May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum…
May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum…
May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising…
May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum…
May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the…
May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum…
May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic…
May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament.…
May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector.…
May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market.…
May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on…
May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure.…
May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more…
May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II.…
May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector.…
May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal.…
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The statement issued by the association's president Subodh Kumar Gupta states that the prices have gone up due to the high tax imposed by the government and requested to provide relief to consumers by lowering the tax.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association made such demand calling the price hike nonsensical after the government increased the price of diesel and petrol by Rs 20 per liter in seven days. Even the price of cooking gas has been increased by Rs 200 per cylinder and is currently being sold for Rs 1,800 to the general public.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement also demands lowering the heavy burden put on the people by reducing the tax of Rs 10 per liter on petroleum products imposed in the name of construction of Budhigandaki Hydropower Project for the past few years besides reduction in the customs duty on petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the chamber has also drawn the attention to the protest organized by transporters demanding an increase in freight charge in proportion to the increase in fuel prices. The chamber has appealed to the truck dealers to resolve the issue through discussion rather than strike and protests on such a sensitive issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15081', 'image' => '20220526033804_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 15:37:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15338', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Import Declines by Rs 20 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the country’s foreign trade data in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (mid-July-mid-May) released by the department on Tuesday, goods worth Rs 137 billion were imported from abroad in the month of Baishakh (mid-April to mid-May), which is less than the imports in the previous month (mid-March to mid-April) by Rs 20 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The imports of Nepal had reached an all-time high of Rs 188 billion in the month of Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The impact of the government's policy to curb imports of luxury goods has been felt in May. The central bank had been taking various steps to control imports since December. In the first week of December, NRB had introduced a provision for keeping a 50 to 100 per cent cash margin while opening LC for the import of some items.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, NRB called the chief executive officers of all commercial banks on April 7 and verbally instructed them not to open LCs for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On April 29, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and banned the import of 10 types of goods including vehicles, till the end of the current fiscal year (mid-July).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the department, goods worth Rs 1646.50 billion have been imported till mid-May against goods worth Rs 1,254.11 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Imports in the current fiscal year has increased by 27.95 percent compared to last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Nepal’s exports increased by 59.80 per cent to Rs 173.34 billion during the review period. Although the growth rate of exports is high, it has not been able to play a significant role in reducing the trade deficit. As a result, the trade deficit has increased to over Rs 1431.30 billion. The trade deficit increased by 24.94 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Statistics from the department show that mostly fuels were imported during this period. The first, second and third imported items are diesel, petrol and cooking gas, respectively. Diesel import has reached more than Rs 123.70 billion as of mid-May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> More than Rs 54.83 billion has been spent on importing petrol. Similarly, cooking gas worth more than Rs 52.59 billion has been imported during this period. Iron and steel raw materials constitute the fourth most imported items with imports worth Rs 43.55 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Soybean oil tops the list of Nepal’s exported items. Soybean oil worth Rs 45.35 billion was exported during the review period. Refined bleached deodorized palm olein worth Rs 14.78 billion was exported. It is the second-largest exported item. Palm oil is the third-largest export, worth more than 13.97 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15080', 'image' => '20220526014655_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15337', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Freight Service Suspended after Fuel Price Hike ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products. The freight service has been shut as the price hike in petroleum products has directly affected the business of transporters, according to the Transport Entrepreneurs Association, Birgunj. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All kinds of transportation of goods have been suspended for the time being due to the failure in increasing the freight charge despite the sharp rise in prices of petroleum products, Vice-president of the association Pravin Kumar Karna said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At least 40 to 60 truckloads of retail goods used to be transported to different cities from Birgunj every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pesident of the association Bal Krishna Pokharel said that 46 retailers affiliated to the association have demanded adjustment in the transportation fare in accordance with the increased cost of petroleum products. Entrepreneurs have demanded timely increase in the freight service charge along with the increase in price of petroleum products.-- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15079', 'image' => '20220526011022_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:09:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15336', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'India Imposes Ban on Export of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country. This move is certain to cause scarcity of sugar in Nepal and result in price hike as the domestic production of sugar is not sufficient to meet the internal demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The annual consumption of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons while the domestic production is just 140,000 metric tons. The country has been supplying the insufficient amount of sugar through imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Government of India is said to have banned the export of sugar fearing global food crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war. India is the second largest exporter of sugar after Brazil. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on sugar imported from India, Pakistan and other countries to meet the internal demand for sugar. Pakistan has also imposed a ban on export of sugar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that the latest decision taken by India is certain to cause scarcity of sugar and also increase its price in the domestic market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kapil Mani Mainali, chairman of Nepal Sugarcane Producers Association, said that the ban imposed on export of sugar by India will have a profound impact on Nepal. According to Mainali, the annual demand of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons. He informed that the Nepal has produced 140,000 metric tons of sugar this year. He claimed that there will be a scarcity of sugar in the near future due to the ban imposed by India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest data of the department of customs, Nepal has imported 89,000 metric tons of sugar so far in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Officials of the state-owned Salt Trading Corporation, which sells sugar at subsidized rate, say that it has a stock of 32 tons of sugar left. Salt Trading Corporation has been selling sugar in retail amount so that the stock does not run out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It has been almost one and a half years since the Salt Trading Corporation sought permission from the government to procure 50,000 metric tons of sugar but the proposal has not been approved yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation has invited tender bids at both international and domestic levels to purchase 10,000 metric tons of sugar. However, the corporation’s spokesperson Kumar Rajbhandari believes that the procurement process will be affected due to the ban imposed by India. He believes that the India’s ban will create a shortage of sugar in Nepal and will also cause an increase in price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The retail price of sugar in the local market is between Rs 90 to Rs 95 per kg at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Big businessmen and traders are expected to create an artificial shortage of sugar after India imposed such ban, says Amul Kaji Tuladhar, general secretary of Retail Trade Association. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15078', 'image' => '20220526113811_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 11:36:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15335', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Student Unions Demand Immediate Withdrawal of Fuel Price Hike', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Student leaders affiliated to 13 different student unions jointly submitted the memo to the Industry Minister amid a recent function demanding the government to immediately revoke such decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the occasion, Minister Badu said that the government was not in a position to tell the Nepal Oil Corporation to reduce the fuel prices. He argued that the state-owned NOC was facing a fortnightly loss of Rs 6.71 billion and therefore it was not appropriate to tell the oil monopoly to lower the prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Badu stated that the NOC is still bearing a loss of Rs 14.64 for selling a litre of petrol. Likewise, the loss incurred for the sale of a litre of diesel and a cylinder of cooking gas amounted to Rs 26.82 and Rs 879.75 respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that it was the responsibility of the government to seek a solution to the current crisis after considering the situation of NOC and the world market, Minister Badu said that the government has been making efforts towards this end.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15077', 'image' => '20220525073044_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 19:30:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15334', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Welcomes Government Announcement to Observe ‘Domestic Poduction Decade’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has expressed its gratitude to the government for its decision to announce a decade dedicated to promoting production and consumption of the domestic products, expressing its support to the implementation of the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in its policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022-23 that were presented by the president before a joint session of the Federal Parliament on Tuesday stated that the upcoming decade would be observed as the decade of domestic production and consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has pledged a subsidy in tax and customs duty for the production and supplies of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The confederation is hopeful the announcement would help in enabling the industrial atmosphere in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcements to facilitate in acquiring land for the establishment of industry, reviewing provisions for land ceiling, creating industry-friendly atmosphere and encouraging private sector for operating production-based industries suggested the government’s new policies and programmes are focused on the promotion of industrialization, according to CNI's assessment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> The announcement to involve private sector in power trade is itself the encouragement to the private sector for its role in international power trade, the confederation said. It has, likewise, hailed the declaration to ensure power supply to private sector at a low tariff, to develop tourism as a means of earning foreign currency and to implement the Digital Nepal Framework. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has also welcomed the decision to recognise the contribution of remittance to nation’s economy, undertake large infrastructure projects on a public-private joint venture, make public expenditure result-oriented and increase the capital expenditure. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15076', 'image' => '20220525060916_make-in-nepal2021-03-09-06-26-08.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 18:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15333', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Repeats Policies and Programmes for Upcoming Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. The new policies and programmes presented in parliament by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on behalf of the government on Tuesday is nothing but the continuation of the policies and programmes of the previous government with some new programmes added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has given continuity to concept of operating railway and ship of the previous government, which it had earlier called a ‘pipedream’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes state that the government will complete feasibility study of Rasuwagadi-Kathmandu railway and conduct detailed study of the Birgunj-Kathmandu and Kathmandu Valley Metro service. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The prospects of water transport in Nepal's rivers will be identified and developed, said the president. The government also announced plans to build another 800 kilometers of roads and upgrade 257 kilometers next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes range from bringing a separate policy to increase capital spending to regulating social media and bringing it under the tax purview next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government has already issued procedures to regulate social media, it has not been able to fully implement them. The government has tried to regulate advertisements on social media after a large amount of dollars started flowing out of Nepal. Some countries, including neighboring India, have formally registered social media in their countries and brought it under the purview of law and tax. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In order to increase capital expenditure and facilitate the implementation of development projects, the concept of development including a result-based project management system will be implemented,” according to the policies and programmes unveiled on Tuesday. The government is planning to adopt a separate policy to address the trend of not spending the capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also put forward a programme to evaluate the sovereign credit of the country within the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual policies and programmes also includes the implementation projects that can transform the overall structure of the economy. Similarly, agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology are considered as the drivers of economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes also mentioned that the value of land will be determined by scientific method after developing an integrated land valuation system based on geographical information. As per the new policies and programmes, arrangements will be made to trade real estate only from specialized institutions. Arrangements will also be made to avail basic services related to land revenue online from the local levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced the ‘Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Campaign Decade’ in order to expand the market and increase the consumption of Nepali products. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We will start a campaign to uplift the economy by increasing domestic and foreign investment in productive sectors with comparative advantage, innovation in small and medium enterprises, market expansion of Nepali products and increase in production and consumption, import substitution and export promotion,” said President Bhandari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">To make this campaign a success, the Prime Minister Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Programme will be launched and it will be promoted through tax and customs duty exemption and export subsidy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will take industrial promotion policy to develop a green economy through energy efficiency and use of renewable energy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government plans to review the existing tax system next year. The government is preparing to bring in a budget to replace the import-dependent tax system by domestic production. Accordingly, a review of the tax system has been announced in the policies and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will also formulate necessary policies and criteria to facilitate revenue mobilisation at the local level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the concept of digital banking, the national payment system will be strengthened and all financial transactions will be done through electronic means. For the first time, the government is planning to set up a ‘Market and Trade Intelligence’ bureau for international trade information. