise, a budget of Rs 72.8 million has been allocated for the Agriculture Knowledge Center. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Rs. 3.87 billion has been allocated for conditional and matching grants. This grant will be provided to the local level. The grant given to the local level in the current fiscal year will be given according to the progress, said Finance Minister Sah. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Shalikram Jammakattel presented a budget of Rs 70.93 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23 at the meeting of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 19.24 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 41.56 billion for capital expenditure. Likewise, Rs 8.35 billion has been allocated for fiscal transfer and Rs 2 billion for financial management. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to agriculture, education and health sectors. The budget includes a plan to set up a chemical fertilizer plant, hospital standardization, a kidney transplant service at Hetauda Hospital, and a science and technology university. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The budget includes issues such as job creation, development plans for marginalized communities, and declaring the residents of Chepang as a protected area. </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""><strong>Gandaki Province </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Finance Minister of Gandaki Province Ramjee Prasad Baral unveiled a budget of Rs 35.91 billion for the upcoming fiscal during the Province Assembly meeting on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The annual budget has laid emphasis on health, agriculture and tourism, Minister Baral shared. He further said that the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights, state directive principles, five-year periodic national plan, goals and objectives of first five-year plan of Gandaki Province, Sustainable Development Goals, medium-term expenditure framework of Gandaki Province, provincial government policy and programme and political commitments were taken into consideration while formulating the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of the budget appropriated for the upcoming fiscal year, Rs 13.268 billion (36.95 percent) has been allocated for current expenditure, Rs 22.14 billion (61.66 percent) for capital expenditure and Rs 500 million (1.39 percent) for fiscal management. He informed that over Rs 2.11 billion (5.88 percent) has been earmarked for fiscal transfer at local level in the province. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Lumbini Province</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Lumbini provincial government has presented a budget of 42.63 billion for fiscal year 2022/23. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Economic Affairs and Cooperatives of Lumbini Province, Krishna Dhoj Khadka, presented the budget at a meeting of Lumbini Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In the budget, Rs 13.32 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 24.47 billion for capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Khadka said that the budget was prepared keeping agriculture, health, education and physical infrastructure in priority to fulfill the dream of making Lumbini a self-dependent province. A total of Rs 4.83 billion has been allocated for fiscal equalization grant, matching grant, conditional grant and fiscal transfer at local-level through special grant. </span></span></span><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government is estimated to receive Rs 7.927 billion from fiscal equalization grant of Nepal Government, Rs 9.234 billion from revenue collection, Rs 6.918 billion from conditional grant, Rs 837 million from matching grant, Rs 860 million from special grant, said the finance minister. The province has estimated to generate Rs 5.09 billion from inland revenue and Rs 325 million from royalty. He further informed that the province government would raise insufficient resources worth to Rs 2.71 billion through domestic borrowing and loan from the central government. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Karnali Province </span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Government of Karnali Province has presented a budget of Rs 32.61 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Province Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Binda Man Bista presented the annual budget with estimated income and expenditure for upcoming fiscal year in the third meeting of the 10th session of the Provincial Assembly. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Bista said the province government has appropriated around Rs 9.17 billion (28.11 percent) for current expenditure and Rs 19.43 billion (59.58 percent) for capital expenditure in the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The estimated revenue for the upcoming fiscal years include Rs 712.9 million from inland revenue, over Rs 4.55 billion as estimated surplus amount carried over from current fiscal year, Rs 9.02 billion to be received as revenue from the federal government, Rs 10.72 billion to be received as fiscal equalization grant and Rs 5.69 billion to be received as conditional grant. The province government will mobilize matching grant of over Rs 1.21 billion and special grant of Rs 668 million to be received from the federal government for the fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sudurpaschim Province</span></strong><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Sudurpaschim province government on Wednesday unveiled an estimated budget of Rs 36.746 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Presenting the annual budget at Wednesday’s meeting of the Province Assembly, Provincial Minister for Economic Affairs Prakash Rawal said the budget includes Rs 12.295 under recurrent expenditure and Rs 24.147 billion under capital expenditure. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The province government has allocated Rs 1.364 billion for inter-governmental fiscal transfer and Rs 300 million for financial management. The province government plans to collect Rs 2 billion from Inland Revenue, approximately Rs 9.605 billion from revenue sharing, Rs 49.3 million from royalty, Rs 9 billion from fiscal equalization grant and Rs 7.533 billion surplus to be carried over from the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Rawal said other estimated resources include Rs 6.988 billion to be received from conditional grant, Rs 765 million to be received from federal matching grant and Rs 797.8 million to be received as special grant. (With inputs from RSS) </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15194', 'image' => '20220616122450_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 12:12:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15451', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NCC Draws Government's Attention to Fulfil its Demands ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">June 16: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to implement its suggestions through the budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NCC has demanded the withdrawal of the decision to increase tax on electric vehicles and the revocation of the reference price by recognising the LC and the banking transaction value. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It stated that the tax policy in the budget will result in further decline of the private sector. NCC said that the existing ceiling of Rs 5 million for value added tax (VAT) is very nominal from the perspective of the increase in the foreign currency exchange rate and the rising inflation. It demanded raising the VAT threshold to Rs 10 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, NCC said the additional customs and excise duty on electric vehicles were not practical in the context of the announcement through the budget of building a self-reliant economy through the use of electricity produced within the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The chamber concluded that although the government has adopted the policy of export promotion, it has not been implemented in practice. The NCC drew the attention of the government to create an environment where in the private sector would be able to carry out business in an easy way by maintaining the balance of payment, systematizing the import and encouraging exports. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-16', 'modified' => '2022-06-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15193', 'image' => '20220616081448_NCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-16 08:12:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15450', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Land Use Regulation Denies Opportunity to Students Seeking Visa for Overseas Study', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">June 15: Bharat Bhattarai of Miklajung Rural Municipality-2, Taplejung is in the process of acquiring higher education from Australia. He has spent hundreds of thousands of rupees since the last four years to fulfill all the criteria required for acquiring degree from Australia. All the money he spent so far will go down the drain if he is unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation published on the Nepal Gazette on June 7 has played the spoilsport. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai, who reached the Land Revenue Office, Taplejung on Tuesday to mortgage his ancestral land used for farming for a bank guarantee returned home with his hopes dashed. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“It is unfair to deny keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee when I had already initiated the process a month ago,” said a dejected Bhattarai.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“All of my efforts and the money I spent so far will get wasted if I am unable to show a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million within the next 15 days,” he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He is of the view that the Land Revenue Office can hold the transaction of land if someone presents agricultural land as residential land and seeks more loan from bank. However, he genuinely wanted to present the agricultural land as collateral for bank guarantee but said that the Land Revenue Office denied him such permission.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Bhattarai says that he completed IELTS test, a pre-requisite for studying in Australia, in 2019 but could not proceed ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic while he was making necessary preparation to acquire visa for Australia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Now, he has just 15 days to present bank guarantee in order to get a visa. However, he is unable to obtain a bank guarantee as the local unit has not classified agricultural and non-agricultural land yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hari Bhandari of Chitwan is also preparing to visit Australia for the July intake by showing a bank guarantee of Rs 4.1 million. But he too faces the same problem. Although he spent the whole day at the Land Revenue Office, Chitwan, he couldn’t get necessary documents for the bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">These are just a few representative cases. At present, the thousands of Nepali students seeking visa for the July intake are facing the same problem. Most of the middle-class Nepali students dream of studying abroad by keeping land as collateral for bank guarantee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the Land Use Regulation has barred any kind of land-related works until the classification of land into different categories. A large number of aspiring students are currently visiting Land Revenue Offices across the country seeking necessary documents for the bank guarantee. However, all of them have face the same predicament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chief of the Land Revenue Office, Panchthar Baburam Pokharel says that some students had visited the office seeking their approval for the bank guarantee. He, however, said that it was not possible to give them recommendation letters in the context that the lands have not been classified yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We feel sorry to see them carrying files and weeping. But our hands are tied by the law. We cannot do anything until the concerned ministry issues another circular in this regard. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15192', 'image' => '20220615054359_edu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 17:43:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15449', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Demand Amendment to Foreign Employment Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Stakeholders during a discussion program organized by the People Forum for Human Rights in Kathmandu demanded amendment to the foreign employment policy which has not been amended for a long time. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Although such a policy should be revised every five years, the government is yet to amend the policy brought in 2011, said experts who attended the programme. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“The policy introduced in 2011 was based on the time and circumstances of that period. Now, it is time for the civil society and the government to work together in order to revise the policy,” said Som Luitel, an advocate and labor and immigration expert. He stated that many new arrangements should be made for the rights of the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">“Bilateral, regional and international partnerships between supplier and labour destination countries also need to be strengthened. Meanwhile, it is equally important to ensure the rights of migrant workers at all stages of labor migration,”</span> he added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Luitel pointed out that it is equally important to link labor migration with development to make the workers skilled and emphasize on reintegration of those returning from foreign employment. He said that the federal structure should have been localized when the country adopted federalism. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Speaking at the programme, Hari Bahadur Thapa, chairman of the National Network for Safe Migration said that the policy that was introduced in 2011 when 2 million youths went for foreign employment will not be appropriate in the current situation. He pointed out that a new policy should include workers in the social security scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Narnath Luitel of the trade union said that the structure of the trade union should be in accordance with the provincial structure to protect the rights of the workers. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Bijaya Rai Shrestha, executive director of AMKAS, said that foreign employment policy should focus on gender. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15191', 'image' => '20220615045346_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 16:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15448', 'article_category_id' => '265', 'title' => 'Industries in Bara-Parsa Corridor Facing Energy Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Industries in the Bara-Parsa corridor have been plagued by recurring problems in power supply. The industrialists have accused Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) of ignoring improvement in supply of electricity despite repeated requests.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">According to the industrialists, the supply to the big industries has not been regular for three days. Those industries received electricity from the NEA's 66 KV transmission line. About half a dozen industries in the corridor that use electricity from this transmission line have been affected.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">An industrialist said that they could not produce goods as NEA did not supply electricity regularly. NEA's Birgunj Distribution Center Chief Jitendra Kumar Jha admitted that there has been a problem in the supply of 66 kV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Industrialists who have been facing a power crisis for the past one and a half months have started protesting against the authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">"Due to NEA's weak infrastructure, industries that have built substations at their own expense to get supply from 66 kV transmission line have not even received regular supply of electricity," said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists have also informed the officials of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry about the problem of power supply in the corridor. The chamber’s vice-president Madhav Rajpal said that there was no improvement in the situation despite repeated calls for NEA's attention.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Production in the corridor was halted for about a week after NEA cut off electricity to the industry in the second week of April due to lack of energy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The industrialists said that there has been no regular supply of electricity in the corridor since then.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Those industries that are supplied electricity are also affected by power fluctuation. Such industries are currently facing the problem of unannounced load shedding and tripping.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NEA has been shutting down the power supply for hours a day without any notice. The industrialists have demanded regular and standard quality electricity saying that tripping 8/10 times a day results in wastage of raw materials of the industry, equipment get damaged, and causes problems in quality assurance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Entrepreneurs are outraged that NEA has not improved the service despite repeated requests. "Requests have not been heard. Now we have to demonstrate against the authority,” said an industrialist.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Iron, textile, pharmaceutical, and furnace-based industries are most affected. NEA has been saying that more tripping occurs when the electricity demand is high due to the weak capacity of the Birgunj-Parwanipur transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15190', 'image' => '20220615031300_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 15:11:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15447', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lawmakers Demand Investigation Against Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 15: The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) blocked the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday demanding an investigation into the alleged role of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma in manipulating tax rates in collusion with unauthorized persons. According to media reports on Monday, the Finance Minister allegedly summoned two unauthorized persons to the ministry on the night of May 28 and ordered the top officials of the ministry involved in the preparation of the budget and financial bill to manipulate the tax rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML chief whip Bishal Bhattarai demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe into the allegations against Finance Minister Sharma. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that his attention was drawn to the issues raised by the main opposition party and added that the parliament should be allowed to function after the minister made a statement of public importance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that it was the right of the minister to give an explanation, he urged the UML lawmakers to sit down. On the other hand, UML spokesperson Bhattarai said that he would allow the parliament to function after the investigation into the alleged role of the finance minister. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We urge the speaker to bring the CCTV footage of the finance ministry to the parliament on the night of May 28," he said. The UML spokesperson further insisted that the Finance Minister Sharma should resign.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the beginning of the House meeting, UML MP and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that it was not morally appropriate for Finance Minister Sharma to hold the post. “Is the finance minister worthy of the post after such a serious allegation? Should the Prime Minister answer this or not?” he questioned. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Pandey further said that the day before the budget was presented in the parliament, it was customary for the Ministry of Finance not to allow anyone except its staff to enter.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Especially when the tax rate is being discussed, no one except the minister is allowed to carry the phone and it is customary to keep the secretary's telephone in the drawer and discuss," Pandey said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">UML lawmakers have accused the finance minister of manipulating customs duty and tax rates to benefit certain business houses.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sharma claimed that the involvement of unauthorized persons in the preparation of the budget was false and fabricated. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The allegation that unauthorized persons were involved in manipulating the revenue rate while formulating the budget is misleading, fictional and also a false story. I straight forward refute it,” he said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Minister Sharma also claimed that he had fulfilled his responsibilities. According to the minister, the budget was prepared by the Finance Secretary and the Revenue Secretary in collaboration with the subordinate departmental heads and staff after taking suggestions from the stakeholders. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15189', 'image' => '20220615014416_ROS_KTM-4187.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:43:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15446', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banks Focusing on Debt Recovery', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">June 15: Banks have shifted their focus towards loan recovery to bring the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) within the prescribed limit. According to the Nepal Bankers Association, banks have already recovered Rs 2 billion between June 3 and June 10. Deposit collection of banks increased by Rs 3 billion during this period. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">The credit flow of banks had declined by Rs 2 billion in the previous week. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given banks until mid-July to bring the CD ratio within the limit of 90 percent in the current fiscal year. However, due to lack of liquidity in the banking system, the CD ratio of the banks exceeded the target set by NRB and therefore banks have almost stopped credit flow to maintain the ratio.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Lately, banks have been collecting deposits but not disbursing loans. This has resulted in an improvement in the CD ratio of banks. According to the association, the average CD ratio of commercial banks has dropped from 90.32 percent to 90.22 percent as of June 10. However, the CD ratio of 15 banks is higher than that specified by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Despite the increase in deposit collection, banks adopted a strategy of reducing credit flow. Lately, banks have been focusing on recovery of loans by halting the flow of new loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Banks are under pressure to bring the CD ratio within the limits as the central bank has indicated that they will not be given any additional time.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt">Discussions with CEOs</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">NRB held a meeting with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of commercial banks last Tuesday to discuss the unhealthy competitions among banks to raise interest rates. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt">One week after holding discussions with the bank's managers, NRB indicated that the upcoming monetary policy is going to be strict. Discussion was held in the presence of Deputy Governors Dr Neelam Dhungana and Bam Bahadur Mishra, Executive Director of the Banking and Financial Institutions Regulation Department, Dr Gunakar Bhatt, Executive Director of the Department of Bank Supervision Dev Kumar Dhakal and other high-ranking officials.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15188', 'image' => '20220615011900_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 13:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15445', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '281 Arrested on Charges of Tax Fraud and Foreign Exchange Irregularities ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 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"">June 15: The Department of Revenue Investigation has registered 113 cases against 281 persons on the charge of tax fraud and foreign exchange irregularities recorded in the last eight months of the current fiscal year (FY 2021/22). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department informed that cases have been registered against the defaulters claiming fine of Rs 1.7 billion. Under the revenue leakage, a total of 69 cases have been registered against 203 persons claiming Rs 20.6 billion in fine. Among them, seven were civil servants. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 46 cases were registered against 78 people claiming Rs 1.1 billion in fine under the foreign exchange irregularities, the department said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a notice on Tuesday, the department said that it was developing a system to identify the individuals with high net worth as well as fraudsters through digital forensic lab by investigating details in computers and mobiles used by such people. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the department urged the consumers to remain alert and aware of those taking undue advantages of people's citizenship and hard economic conditions. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department said that it focused on the investigations of the cases relating to capital gains tax fraud, use of fake excise stickers and crypto currency and some new issues emerged during the current fiscal year. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-15', 'modified' => '2022-06-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15187', 'image' => '20220615074933_taxfraud.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-15 07:49:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