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of Gautam Buddha International Stadium at Chitwan will also be undertaken by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, it is also mentioned that the government will set up its own satellite and state-of-the-art security printing press. The current government has announced plans to move ahead with both the projects which were in dispute over irregularities during the previous CPN-UML-led government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the government will give priority to agriculture and bring irrigation facilities in the coming FY, President Bhandari said that the government has adopted a policy to provide irrigation facilities to 22,200 hectares of land, along with the construction as well as maintenance of large and branch canals. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15075', 'image' => '20220525034821_RS_KTM-20220524_163359.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 15:47:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15332', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Agricultural Grants on the Basis of Production', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. In this regard, it has decided to provide subsidies to the farmers only on the basis of production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari made such announcement while presenting the government's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) at a joint sitting of the federal parliament on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been found that the grants provided by the government were reaching sectors other than agriculture, therefore, the government adopted the policy of providing subsidy only to the genuine farmers based on production. The government is preparing to formulate the policy of protecting the farmers and make arrangements to purchase the produce of the farmers in order to promote agriculture as a major pillar of economic development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agriculture experts, on the other hand, argue that agricultural subsidies cannot be effective if it is based on production alone. Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture for Food Campaign, said that it would not be right to give subsidies on the basis of production without classifying the farmers into different groups. He stated, “This kind of policy is good only for big farmers but small farmers can get into trouble. Therefore, in case of misuse of agricultural subsidies, it is better to investigate and take action.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although Adhikari welcomed the term “protection of farmers” included by the government in its policies and programmes, he expressed concerns that there is no clear policy to fulfill the commitment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also adopted a policy to ensure the availability of chemical fertilizers and to provide subsidies on organic fertilizer on par with the chemical fertilizers from the upcoming fiscal year. Similarly, the policies and programmes of the government states that access to micro insurance will be extended to the remote and deprived sectors by expanding agriculture and livestock insurance programmes for the protection of farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government also pledged to provide relief as soon as possible to the farmers whose crops were damage by the unseasonal rains that occurred in last October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will encourage farmers to engage in collective and cooperative farming on barren land. The government will run special programmes to produce the food products that are imported in large quantities. Under this heading, a special programme will be introduced to increase the production of imported food like paddy, maize, potato, onion, apple, and walnut that are imported in large quantities. In addition, there the government also plans to promote organic farming. Special emphasis was also laid on increasing the production of food items and reducing the processing cost. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has set a target of providing irrigation facilities to an additional 22,200 hectares of land next year. Similarly, construction and maintenance of main and branch canals of large and multi-purpose irrigation projects including construction of Bheri Babai diversion headworks and tunnel of powerhouse and Sunkoshi Marin diversion project will be expedited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Commenting on the policies and programmes announced by the government in the agriculture sector, the outgoing chairman of the National Farmers Commission Chitra Bahadur Shrestha said that it is a good thing that agriculture is considered as one of the top priorities of the government. However, what is more important is the plans that will be included in the budget and passed for implementation rather than the things included in the policies and programmes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15074', 'image' => '20220525013650_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 13:36:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15331', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Oil Producers Struggling to Export Oil to India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. Due to the halt in export of refined oil, Nepal's export trade is expected to decline as it is a major contributor to government revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nikhil Chachan, the operator of Narayani Oil in Birgunj, says that the price is increasing in the international market and the oil stored in the industrial warehouses has been exported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It takes up to three months to import raw materials from the international market to Nepal and the domestic companies were exporting by using the price difference in the market. According to the entrepreneurs, the stock of raw materials of the domestic industries is finishing as Russia and Ukraine are at war, and Indonesia, the main producer of palm, has banned the exports for nearly a month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Indonesia has decided to open exports from Monday. Operator of OCB Food Suresh Rungta says that even if the import of raw material is easier, it cannot be exported to India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"India imports all types of edible oil at 5.5 percent customs duty and 7 percent goods and services tax. In our country, the government collects 10 percent customs duty and 13 percent value added tax," said Rungta, "The transportation cost from Kolkata to Birgunj is Rs 8. In such a situation, it is no longer possible to export refined oil to India by importing raw materials from third countries." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chachan said that export by taking advantage of price difference is not possible. He told New Business Age that only nominal exports are being made from the old stock now.</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' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15073', 'image' => '20220525125146_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 12:51:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15330', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mixed Response to Government's Policies and Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki described the policies and programs as a blueprint to make Nepal prosperous. </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 policies and programmes reflect our dream of bringing prosperity to the country. It is not just an assurance, it will be implemented," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Chairperson of Janata Samajwadi Party of Nepal and former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that the policies and programmes were positive as a whole but were insufficient for the overall economic development of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of CPN (Unified Socialist) and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also remarked that the policies and programmes were positive as the country's agriculture, energy development, tourism promotion and other sectors were given high priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML) Vice Chairman and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that many issues included in the policies and programmes have been repeated since a long time. He also said that it would be difficult to implement everything mentioned in the policies and programmes due to limited size of our budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden remarked that there would be problems in implementation as in the past due to the traditional nature of budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15072', 'image' => '20220525113445_RS-KTM-Parliamenti (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 11:34:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15329', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Policies and Programmes Emphasize on Revival of Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. Addressing a joint session of the federal parliament on Tuesday, President Bidya Devi Bhandari made public the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 145-point program highlights the fact that remittance inflow has improved over the past few months and the growth in revenue collection from tourism has been creating a positive environment, despite the external pressure on the economy due to the unfavorable conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In order to achieve economic growth and sustainability through the combination of fiscal and monetary policies, the government has outlined agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology as the drivers of economic growth. The government has adopted a clear policy of building a resilient economy through special economic recovery programs and keeping inflation within the limits. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government intend to implement projects from the provincial and local levels except mega projects of national pride and of strategic importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government plans to conserve, use and distribute natural resources equitably in coordination among the federal, province and local governments. As per the policies and programmes of the government, the basis of economic prosperity will be laid by linking local economies with the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to make policy, legal and systemic reforms to increase domestic production and industrialization by building quality infrastructure, promoting investment, and facilitating business environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programme have given clear guidelines to include development programmes and projects in the budget on the basis of national priorities. Budget will not be allocated for projects that have not been prepared beforehand and have not been included in the project bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to reviewing the existing tax system, creating a clean, transparent and investment-friendly environment, and facilitating local revenue mobilization. It plans to facilitate credit flow to the manufacturing and employment-oriented sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the first time, the government has addressed the issue of formulating a new national agricultural policy for developing the agricultural sector as a major driving force of economic growth and employment. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15071', 'image' => '20220524092214_RS-KTM-ParliamentPresidenta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 21:21:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15328', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crisis to Extend for Some More Time', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time. The liquidity crisis is unlikely to end anytime soon as the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are reeling under shortage of investible capital with just two months left in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the deposit collection of BFIs increased by Rs 237.85 billion as of mid-April this year while the credit flow during this period was worth Rs 558.99 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB officials have concluded that the liquidity crisis is a result of high credit flow against deposit collection and that most of the loans have been invested for importing consumable goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the crisis started deepening, banks have started taking inter-bank loans and various monetary tools to address their immediate problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The short-term lending between banks increased by one and a half times between mid-March and mid-April. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the central bank, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks stood at Rs 2299.22 billion while development banks and finance companies took inter-bank loans worth Rs 2069.68 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the corresponding period of last fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks was worth Rs 875.50 billion while development banks and finance companies had received inter-bank loans worth Rs 1059.42 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The liquidity crisis has also affected the inter-bank interest rate. Such interest rate has increased to nearly 7 percent. One year ago, the inter-bank interest rate was just 2.03 percent, which increased to 6.99 percent in mid-April.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15070', 'image' => '20220524024820_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:47:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15327', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Where is Russian Oil Heading Towards?', 'sub_title' => 'China and India become major importers of Russian oil despite sanctions', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rama Subedi</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. European countries have cut Russian oil imports, a key pillar of the Russian economy, as part of sanctions against Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United States has announced that it will suspend imports of Russian oil. The G7, a group of seven industrialized nations, also announced last weekend that it would gradually reduce Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But Russia still has a lot of buyers. The oil imported by other buyers is enough to keep the Russian government's revenue high and cover the necessary expenses. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia sold 785 million barrels of crude oil a day to Europe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But since the invasion of Ukraine, Europe has announced a sudden reduction in its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Ukraine crisis raised the prices of crude oil across the world. Russia, meanwhile, is benefiting from rising crude oil prices as it seeks new buyers and seeks to increase exports to the Asian markets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia's oil revenues are expected to rise sharply to USD 180 billion this year, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will be 45 per cent higher than the same period last year. Looking at the trend of tanker traffic, Russia's crude oil exports have declined by a maximum of 20 per cent. A study by Spire Global for the Washington Post found that an average of 17 tankers were released from Russian ports daily when the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia on March 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">India and China have been buying Russian oil in defiance of sanctions imposed on Russia over the war. At one time, Russian oil accounted for less than 3 per cent of India's total consumption. Now it is constantly increasing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In March, India bought 274,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. In April, it rose to 627,000 barrels, according to data from international data company S&P Global.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia became India's fourth-largest oil supplier in April. India's oil purchase appears to have increased further in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">China is already Russia's largest Asian buyer. China has recently increased its purchases of Russian oil. China's daily import of Russian oil is expected to reach 1.1 million barrels by the sea in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">That's 350,000 more barrels a day than in the first quarter of this year, and 300,000 more a day in 2020.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil has become even cheaper than water for India after Russia offered oil at a much lower price than the international selling mark after the US and Europe imposed sanctions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brent and WTI, the international benchmarks for crude oil in the Western markets, are above USD 110 as Europe prepares to ban Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia is now selling domestic benchmark Ural Brent crude at USD 34 less than before the invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the economy is slowing, buying cheap Russian oil has been a boon for China. For India, this is a golden opportunity to reduce the trade deficit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil is now much cheaper for both China and India than the oil imported from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15069', 'image' => '20220524022002_Indiaruaaia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:18:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15325', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Responsibility for Trading of Petroleum Products should not be Handed Over to Private Sector’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a programme organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Sunday, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu had said that homework is being done to hand over the responsibility of supplying petroleum products in the country to the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhumas Pun, the chairperson of the Nepal Oil Corporation’s Trade Union, objected to the government's decision after this announcement, claiming that the private sector will not be able to provide services to consumers like the government is providing currently if the responsibility of importing petroleum products is handed over to them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He objected to the government's decision through his social media page saying that it will not be acceptable to ruin the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by not letting it adjust the fuel price making it bankrupt by denying money to buy oil while colluding with the private sector to hand over the responsibilities of supplying fuel in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He mentioned that if the responsibility is shifted to the private sector, the consumers will not be able to buy petrol at Rs 180 as its actual cost is Rs 195 per liter. Meanwhile, diesel which costs Rs 163 will cost Rs 190 per liter and gas cylinder worth Rs 1800 will cost Rs 2680 per cylinder if the private sector handles the fuel supply, said Pun. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also mentioned that the state should always work for the welfare of the people.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15068', 'image' => '20220524093816_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15324', 'article_category_id' => '279', 'title' => 'Malaysia Reluctant to Invest in Nepal due to lack of Assurance of Return', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal Chamber of Commerce requests Malaysia to set up Industrial Village in Nepal', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. The chamber made such a request under the concept of integrated investment in tourism, information technology and manufacturing during a meeting with the Charge d'Affaires of Malaysia to Nepal, Mohd Fadzle Abu Hassan, at Jamal-based building of the NCC in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NCC Chairman Rajendra Malla said that they will take initiative for Malaysia's investment in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Malla said, “There has been a high level of cooperation between Nepal and Malaysia in the field of labor. Malaysia has also become an excellent destination for Nepal in terms of remittance inflow. About 400,000 Nepali youth are employed in Malaysia. We urge the Malaysian government to invest in various other sectors of Nepal and also urge for labor cooperation.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that there should be a high level cooperation between the government bodies for enhancing the Nepal-Malaysia investment relations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, he mentioned that Malaysia could invest in sectors like tourism, hydropower, information technology and handicraft of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Malaysia's Charge d'Affaires to Nepal Hassan expressed his concerns saying that although they were ready for the investment, the law regarding assurance of return is not clear. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Lately, Malaysia has been increasing its investment in information technology in South Asian countries. We have no problem investing in Nepal. However, we are still unable to clarify the policy provisions regarding the returns,” said Hassan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that Malaysia currently provides employment to millions of Nepali youth, he said that this number may increase in the coming days. He said that Malaysia is ready to invest in Nepal in various fields including hydropower and tourism.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15067', 'image' => '20220524092438_1653317337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:23:52', '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' => '15339', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Lowering Tax on Petroleum Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry made such demand via a press statement on Wednesday. The statement issued by the association's president Subodh Kumar Gupta states that the prices have gone up due to the high tax imposed by the government and requested to provide relief to consumers by lowering the tax.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association made such demand calling the price hike nonsensical after the government increased the price of diesel and petrol by Rs 20 per liter in seven days. Even the price of cooking gas has been increased by Rs 200 per cylinder and is currently being sold for Rs 1,800 to the general public.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement also demands lowering the heavy burden put on the people by reducing the tax of Rs 10 per liter on petroleum products imposed in the name of construction of Budhigandaki Hydropower Project for the past few years besides reduction in the customs duty on petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the chamber has also drawn the attention to the protest organized by transporters demanding an increase in freight charge in proportion to the increase in fuel prices. The chamber has appealed to the truck dealers to resolve the issue through discussion rather than strike and protests on such a sensitive issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15081', 'image' => '20220526033804_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 15:37:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15338', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Import Declines by Rs 20 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the country’s foreign trade data in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (mid-July-mid-May) released by the department on Tuesday, goods worth Rs 137 billion were imported from abroad in the month of Baishakh (mid-April to mid-May), which is less than the imports in the previous month (mid-March to mid-April) by Rs 20 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The imports of Nepal had reached an all-time high of Rs 188 billion in the month of Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The impact of the government's policy to curb imports of luxury goods has been felt in May. The central bank had been taking various steps to control imports since December. In the first week of December, NRB had introduced a provision for keeping a 50 to 100 per cent cash margin while opening LC for the import of some items.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, NRB called the chief executive officers of all commercial banks on April 7 and verbally instructed them not to open LCs for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On April 29, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and banned the import of 10 types of goods including vehicles, till the end of the current fiscal year (mid-July).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the department, goods worth Rs 1646.50 billion have been imported till mid-May against goods worth Rs 1,254.11 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Imports in the current fiscal year has increased by 27.95 percent compared to last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Nepal’s exports increased by 59.80 per cent to Rs 173.34 billion during the review period. Although the growth rate of exports is high, it has not been able to play a significant role in reducing the trade deficit. As a result, the trade deficit has increased to over Rs 1431.30 billion. The trade deficit increased by 24.94 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Statistics from the department show that mostly fuels were imported during this period. The first, second and third imported items are diesel, petrol and cooking gas, respectively. Diesel import has reached more than Rs 123.70 billion as of mid-May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> More than Rs 54.83 billion has been spent on importing petrol. Similarly, cooking gas worth more than Rs 52.59 billion has been imported during this period. Iron and steel raw materials constitute the fourth most imported items with imports worth Rs 43.55 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Soybean oil tops the list of Nepal’s exported items. Soybean oil worth Rs 45.35 billion was exported during the review period. Refined bleached deodorized palm olein worth Rs 14.78 billion was exported. It is the second-largest exported item. Palm oil is the third-largest export, worth more than 13.97 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15080', 'image' => '20220526014655_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15337', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Freight Service Suspended after Fuel Price Hike ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products. The freight service has been shut as the price hike in petroleum products has directly affected the business of transporters, according to the Transport Entrepreneurs Association, Birgunj. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All kinds of transportation of goods have been suspended for the time being due to the failure in increasing the freight charge despite the sharp rise in prices of petroleum products, Vice-president of the association Pravin Kumar Karna said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At least 40 to 60 truckloads of retail goods used to be transported to different cities from Birgunj every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pesident of the association Bal Krishna Pokharel said that 46 retailers affiliated to the association have demanded adjustment in the transportation fare in accordance with the increased cost of petroleum products. Entrepreneurs have demanded timely increase in the freight service charge along with the increase in price of petroleum products.-- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15079', 'image' => '20220526011022_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:09:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15336', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'India Imposes Ban on Export of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country. This move is certain to cause scarcity of sugar in Nepal and result in price hike as the domestic production of sugar is not sufficient to meet the internal demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The annual consumption of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons while the domestic production is just 140,000 metric tons. The country has been supplying the insufficient amount of sugar through imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Government of India is said to have banned the export of sugar fearing global food crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war. India is the second largest exporter of sugar after Brazil. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on sugar imported from India, Pakistan and other countries to meet the internal demand for sugar. Pakistan has also imposed a ban on export of sugar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that the latest decision taken by India is certain to cause scarcity of sugar and also increase its price in the domestic market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kapil Mani Mainali, chairman of Nepal Sugarcane Producers Association, said that the ban imposed on export of sugar by India will have a profound impact on Nepal. According to Mainali, the annual demand of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons. He informed that the Nepal has produced 140,000 metric tons of sugar this year. He claimed that there will be a scarcity of sugar in the near future due to the ban imposed by India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest data of the department of customs, Nepal has imported 89,000 metric tons of sugar so far in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Officials of the state-owned Salt Trading Corporation, which sells sugar at subsidized rate, say that it has a stock of 32 tons of sugar left. Salt Trading Corporation has been selling sugar in retail amount so that the stock does not run out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It has been almost one and a half years since the Salt Trading Corporation sought permission from the government to procure 50,000 metric tons of sugar but the proposal has not been approved yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation has invited tender bids at both international and domestic levels to purchase 10,000 metric tons of sugar. However, the corporation’s spokesperson Kumar Rajbhandari believes that the procurement process will be affected due to the ban imposed by India. He believes that the India’s ban will create a shortage of sugar in Nepal and will also cause an increase in price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The retail price of sugar in the local market is between Rs 90 to Rs 95 per kg at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Big businessmen and traders are expected to create an artificial shortage of sugar after India imposed such ban, says Amul Kaji Tuladhar, general secretary of Retail Trade Association. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15078', 'image' => '20220526113811_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 11:36:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15335', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Student Unions Demand Immediate Withdrawal of Fuel Price Hike', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Student leaders affiliated to 13 different student unions jointly submitted the memo to the Industry Minister amid a recent function demanding the government to immediately revoke such decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the occasion, Minister Badu said that the government was not in a position to tell the Nepal Oil Corporation to reduce the fuel prices. He argued that the state-owned NOC was facing a fortnightly loss of Rs 6.71 billion and therefore it was not appropriate to tell the oil monopoly to lower the prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Badu stated that the NOC is still bearing a loss of Rs 14.64 for selling a litre of petrol. Likewise, the loss incurred for the sale of a litre of diesel and a cylinder of cooking gas amounted to Rs 26.82 and Rs 879.75 respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that it was the responsibility of the government to seek a solution to the current crisis after considering the situation of NOC and the world market, Minister Badu said that the government has been making efforts towards this end.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15077', 'image' => '20220525073044_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 19:30:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15334', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Welcomes Government Announcement to Observe ‘Domestic Poduction Decade’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has expressed its gratitude to the government for its decision to announce a decade dedicated to promoting production and consumption of the domestic products, expressing its support to the implementation of the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in its policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022-23 that were presented by the president before a joint session of the Federal Parliament on Tuesday stated that the upcoming decade would be observed as the decade of domestic production and consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has pledged a subsidy in tax and customs duty for the production and supplies of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The confederation is hopeful the announcement would help in enabling the industrial atmosphere in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcements to facilitate in acquiring land for the establishment of industry, reviewing provisions for land ceiling, creating industry-friendly atmosphere and encouraging private sector for operating production-based industries suggested the government’s new policies and programmes are focused on the promotion of industrialization, according to CNI's assessment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> The announcement to involve private sector in power trade is itself the encouragement to the private sector for its role in international power trade, the confederation said. It has, likewise, hailed the declaration to ensure power supply to private sector at a low tariff, to develop tourism as a means of earning foreign currency and to implement the Digital Nepal Framework. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has also welcomed the decision to recognise the contribution of remittance to nation’s economy, undertake large infrastructure projects on a public-private joint venture, make public expenditure result-oriented and increase the capital expenditure. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15076', 'image' => '20220525060916_make-in-nepal2021-03-09-06-26-08.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 18:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15333', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Repeats Policies and Programmes for Upcoming Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. The new policies and programmes presented in parliament by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on behalf of the government on Tuesday is nothing but the continuation of the policies and programmes of the previous government with some new programmes added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has given continuity to concept of operating railway and ship of the previous government, which it had earlier called a ‘pipedream’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes state that the government will complete feasibility study of Rasuwagadi-Kathmandu railway and conduct detailed study of the Birgunj-Kathmandu and Kathmandu Valley Metro service. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The prospects of water transport in Nepal's rivers will be identified and developed, said the president. The government also announced plans to build another 800 kilometers of roads and upgrade 257 kilometers next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes range from bringing a separate policy to increase capital spending to regulating social media and bringing it under the tax purview next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government has already issued procedures to regulate social media, it has not been able to fully implement them. The government has tried to regulate advertisements on social media after a large amount of dollars started flowing out of Nepal. Some countries, including neighboring India, have formally registered social media in their countries and brought it under the purview of law and tax. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In order to increase capital expenditure and facilitate the implementation of development projects, the concept of development including a result-based project management system will be implemented,” according to the policies and programmes unveiled on Tuesday. The government is planning to adopt a separate policy to address the trend of not spending the capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also put forward a programme to evaluate the sovereign credit of the country within the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual policies and programmes also includes the implementation projects that can transform the overall structure of the economy. Similarly, agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology are considered as the drivers of economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes also mentioned that the value of land will be determined by scientific method after developing an integrated land valuation system based on geographical information. As per the new policies and programmes, arrangements will be made to trade real estate only from specialized institutions. Arrangements will also be made to avail basic services related to land revenue online from the local levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced the ‘Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Campaign Decade’ in order to expand the market and increase the consumption of Nepali products. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We will start a campaign to uplift the economy by increasing domestic and foreign investment in productive sectors with comparative advantage, innovation in small and medium enterprises, market expansion of Nepali products and increase in production and consumption, import substitution and export promotion,” said President Bhandari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">To make this campaign a success, the Prime Minister Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Programme will be launched and it will be promoted through tax and customs duty exemption and export subsidy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will take industrial promotion policy to develop a green economy through energy efficiency and use of renewable energy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government plans to review the existing tax system next year. The government is preparing to bring in a budget to replace the import-dependent tax system by domestic production. Accordingly, a review of the tax system has been announced in the policies and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will also formulate necessary policies and criteria to facilitate revenue mobilisation at the local level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the concept of digital banking, the national payment system will be strengthened and all financial transactions will be done through electronic means. For the first time, the government is planning to set up a ‘Market and Trade Intelligence’ bureau for international trade information. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of Gautam Buddha International Stadium at Chitwan will also be undertaken by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, it is also mentioned that the government will set up its own satellite and state-of-the-art security printing press. The current government has announced plans to move ahead with both the projects which were in dispute over irregularities during the previous CPN-UML-led government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the government will give priority to agriculture and bring irrigation facilities in the coming FY, President Bhandari said that the government has adopted a policy to provide irrigation facilities to 22,200 hectares of land, along with the construction as well as maintenance of large and branch canals. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15075', 'image' => '20220525034821_RS_KTM-20220524_163359.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 15:47:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15332', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Agricultural Grants on the Basis of Production', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. In this regard, it has decided to provide subsidies to the farmers only on the basis of production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari made such announcement while presenting the government's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) at a joint sitting of the federal parliament on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been found that the grants provided by the government were reaching sectors other than agriculture, therefore, the government adopted the policy of providing subsidy only to the genuine farmers based on production. The government is preparing to formulate the policy of protecting the farmers and make arrangements to purchase the produce of the farmers in order to promote agriculture as a major pillar of economic development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agriculture experts, on the other hand, argue that agricultural subsidies cannot be effective if it is based on production alone. Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture for Food Campaign, said that it would not be right to give subsidies on the basis of production without classifying the farmers into different groups. He stated, “This kind of policy is good only for big farmers but small farmers can get into trouble. Therefore, in case of misuse of agricultural subsidies, it is better to investigate and take action.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although Adhikari welcomed the term “protection of farmers” included by the government in its policies and programmes, he expressed concerns that there is no clear policy to fulfill the commitment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also adopted a policy to ensure the availability of chemical fertilizers and to provide subsidies on organic fertilizer on par with the chemical fertilizers from the upcoming fiscal year. Similarly, the policies and programmes of the government states that access to micro insurance will be extended to the remote and deprived sectors by expanding agriculture and livestock insurance programmes for the protection of farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government also pledged to provide relief as soon as possible to the farmers whose crops were damage by the unseasonal rains that occurred in last October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will encourage farmers to engage in collective and cooperative farming on barren land. The government will run special programmes to produce the food products that are imported in large quantities. Under this heading, a special programme will be introduced to increase the production of imported food like paddy, maize, potato, onion, apple, and walnut that are imported in large quantities. In addition, there the government also plans to promote organic farming. Special emphasis was also laid on increasing the production of food items and reducing the processing cost. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has set a target of providing irrigation facilities to an additional 22,200 hectares of land next year. Similarly, construction and maintenance of main and branch canals of large and multi-purpose irrigation projects including construction of Bheri Babai diversion headworks and tunnel of powerhouse and Sunkoshi Marin diversion project will be expedited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Commenting on the policies and programmes announced by the government in the agriculture sector, the outgoing chairman of the National Farmers Commission Chitra Bahadur Shrestha said that it is a good thing that agriculture is considered as one of the top priorities of the government. However, what is more important is the plans that will be included in the budget and passed for implementation rather than the things included in the policies and programmes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15074', 'image' => '20220525013650_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 13:36:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15331', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Oil Producers Struggling to Export Oil to India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. Due to the halt in export of refined oil, Nepal's export trade is expected to decline as it is a major contributor to government revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nikhil Chachan, the operator of Narayani Oil in Birgunj, says that the price is increasing in the international market and the oil stored in the industrial warehouses has been exported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It takes up to three months to import raw materials from the international market to Nepal and the domestic companies were exporting by using the price difference in the market. According to the entrepreneurs, the stock of raw materials of the domestic industries is finishing as Russia and Ukraine are at war, and Indonesia, the main producer of palm, has banned the exports for nearly a month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Indonesia has decided to open exports from Monday. Operator of OCB Food Suresh Rungta says that even if the import of raw material is easier, it cannot be exported to India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"India imports all types of edible oil at 5.5 percent customs duty and 7 percent goods and services tax. In our country, the government collects 10 percent customs duty and 13 percent value added tax," said Rungta, "The transportation cost from Kolkata to Birgunj is Rs 8. In such a situation, it is no longer possible to export refined oil to India by importing raw materials from third countries." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chachan said that export by taking advantage of price difference is not possible. He told New Business Age that only nominal exports are being made from the old stock now.</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' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15073', 'image' => '20220525125146_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 12:51:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15330', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mixed Response to Government's Policies and Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki described the policies and programs as a blueprint to make Nepal prosperous. </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 policies and programmes reflect our dream of bringing prosperity to the country. It is not just an assurance, it will be implemented," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Chairperson of Janata Samajwadi Party of Nepal and former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that the policies and programmes were positive as a whole but were insufficient for the overall economic development of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of CPN (Unified Socialist) and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also remarked that the policies and programmes were positive as the country's agriculture, energy development, tourism promotion and other sectors were given high priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML) Vice Chairman and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that many issues included in the policies and programmes have been repeated since a long time. He also said that it would be difficult to implement everything mentioned in the policies and programmes due to limited size of our budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden remarked that there would be problems in implementation as in the past due to the traditional nature of budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15072', 'image' => '20220525113445_RS-KTM-Parliamenti (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 11:34:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15329', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Policies and Programmes Emphasize on Revival of Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. Addressing a joint session of the federal parliament on Tuesday, President Bidya Devi Bhandari made public the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 145-point program highlights the fact that remittance inflow has improved over the past few months and the growth in revenue collection from tourism has been creating a positive environment, despite the external pressure on the economy due to the unfavorable conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In order to achieve economic growth and sustainability through the combination of fiscal and monetary policies, the government has outlined agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology as the drivers of economic growth. The government has adopted a clear policy of building a resilient economy through special economic recovery programs and keeping inflation within the limits. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government intend to implement projects from the provincial and local levels except mega projects of national pride and of strategic importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government plans to conserve, use and distribute natural resources equitably in coordination among the federal, province and local governments. As per the policies and programmes of the government, the basis of economic prosperity will be laid by linking local economies with the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to make policy, legal and systemic reforms to increase domestic production and industrialization by building quality infrastructure, promoting investment, and facilitating business environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programme have given clear guidelines to include development programmes and projects in the budget on the basis of national priorities. Budget will not be allocated for projects that have not been prepared beforehand and have not been included in the project bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to reviewing the existing tax system, creating a clean, transparent and investment-friendly environment, and facilitating local revenue mobilization. It plans to facilitate credit flow to the manufacturing and employment-oriented sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the first time, the government has addressed the issue of formulating a new national agricultural policy for developing the agricultural sector as a major driving force of economic growth and employment. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15071', 'image' => '20220524092214_RS-KTM-ParliamentPresidenta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 21:21:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15328', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crisis to Extend for Some More Time', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time. The liquidity crisis is unlikely to end anytime soon as the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are reeling under shortage of investible capital with just two months left in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the deposit collection of BFIs increased by Rs 237.85 billion as of mid-April this year while the credit flow during this period was worth Rs 558.99 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB officials have concluded that the liquidity crisis is a result of high credit flow against deposit collection and that most of the loans have been invested for importing consumable goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the crisis started deepening, banks have started taking inter-bank loans and various monetary tools to address their immediate problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The short-term lending between banks increased by one and a half times between mid-March and mid-April. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the central bank, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks stood at Rs 2299.22 billion while development banks and finance companies took inter-bank loans worth Rs 2069.68 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the corresponding period of last fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks was worth Rs 875.50 billion while development banks and finance companies had received inter-bank loans worth Rs 1059.42 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The liquidity crisis has also affected the inter-bank interest rate. Such interest rate has increased to nearly 7 percent. One year ago, the inter-bank interest rate was just 2.03 percent, which increased to 6.99 percent in mid-April.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15070', 'image' => '20220524024820_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:47:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15327', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Where is Russian Oil Heading Towards?', 'sub_title' => 'China and India become major importers of Russian oil despite sanctions', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rama Subedi</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. European countries have cut Russian oil imports, a key pillar of the Russian economy, as part of sanctions against Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United States has announced that it will suspend imports of Russian oil. The G7, a group of seven industrialized nations, also announced last weekend that it would gradually reduce Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But Russia still has a lot of buyers. The oil imported by other buyers is enough to keep the Russian government's revenue high and cover the necessary expenses. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia sold 785 million barrels of crude oil a day to Europe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But since the invasion of Ukraine, Europe has announced a sudden reduction in its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Ukraine crisis raised the prices of crude oil across the world. Russia, meanwhile, is benefiting from rising crude oil prices as it seeks new buyers and seeks to increase exports to the Asian markets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia's oil revenues are expected to rise sharply to USD 180 billion this year, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will be 45 per cent higher than the same period last year. Looking at the trend of tanker traffic, Russia's crude oil exports have declined by a maximum of 20 per cent. A study by Spire Global for the Washington Post found that an average of 17 tankers were released from Russian ports daily when the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia on March 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">India and China have been buying Russian oil in defiance of sanctions imposed on Russia over the war. At one time, Russian oil accounted for less than 3 per cent of India's total consumption. Now it is constantly increasing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In March, India bought 274,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. In April, it rose to 627,000 barrels, according to data from international data company S&P Global.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia became India's fourth-largest oil supplier in April. India's oil purchase appears to have increased further in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">China is already Russia's largest Asian buyer. China has recently increased its purchases of Russian oil. China's daily import of Russian oil is expected to reach 1.1 million barrels by the sea in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">That's 350,000 more barrels a day than in the first quarter of this year, and 300,000 more a day in 2020.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil has become even cheaper than water for India after Russia offered oil at a much lower price than the international selling mark after the US and Europe imposed sanctions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brent and WTI, the international benchmarks for crude oil in the Western markets, are above USD 110 as Europe prepares to ban Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia is now selling domestic benchmark Ural Brent crude at USD 34 less than before the invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the economy is slowing, buying cheap Russian oil has been a boon for China. For India, this is a golden opportunity to reduce the trade deficit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil is now much cheaper for both China and India than the oil imported from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15069', 'image' => '20220524022002_Indiaruaaia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:18:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15325', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Responsibility for Trading of Petroleum Products should not be Handed Over to Private Sector’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a programme organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Sunday, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu had said that homework is being done to hand over the responsibility of supplying petroleum products in the country to the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhumas Pun, the chairperson of the Nepal Oil Corporation’s Trade Union, objected to the government's decision after this announcement, claiming that the private sector will not be able to provide services to consumers like the government is providing currently if the responsibility of importing petroleum products is handed over to them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He objected to the government's decision through his social media page saying that it will not be acceptable to ruin the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by not letting it adjust the fuel price making it bankrupt by denying money to buy oil while colluding with the private sector to hand over the responsibilities of supplying fuel in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He mentioned that if the responsibility is shifted to the private sector, the consumers will not be able to buy petrol at Rs 180 as its actual cost is Rs 195 per liter. Meanwhile, diesel which costs Rs 163 will cost Rs 190 per liter and gas cylinder worth Rs 1800 will cost Rs 2680 per cylinder if the private sector handles the fuel supply, said Pun. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also mentioned that the state should always work for the welfare of the people.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15068', 'image' => '20220524093816_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15324', 'article_category_id' => '279', 'title' => 'Malaysia Reluctant to Invest in Nepal due to lack of Assurance of Return', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal Chamber of Commerce requests Malaysia to set up Industrial Village in Nepal', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. The chamber made such a request under the concept of integrated investment in tourism, information technology and manufacturing during a meeting with the Charge d'Affaires of Malaysia to Nepal, Mohd Fadzle Abu Hassan, at Jamal-based building of the NCC in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NCC Chairman Rajendra Malla said that they will take initiative for Malaysia's investment in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Malla said, “There has been a high level of cooperation between Nepal and Malaysia in the field of labor. Malaysia has also become an excellent destination for Nepal in terms of remittance inflow. About 400,000 Nepali youth are employed in Malaysia. We urge the Malaysian government to invest in various other sectors of Nepal and also urge for labor cooperation.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that there should be a high level cooperation between the government bodies for enhancing the Nepal-Malaysia investment relations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, he mentioned that Malaysia could invest in sectors like tourism, hydropower, information technology and handicraft of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Malaysia's Charge d'Affaires to Nepal Hassan expressed his concerns saying that although they were ready for the investment, the law regarding assurance of return is not clear. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Lately, Malaysia has been increasing its investment in information technology in South Asian countries. We have no problem investing in Nepal. However, we are still unable to clarify the policy provisions regarding the returns,” said Hassan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that Malaysia currently provides employment to millions of Nepali youth, he said that this number may increase in the coming days. He said that Malaysia is ready to invest in Nepal in various fields including hydropower and tourism.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15067', 'image' => '20220524092438_1653317337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:23:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15339', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Lowering Tax on Petroleum Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry made such demand via a press statement on Wednesday. The statement issued by the association's president Subodh Kumar Gupta states that the prices have gone up due to the high tax imposed by the government and requested to provide relief to consumers by lowering the tax.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association made such demand calling the price hike nonsensical after the government increased the price of diesel and petrol by Rs 20 per liter in seven days. Even the price of cooking gas has been increased by Rs 200 per cylinder and is currently being sold for Rs 1,800 to the general public.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement also demands lowering the heavy burden put on the people by reducing the tax of Rs 10 per liter on petroleum products imposed in the name of construction of Budhigandaki Hydropower Project for the past few years besides reduction in the customs duty on petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the chamber has also drawn the attention to the protest organized by transporters demanding an increase in freight charge in proportion to the increase in fuel prices. The chamber has appealed to the truck dealers to resolve the issue through discussion rather than strike and protests on such a sensitive issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15081', 'image' => '20220526033804_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 15:37:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15338', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Import Declines by Rs 20 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the country’s foreign trade data in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (mid-July-mid-May) released by the department on Tuesday, goods worth Rs 137 billion were imported from abroad in the month of Baishakh (mid-April to mid-May), which is less than the imports in the previous month (mid-March to mid-April) by Rs 20 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The imports of Nepal had reached an all-time high of Rs 188 billion in the month of Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The impact of the government's policy to curb imports of luxury goods has been felt in May. The central bank had been taking various steps to control imports since December. In the first week of December, NRB had introduced a provision for keeping a 50 to 100 per cent cash margin while opening LC for the import of some items.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, NRB called the chief executive officers of all commercial banks on April 7 and verbally instructed them not to open LCs for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On April 29, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and banned the import of 10 types of goods including vehicles, till the end of the current fiscal year (mid-July).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the department, goods worth Rs 1646.50 billion have been imported till mid-May against goods worth Rs 1,254.11 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Imports in the current fiscal year has increased by 27.95 percent compared to last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Nepal’s exports increased by 59.80 per cent to Rs 173.34 billion during the review period. Although the growth rate of exports is high, it has not been able to play a significant role in reducing the trade deficit. As a result, the trade deficit has increased to over Rs 1431.30 billion. The trade deficit increased by 24.94 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Statistics from the department show that mostly fuels were imported during this period. The first, second and third imported items are diesel, petrol and cooking gas, respectively. Diesel import has reached more than Rs 123.70 billion as of mid-May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> More than Rs 54.83 billion has been spent on importing petrol. Similarly, cooking gas worth more than Rs 52.59 billion has been imported during this period. Iron and steel raw materials constitute the fourth most imported items with imports worth Rs 43.55 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Soybean oil tops the list of Nepal’s exported items. Soybean oil worth Rs 45.35 billion was exported during the review period. Refined bleached deodorized palm olein worth Rs 14.78 billion was exported. It is the second-largest exported item. Palm oil is the third-largest export, worth more than 13.97 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15080', 'image' => '20220526014655_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15337', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Freight Service Suspended after Fuel Price Hike ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products. The freight service has been shut as the price hike in petroleum products has directly affected the business of transporters, according to the Transport Entrepreneurs Association, Birgunj. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All kinds of transportation of goods have been suspended for the time being due to the failure in increasing the freight charge despite the sharp rise in prices of petroleum products, Vice-president of the association Pravin Kumar Karna said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At least 40 to 60 truckloads of retail goods used to be transported to different cities from Birgunj every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pesident of the association Bal Krishna Pokharel said that 46 retailers affiliated to the association have demanded adjustment in the transportation fare in accordance with the increased cost of petroleum products. Entrepreneurs have demanded timely increase in the freight service charge along with the increase in price of petroleum products.-- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15079', 'image' => '20220526011022_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:09:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15336', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'India Imposes Ban on Export of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country. This move is certain to cause scarcity of sugar in Nepal and result in price hike as the domestic production of sugar is not sufficient to meet the internal demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The annual consumption of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons while the domestic production is just 140,000 metric tons. The country has been supplying the insufficient amount of sugar through imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Government of India is said to have banned the export of sugar fearing global food crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war. India is the second largest exporter of sugar after Brazil. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on sugar imported from India, Pakistan and other countries to meet the internal demand for sugar. Pakistan has also imposed a ban on export of sugar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that the latest decision taken by India is certain to cause scarcity of sugar and also increase its price in the domestic market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kapil Mani Mainali, chairman of Nepal Sugarcane Producers Association, said that the ban imposed on export of sugar by India will have a profound impact on Nepal. According to Mainali, the annual demand of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons. He informed that the Nepal has produced 140,000 metric tons of sugar this year. He claimed that there will be a scarcity of sugar in the near future due to the ban imposed by India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest data of the department of customs, Nepal has imported 89,000 metric tons of sugar so far in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Officials of the state-owned Salt Trading Corporation, which sells sugar at subsidized rate, say that it has a stock of 32 tons of sugar left. Salt Trading Corporation has been selling sugar in retail amount so that the stock does not run out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It has been almost one and a half years since the Salt Trading Corporation sought permission from the government to procure 50,000 metric tons of sugar but the proposal has not been approved yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation has invited tender bids at both international and domestic levels to purchase 10,000 metric tons of sugar. However, the corporation’s spokesperson Kumar Rajbhandari believes that the procurement process will be affected due to the ban imposed by India. He believes that the India’s ban will create a shortage of sugar in Nepal and will also cause an increase in price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The retail price of sugar in the local market is between Rs 90 to Rs 95 per kg at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Big businessmen and traders are expected to create an artificial shortage of sugar after India imposed such ban, says Amul Kaji Tuladhar, general secretary of Retail Trade Association. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15078', 'image' => '20220526113811_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 11:36:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15335', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Student Unions Demand Immediate Withdrawal of Fuel Price Hike', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Student leaders affiliated to 13 different student unions jointly submitted the memo to the Industry Minister amid a recent function demanding the government to immediately revoke such decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the occasion, Minister Badu said that the government was not in a position to tell the Nepal Oil Corporation to reduce the fuel prices. He argued that the state-owned NOC was facing a fortnightly loss of Rs 6.71 billion and therefore it was not appropriate to tell the oil monopoly to lower the prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Badu stated that the NOC is still bearing a loss of Rs 14.64 for selling a litre of petrol. Likewise, the loss incurred for the sale of a litre of diesel and a cylinder of cooking gas amounted to Rs 26.82 and Rs 879.75 respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that it was the responsibility of the government to seek a solution to the current crisis after considering the situation of NOC and the world market, Minister Badu said that the government has been making efforts towards this end.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15077', 'image' => '20220525073044_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 19:30:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15334', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Welcomes Government Announcement to Observe ‘Domestic Poduction Decade’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has expressed its gratitude to the government for its decision to announce a decade dedicated to promoting production and consumption of the domestic products, expressing its support to the implementation of the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in its policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022-23 that were presented by the president before a joint session of the Federal Parliament on Tuesday stated that the upcoming decade would be observed as the decade of domestic production and consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has pledged a subsidy in tax and customs duty for the production and supplies of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The confederation is hopeful the announcement would help in enabling the industrial atmosphere in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcements to facilitate in acquiring land for the establishment of industry, reviewing provisions for land ceiling, creating industry-friendly atmosphere and encouraging private sector for operating production-based industries suggested the government’s new policies and programmes are focused on the promotion of industrialization, according to CNI's assessment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> The announcement to involve private sector in power trade is itself the encouragement to the private sector for its role in international power trade, the confederation said. It has, likewise, hailed the declaration to ensure power supply to private sector at a low tariff, to develop tourism as a means of earning foreign currency and to implement the Digital Nepal Framework. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has also welcomed the decision to recognise the contribution of remittance to nation’s economy, undertake large infrastructure projects on a public-private joint venture, make public expenditure result-oriented and increase the capital expenditure. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15076', 'image' => '20220525060916_make-in-nepal2021-03-09-06-26-08.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 18:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15333', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Repeats Policies and Programmes for Upcoming Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. The new policies and programmes presented in parliament by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on behalf of the government on Tuesday is nothing but the continuation of the policies and programmes of the previous government with some new programmes added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has given continuity to concept of operating railway and ship of the previous government, which it had earlier called a ‘pipedream’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes state that the government will complete feasibility study of Rasuwagadi-Kathmandu railway and conduct detailed study of the Birgunj-Kathmandu and Kathmandu Valley Metro service. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The prospects of water transport in Nepal's rivers will be identified and developed, said the president. The government also announced plans to build another 800 kilometers of roads and upgrade 257 kilometers next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes range from bringing a separate policy to increase capital spending to regulating social media and bringing it under the tax purview next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government has already issued procedures to regulate social media, it has not been able to fully implement them. The government has tried to regulate advertisements on social media after a large amount of dollars started flowing out of Nepal. Some countries, including neighboring India, have formally registered social media in their countries and brought it under the purview of law and tax. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In order to increase capital expenditure and facilitate the implementation of development projects, the concept of development including a result-based project management system will be implemented,” according to the policies and programmes unveiled on Tuesday. The government is planning to adopt a separate policy to address the trend of not spending the capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also put forward a programme to evaluate the sovereign credit of the country within the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual policies and programmes also includes the implementation projects that can transform the overall structure of the economy. Similarly, agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology are considered as the drivers of economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes also mentioned that the value of land will be determined by scientific method after developing an integrated land valuation system based on geographical information. As per the new policies and programmes, arrangements will be made to trade real estate only from specialized institutions. Arrangements will also be made to avail basic services related to land revenue online from the local levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced the ‘Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Campaign Decade’ in order to expand the market and increase the consumption of Nepali products. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We will start a campaign to uplift the economy by increasing domestic and foreign investment in productive sectors with comparative advantage, innovation in small and medium enterprises, market expansion of Nepali products and increase in production and consumption, import substitution and export promotion,” said President Bhandari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">To make this campaign a success, the Prime Minister Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Programme will be launched and it will be promoted through tax and customs duty exemption and export subsidy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will take industrial promotion policy to develop a green economy through energy efficiency and use of renewable energy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government plans to review the existing tax system next year. The government is preparing to bring in a budget to replace the import-dependent tax system by domestic production. Accordingly, a review of the tax system has been announced in the policies and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will also formulate necessary policies and criteria to facilitate revenue mobilisation at the local level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the concept of digital banking, the national payment system will be strengthened and all financial transactions will be done through electronic means. For the first time, the government is planning to set up a ‘Market and Trade Intelligence’ bureau for international trade information. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of Gautam Buddha International Stadium at Chitwan will also be undertaken by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, it is also mentioned that the government will set up its own satellite and state-of-the-art security printing press. The current government has announced plans to move ahead with both the projects which were in dispute over irregularities during the previous CPN-UML-led government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the government will give priority to agriculture and bring irrigation facilities in the coming FY, President Bhandari said that the government has adopted a policy to provide irrigation facilities to 22,200 hectares of land, along with the construction as well as maintenance of large and branch canals. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15075', 'image' => '20220525034821_RS_KTM-20220524_163359.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 15:47:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15332', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Agricultural Grants on the Basis of Production', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. In this regard, it has decided to provide subsidies to the farmers only on the basis of production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari made such announcement while presenting the government's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) at a joint sitting of the federal parliament on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been found that the grants provided by the government were reaching sectors other than agriculture, therefore, the government adopted the policy of providing subsidy only to the genuine farmers based on production. The government is preparing to formulate the policy of protecting the farmers and make arrangements to purchase the produce of the farmers in order to promote agriculture as a major pillar of economic development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agriculture experts, on the other hand, argue that agricultural subsidies cannot be effective if it is based on production alone. Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture for Food Campaign, said that it would not be right to give subsidies on the basis of production without classifying the farmers into different groups. He stated, “This kind of policy is good only for big farmers but small farmers can get into trouble. Therefore, in case of misuse of agricultural subsidies, it is better to investigate and take action.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although Adhikari welcomed the term “protection of farmers” included by the government in its policies and programmes, he expressed concerns that there is no clear policy to fulfill the commitment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also adopted a policy to ensure the availability of chemical fertilizers and to provide subsidies on organic fertilizer on par with the chemical fertilizers from the upcoming fiscal year. Similarly, the policies and programmes of the government states that access to micro insurance will be extended to the remote and deprived sectors by expanding agriculture and livestock insurance programmes for the protection of farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government also pledged to provide relief as soon as possible to the farmers whose crops were damage by the unseasonal rains that occurred in last October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will encourage farmers to engage in collective and cooperative farming on barren land. The government will run special programmes to produce the food products that are imported in large quantities. Under this heading, a special programme will be introduced to increase the production of imported food like paddy, maize, potato, onion, apple, and walnut that are imported in large quantities. In addition, there the government also plans to promote organic farming. Special emphasis was also laid on increasing the production of food items and reducing the processing cost. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has set a target of providing irrigation facilities to an additional 22,200 hectares of land next year. Similarly, construction and maintenance of main and branch canals of large and multi-purpose irrigation projects including construction of Bheri Babai diversion headworks and tunnel of powerhouse and Sunkoshi Marin diversion project will be expedited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Commenting on the policies and programmes announced by the government in the agriculture sector, the outgoing chairman of the National Farmers Commission Chitra Bahadur Shrestha said that it is a good thing that agriculture is considered as one of the top priorities of the government. However, what is more important is the plans that will be included in the budget and passed for implementation rather than the things included in the policies and programmes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15074', 'image' => '20220525013650_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 13:36:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15331', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Oil Producers Struggling to Export Oil to India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. Due to the halt in export of refined oil, Nepal's export trade is expected to decline as it is a major contributor to government revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nikhil Chachan, the operator of Narayani Oil in Birgunj, says that the price is increasing in the international market and the oil stored in the industrial warehouses has been exported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It takes up to three months to import raw materials from the international market to Nepal and the domestic companies were exporting by using the price difference in the market. According to the entrepreneurs, the stock of raw materials of the domestic industries is finishing as Russia and Ukraine are at war, and Indonesia, the main producer of palm, has banned the exports for nearly a month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Indonesia has decided to open exports from Monday. Operator of OCB Food Suresh Rungta says that even if the import of raw material is easier, it cannot be exported to India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"India imports all types of edible oil at 5.5 percent customs duty and 7 percent goods and services tax. In our country, the government collects 10 percent customs duty and 13 percent value added tax," said Rungta, "The transportation cost from Kolkata to Birgunj is Rs 8. In such a situation, it is no longer possible to export refined oil to India by importing raw materials from third countries." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chachan said that export by taking advantage of price difference is not possible. He told New Business Age that only nominal exports are being made from the old stock now.</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' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15073', 'image' => '20220525125146_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 12:51:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15330', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mixed Response to Government's Policies and Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki described the policies and programs as a blueprint to make Nepal prosperous. </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 policies and programmes reflect our dream of bringing prosperity to the country. It is not just an assurance, it will be implemented," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Chairperson of Janata Samajwadi Party of Nepal and former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that the policies and programmes were positive as a whole but were insufficient for the overall economic development of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of CPN (Unified Socialist) and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also remarked that the policies and programmes were positive as the country's agriculture, energy development, tourism promotion and other sectors were given high priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML) Vice Chairman and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that many issues included in the policies and programmes have been repeated since a long time. He also said that it would be difficult to implement everything mentioned in the policies and programmes due to limited size of our budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden remarked that there would be problems in implementation as in the past due to the traditional nature of budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15072', 'image' => '20220525113445_RS-KTM-Parliamenti (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 11:34:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15329', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Policies and Programmes Emphasize on Revival of Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. Addressing a joint session of the federal parliament on Tuesday, President Bidya Devi Bhandari made public the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 145-point program highlights the fact that remittance inflow has improved over the past few months and the growth in revenue collection from tourism has been creating a positive environment, despite the external pressure on the economy due to the unfavorable conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In order to achieve economic growth and sustainability through the combination of fiscal and monetary policies, the government has outlined agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology as the drivers of economic growth. The government has adopted a clear policy of building a resilient economy through special economic recovery programs and keeping inflation within the limits. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government intend to implement projects from the provincial and local levels except mega projects of national pride and of strategic importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government plans to conserve, use and distribute natural resources equitably in coordination among the federal, province and local governments. As per the policies and programmes of the government, the basis of economic prosperity will be laid by linking local economies with the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to make policy, legal and systemic reforms to increase domestic production and industrialization by building quality infrastructure, promoting investment, and facilitating business environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programme have given clear guidelines to include development programmes and projects in the budget on the basis of national priorities. Budget will not be allocated for projects that have not been prepared beforehand and have not been included in the project bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to reviewing the existing tax system, creating a clean, transparent and investment-friendly environment, and facilitating local revenue mobilization. It plans to facilitate credit flow to the manufacturing and employment-oriented sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the first time, the government has addressed the issue of formulating a new national agricultural policy for developing the agricultural sector as a major driving force of economic growth and employment. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15071', 'image' => '20220524092214_RS-KTM-ParliamentPresidenta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 21:21:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15328', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crisis to Extend for Some More Time', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time. The liquidity crisis is unlikely to end anytime soon as the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are reeling under shortage of investible capital with just two months left in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the deposit collection of BFIs increased by Rs 237.85 billion as of mid-April this year while the credit flow during this period was worth Rs 558.99 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB officials have concluded that the liquidity crisis is a result of high credit flow against deposit collection and that most of the loans have been invested for importing consumable goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the crisis started deepening, banks have started taking inter-bank loans and various monetary tools to address their immediate problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The short-term lending between banks increased by one and a half times between mid-March and mid-April. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the central bank, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks stood at Rs 2299.22 billion while development banks and finance companies took inter-bank loans worth Rs 2069.68 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the corresponding period of last fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks was worth Rs 875.50 billion while development banks and finance companies had received inter-bank loans worth Rs 1059.42 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The liquidity crisis has also affected the inter-bank interest rate. Such interest rate has increased to nearly 7 percent. One year ago, the inter-bank interest rate was just 2.03 percent, which increased to 6.99 percent in mid-April.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15070', 'image' => '20220524024820_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:47:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15327', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Where is Russian Oil Heading Towards?', 'sub_title' => 'China and India become major importers of Russian oil despite sanctions', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rama Subedi</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. European countries have cut Russian oil imports, a key pillar of the Russian economy, as part of sanctions against Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United States has announced that it will suspend imports of Russian oil. The G7, a group of seven industrialized nations, also announced last weekend that it would gradually reduce Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But Russia still has a lot of buyers. The oil imported by other buyers is enough to keep the Russian government's revenue high and cover the necessary expenses. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia sold 785 million barrels of crude oil a day to Europe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But since the invasion of Ukraine, Europe has announced a sudden reduction in its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Ukraine crisis raised the prices of crude oil across the world. Russia, meanwhile, is benefiting from rising crude oil prices as it seeks new buyers and seeks to increase exports to the Asian markets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia's oil revenues are expected to rise sharply to USD 180 billion this year, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will be 45 per cent higher than the same period last year. Looking at the trend of tanker traffic, Russia's crude oil exports have declined by a maximum of 20 per cent. A study by Spire Global for the Washington Post found that an average of 17 tankers were released from Russian ports daily when the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia on March 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">India and China have been buying Russian oil in defiance of sanctions imposed on Russia over the war. At one time, Russian oil accounted for less than 3 per cent of India's total consumption. Now it is constantly increasing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In March, India bought 274,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. In April, it rose to 627,000 barrels, according to data from international data company S&P Global.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia became India's fourth-largest oil supplier in April. India's oil purchase appears to have increased further in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">China is already Russia's largest Asian buyer. China has recently increased its purchases of Russian oil. China's daily import of Russian oil is expected to reach 1.1 million barrels by the sea in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">That's 350,000 more barrels a day than in the first quarter of this year, and 300,000 more a day in 2020.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil has become even cheaper than water for India after Russia offered oil at a much lower price than the international selling mark after the US and Europe imposed sanctions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brent and WTI, the international benchmarks for crude oil in the Western markets, are above USD 110 as Europe prepares to ban Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia is now selling domestic benchmark Ural Brent crude at USD 34 less than before the invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the economy is slowing, buying cheap Russian oil has been a boon for China. For India, this is a golden opportunity to reduce the trade deficit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil is now much cheaper for both China and India than the oil imported from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15069', 'image' => '20220524022002_Indiaruaaia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:18:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15325', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Responsibility for Trading of Petroleum Products should not be Handed Over to Private Sector’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a programme organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Sunday, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu had said that homework is being done to hand over the responsibility of supplying petroleum products in the country to the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhumas Pun, the chairperson of the Nepal Oil Corporation’s Trade Union, objected to the government's decision after this announcement, claiming that the private sector will not be able to provide services to consumers like the government is providing currently if the responsibility of importing petroleum products is handed over to them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He objected to the government's decision through his social media page saying that it will not be acceptable to ruin the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by not letting it adjust the fuel price making it bankrupt by denying money to buy oil while colluding with the private sector to hand over the responsibilities of supplying fuel in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He mentioned that if the responsibility is shifted to the private sector, the consumers will not be able to buy petrol at Rs 180 as its actual cost is Rs 195 per liter. Meanwhile, diesel which costs Rs 163 will cost Rs 190 per liter and gas cylinder worth Rs 1800 will cost Rs 2680 per cylinder if the private sector handles the fuel supply, said Pun. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also mentioned that the state should always work for the welfare of the people.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15068', 'image' => '20220524093816_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15324', 'article_category_id' => '279', 'title' => 'Malaysia Reluctant to Invest in Nepal due to lack of Assurance of Return', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal Chamber of Commerce requests Malaysia to set up Industrial Village in Nepal', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. The chamber made such a request under the concept of integrated investment in tourism, information technology and manufacturing during a meeting with the Charge d'Affaires of Malaysia to Nepal, Mohd Fadzle Abu Hassan, at Jamal-based building of the NCC in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NCC Chairman Rajendra Malla said that they will take initiative for Malaysia's investment in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Malla said, “There has been a high level of cooperation between Nepal and Malaysia in the field of labor. Malaysia has also become an excellent destination for Nepal in terms of remittance inflow. About 400,000 Nepali youth are employed in Malaysia. We urge the Malaysian government to invest in various other sectors of Nepal and also urge for labor cooperation.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that there should be a high level cooperation between the government bodies for enhancing the Nepal-Malaysia investment relations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, he mentioned that Malaysia could invest in sectors like tourism, hydropower, information technology and handicraft of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Malaysia's Charge d'Affaires to Nepal Hassan expressed his concerns saying that although they were ready for the investment, the law regarding assurance of return is not clear. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Lately, Malaysia has been increasing its investment in information technology in South Asian countries. We have no problem investing in Nepal. However, we are still unable to clarify the policy provisions regarding the returns,” said Hassan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that Malaysia currently provides employment to millions of Nepali youth, he said that this number may increase in the coming days. He said that Malaysia is ready to invest in Nepal in various fields including hydropower and tourism.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15067', 'image' => '20220524092438_1653317337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:23:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15339', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Demands Lowering Tax on Petroleum Products', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: The private sector has demanded the government to reduce the high rate of tax that the government has been levying on the import of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry made such demand via a press statement on Wednesday. The statement issued by the association's president Subodh Kumar Gupta states that the prices have gone up due to the high tax imposed by the government and requested to provide relief to consumers by lowering the tax.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association made such demand calling the price hike nonsensical after the government increased the price of diesel and petrol by Rs 20 per liter in seven days. Even the price of cooking gas has been increased by Rs 200 per cylinder and is currently being sold for Rs 1,800 to the general public.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement also demands lowering the heavy burden put on the people by reducing the tax of Rs 10 per liter on petroleum products imposed in the name of construction of Budhigandaki Hydropower Project for the past few years besides reduction in the customs duty on petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, the chamber has also drawn the attention to the protest organized by transporters demanding an increase in freight charge in proportion to the increase in fuel prices. The chamber has appealed to the truck dealers to resolve the issue through discussion rather than strike and protests on such a sensitive issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15081', 'image' => '20220526033804_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 15:37:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15338', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Import Declines by Rs 20 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 26: Amid growing concerns over rising imports and the consequent pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Department of Customs on Tuesday released promising data.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the country’s foreign trade data in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (mid-July-mid-May) released by the department on Tuesday, goods worth Rs 137 billion were imported from abroad in the month of Baishakh (mid-April to mid-May), which is less than the imports in the previous month (mid-March to mid-April) by Rs 20 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The imports of Nepal had reached an all-time high of Rs 188 billion in the month of Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The impact of the government's policy to curb imports of luxury goods has been felt in May. The central bank had been taking various steps to control imports since December. In the first week of December, NRB had introduced a provision for keeping a 50 to 100 per cent cash margin while opening LC for the import of some items.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later, NRB called the chief executive officers of all commercial banks on April 7 and verbally instructed them not to open LCs for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On April 29, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and banned the import of 10 types of goods including vehicles, till the end of the current fiscal year (mid-July).</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> According to the department, goods worth Rs 1646.50 billion have been imported till mid-May against goods worth Rs 1,254.11 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Imports in the current fiscal year has increased by 27.95 percent compared to last fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meanwhile, Nepal’s exports increased by 59.80 per cent to Rs 173.34 billion during the review period. Although the growth rate of exports is high, it has not been able to play a significant role in reducing the trade deficit. As a result, the trade deficit has increased to over Rs 1431.30 billion. The trade deficit increased by 24.94 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Statistics from the department show that mostly fuels were imported during this period. The first, second and third imported items are diesel, petrol and cooking gas, respectively. Diesel import has reached more than Rs 123.70 billion as of mid-May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> More than Rs 54.83 billion has been spent on importing petrol. Similarly, cooking gas worth more than Rs 52.59 billion has been imported during this period. Iron and steel raw materials constitute the fourth most imported items with imports worth Rs 43.55 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Soybean oil tops the list of Nepal’s exported items. Soybean oil worth Rs 45.35 billion was exported during the review period. Refined bleached deodorized palm olein worth Rs 14.78 billion was exported. It is the second-largest exported item. Palm oil is the third-largest export, worth more than 13.97 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15080', 'image' => '20220526014655_Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:45:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15337', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Freight Service Suspended after Fuel Price Hike ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 26: Retailers in Birgunj, Parsa have shut down all services related to transportation of goods after the rise in prices of petroleum products. The freight service has been shut as the price hike in petroleum products has directly affected the business of transporters, according to the Transport Entrepreneurs Association, Birgunj. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All kinds of transportation of goods have been suspended for the time being due to the failure in increasing the freight charge despite the sharp rise in prices of petroleum products, Vice-president of the association Pravin Kumar Karna said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At least 40 to 60 truckloads of retail goods used to be transported to different cities from Birgunj every day. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pesident of the association Bal Krishna Pokharel said that 46 retailers affiliated to the association have demanded adjustment in the transportation fare in accordance with the increased cost of petroleum products. Entrepreneurs have demanded timely increase in the freight service charge along with the increase in price of petroleum products.-- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15079', 'image' => '20220526011022_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 13:09:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15336', 'article_category_id' => '268', 'title' => 'India Imposes Ban on Export of Sugar', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 26: India has banned export of sugar within days after banning the export of wheat from the country. This move is certain to cause scarcity of sugar in Nepal and result in price hike as the domestic production of sugar is not sufficient to meet the internal demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The annual consumption of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons while the domestic production is just 140,000 metric tons. The country has been supplying the insufficient amount of sugar through imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Government of India is said to have banned the export of sugar fearing global food crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war. India is the second largest exporter of sugar after Brazil. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal has been relying on sugar imported from India, Pakistan and other countries to meet the internal demand for sugar. Pakistan has also imposed a ban on export of sugar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stakeholders believe that the latest decision taken by India is certain to cause scarcity of sugar and also increase its price in the domestic market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kapil Mani Mainali, chairman of Nepal Sugarcane Producers Association, said that the ban imposed on export of sugar by India will have a profound impact on Nepal. According to Mainali, the annual demand of sugar in Nepal is around 250,000 metric tons. He informed that the Nepal has produced 140,000 metric tons of sugar this year. He claimed that there will be a scarcity of sugar in the near future due to the ban imposed by India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the latest data of the department of customs, Nepal has imported 89,000 metric tons of sugar so far in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Officials of the state-owned Salt Trading Corporation, which sells sugar at subsidized rate, say that it has a stock of 32 tons of sugar left. Salt Trading Corporation has been selling sugar in retail amount so that the stock does not run out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It has been almost one and a half years since the Salt Trading Corporation sought permission from the government to procure 50,000 metric tons of sugar but the proposal has not been approved yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Salt Trading Corporation has invited tender bids at both international and domestic levels to purchase 10,000 metric tons of sugar. However, the corporation’s spokesperson Kumar Rajbhandari believes that the procurement process will be affected due to the ban imposed by India. He believes that the India’s ban will create a shortage of sugar in Nepal and will also cause an increase in price.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The retail price of sugar in the local market is between Rs 90 to Rs 95 per kg at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Big businessmen and traders are expected to create an artificial shortage of sugar after India imposed such ban, says Amul Kaji Tuladhar, general secretary of Retail Trade Association. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-26', 'modified' => '2022-05-26', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15078', 'image' => '20220526113811_sugar.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-26 11:36:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15335', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Student Unions Demand Immediate Withdrawal of Fuel Price Hike', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 25: Student leaders have submitted a memorandum to Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu urging him to revoke the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Student leaders affiliated to 13 different student unions jointly submitted the memo to the Industry Minister amid a recent function demanding the government to immediately revoke such decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the occasion, Minister Badu said that the government was not in a position to tell the Nepal Oil Corporation to reduce the fuel prices. He argued that the state-owned NOC was facing a fortnightly loss of Rs 6.71 billion and therefore it was not appropriate to tell the oil monopoly to lower the prices.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Badu stated that the NOC is still bearing a loss of Rs 14.64 for selling a litre of petrol. Likewise, the loss incurred for the sale of a litre of diesel and a cylinder of cooking gas amounted to Rs 26.82 and Rs 879.75 respectively. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that it was the responsibility of the government to seek a solution to the current crisis after considering the situation of NOC and the world market, Minister Badu said that the government has been making efforts towards this end.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15077', 'image' => '20220525073044_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 19:30:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15334', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI Welcomes Government Announcement to Observe ‘Domestic Poduction Decade’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: The private sector has welcomed the government’s decision to celebrate the upcoming decade as a decade for production and consumption of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has expressed its gratitude to the government for its decision to announce a decade dedicated to promoting production and consumption of the domestic products, expressing its support to the implementation of the ‘Make in Nepal’ campaign. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in its policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022-23 that were presented by the president before a joint session of the Federal Parliament on Tuesday stated that the upcoming decade would be observed as the decade of domestic production and consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has pledged a subsidy in tax and customs duty for the production and supplies of domestic goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The confederation is hopeful the announcement would help in enabling the industrial atmosphere in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the announcements to facilitate in acquiring land for the establishment of industry, reviewing provisions for land ceiling, creating industry-friendly atmosphere and encouraging private sector for operating production-based industries suggested the government’s new policies and programmes are focused on the promotion of industrialization, according to CNI's assessment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> The announcement to involve private sector in power trade is itself the encouragement to the private sector for its role in international power trade, the confederation said. It has, likewise, hailed the declaration to ensure power supply to private sector at a low tariff, to develop tourism as a means of earning foreign currency and to implement the Digital Nepal Framework. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has also welcomed the decision to recognise the contribution of remittance to nation’s economy, undertake large infrastructure projects on a public-private joint venture, make public expenditure result-oriented and increase the capital expenditure. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15076', 'image' => '20220525060916_make-in-nepal2021-03-09-06-26-08.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 18:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15333', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Repeats Policies and Programmes for Upcoming Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has presented its policies and programmes for the budget of upcoming fiscal year in parliament. The new policies and programmes presented in parliament by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on behalf of the government on Tuesday is nothing but the continuation of the policies and programmes of the previous government with some new programmes added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has given continuity to concept of operating railway and ship of the previous government, which it had earlier called a ‘pipedream’.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes state that the government will complete feasibility study of Rasuwagadi-Kathmandu railway and conduct detailed study of the Birgunj-Kathmandu and Kathmandu Valley Metro service. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The prospects of water transport in Nepal's rivers will be identified and developed, said the president. The government also announced plans to build another 800 kilometers of roads and upgrade 257 kilometers next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes range from bringing a separate policy to increase capital spending to regulating social media and bringing it under the tax purview next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government has already issued procedures to regulate social media, it has not been able to fully implement them. The government has tried to regulate advertisements on social media after a large amount of dollars started flowing out of Nepal. Some countries, including neighboring India, have formally registered social media in their countries and brought it under the purview of law and tax. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In order to increase capital expenditure and facilitate the implementation of development projects, the concept of development including a result-based project management system will be implemented,” according to the policies and programmes unveiled on Tuesday. The government is planning to adopt a separate policy to address the trend of not spending the capital budget. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also put forward a programme to evaluate the sovereign credit of the country within the next year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The annual policies and programmes also includes the implementation projects that can transform the overall structure of the economy. Similarly, agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology are considered as the drivers of economic growth. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The policies and programmes also mentioned that the value of land will be determined by scientific method after developing an integrated land valuation system based on geographical information. As per the new policies and programmes, arrangements will be made to trade real estate only from specialized institutions. Arrangements will also be made to avail basic services related to land revenue online from the local levels. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced the ‘Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Campaign Decade’ in order to expand the market and increase the consumption of Nepali products. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We will start a campaign to uplift the economy by increasing domestic and foreign investment in productive sectors with comparative advantage, innovation in small and medium enterprises, market expansion of Nepali products and increase in production and consumption, import substitution and export promotion,” said President Bhandari. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">To make this campaign a success, the Prime Minister Nepali Production and Consumption Growth Programme will be launched and it will be promoted through tax and customs duty exemption and export subsidy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will take industrial promotion policy to develop a green economy through energy efficiency and use of renewable energy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government plans to review the existing tax system next year. The government is preparing to bring in a budget to replace the import-dependent tax system by domestic production. Accordingly, a review of the tax system has been announced in the policies and programmes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will also formulate necessary policies and criteria to facilitate revenue mobilisation at the local level. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the concept of digital banking, the national payment system will be strengthened and all financial transactions will be done through electronic means. For the first time, the government is planning to set up a ‘Market and Trade Intelligence’ bureau for international trade information. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The construction of Gautam Buddha International Stadium at Chitwan will also be undertaken by the government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, it is also mentioned that the government will set up its own satellite and state-of-the-art security printing press. The current government has announced plans to move ahead with both the projects which were in dispute over irregularities during the previous CPN-UML-led government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the government will give priority to agriculture and bring irrigation facilities in the coming FY, President Bhandari said that the government has adopted a policy to provide irrigation facilities to 22,200 hectares of land, along with the construction as well as maintenance of large and branch canals. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15075', 'image' => '20220525034821_RS_KTM-20220524_163359.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 15:47:25', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15332', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Provide Agricultural Grants on the Basis of Production', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: The government has adopted a policy of attaining economic growth by developing the agriculture sector. In this regard, it has decided to provide subsidies to the farmers only on the basis of production. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari made such announcement while presenting the government's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) at a joint sitting of the federal parliament on Tuesday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been found that the grants provided by the government were reaching sectors other than agriculture, therefore, the government adopted the policy of providing subsidy only to the genuine farmers based on production. The government is preparing to formulate the policy of protecting the farmers and make arrangements to purchase the produce of the farmers in order to promote agriculture as a major pillar of economic development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Agriculture experts, on the other hand, argue that agricultural subsidies cannot be effective if it is based on production alone. Uddhav Adhikari, coordinator of the Agriculture for Food Campaign, said that it would not be right to give subsidies on the basis of production without classifying the farmers into different groups. He stated, “This kind of policy is good only for big farmers but small farmers can get into trouble. Therefore, in case of misuse of agricultural subsidies, it is better to investigate and take action.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although Adhikari welcomed the term “protection of farmers” included by the government in its policies and programmes, he expressed concerns that there is no clear policy to fulfill the commitment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has also adopted a policy to ensure the availability of chemical fertilizers and to provide subsidies on organic fertilizer on par with the chemical fertilizers from the upcoming fiscal year. Similarly, the policies and programmes of the government states that access to micro insurance will be extended to the remote and deprived sectors by expanding agriculture and livestock insurance programmes for the protection of farmers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government also pledged to provide relief as soon as possible to the farmers whose crops were damage by the unseasonal rains that occurred in last October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government will encourage farmers to engage in collective and cooperative farming on barren land. The government will run special programmes to produce the food products that are imported in large quantities. Under this heading, a special programme will be introduced to increase the production of imported food like paddy, maize, potato, onion, apple, and walnut that are imported in large quantities. In addition, there the government also plans to promote organic farming. Special emphasis was also laid on increasing the production of food items and reducing the processing cost. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has set a target of providing irrigation facilities to an additional 22,200 hectares of land next year. Similarly, construction and maintenance of main and branch canals of large and multi-purpose irrigation projects including construction of Bheri Babai diversion headworks and tunnel of powerhouse and Sunkoshi Marin diversion project will be expedited.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Commenting on the policies and programmes announced by the government in the agriculture sector, the outgoing chairman of the National Farmers Commission Chitra Bahadur Shrestha said that it is a good thing that agriculture is considered as one of the top priorities of the government. However, what is more important is the plans that will be included in the budget and passed for implementation rather than the things included in the policies and programmes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15074', 'image' => '20220525013650_agri maize.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 13:36:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15331', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Oil Producers Struggling to Export Oil to India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 25: Nepali oil producers who were exporting cooking oil to India are now unable to export due to rising prices of unrefined oil in the international market. Due to the halt in export of refined oil, Nepal's export trade is expected to decline as it is a major contributor to government revenue. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nikhil Chachan, the operator of Narayani Oil in Birgunj, says that the price is increasing in the international market and the oil stored in the industrial warehouses has been exported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It takes up to three months to import raw materials from the international market to Nepal and the domestic companies were exporting by using the price difference in the market. According to the entrepreneurs, the stock of raw materials of the domestic industries is finishing as Russia and Ukraine are at war, and Indonesia, the main producer of palm, has banned the exports for nearly a month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Indonesia has decided to open exports from Monday. Operator of OCB Food Suresh Rungta says that even if the import of raw material is easier, it cannot be exported to India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"India imports all types of edible oil at 5.5 percent customs duty and 7 percent goods and services tax. In our country, the government collects 10 percent customs duty and 13 percent value added tax," said Rungta, "The transportation cost from Kolkata to Birgunj is Rs 8. In such a situation, it is no longer possible to export refined oil to India by importing raw materials from third countries." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chachan said that export by taking advantage of price difference is not possible. He told New Business Age that only nominal exports are being made from the old stock now.</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' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15073', 'image' => '20220525125146_oil1501009175_7.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 12:51:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15330', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mixed Response to Government's Policies and Programmes ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 25: Leaders of various political parties have given mixed reaction to the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 presented in parliament by the government on Tuesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki described the policies and programs as a blueprint to make Nepal prosperous. </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 policies and programmes reflect our dream of bringing prosperity to the country. It is not just an assurance, it will be implemented," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Chairperson of Janata Samajwadi Party of Nepal and former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said that the policies and programmes were positive as a whole but were insufficient for the overall economic development of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairperson of CPN (Unified Socialist) and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also remarked that the policies and programmes were positive as the country's agriculture, energy development, tourism promotion and other sectors were given high priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CPN (UML) Vice Chairman and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that many issues included in the policies and programmes have been repeated since a long time. He also said that it would be difficult to implement everything mentioned in the policies and programmes due to limited size of our budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden remarked that there would be problems in implementation as in the past due to the traditional nature of budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-25', 'modified' => '2022-05-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15072', 'image' => '20220525113445_RS-KTM-Parliamenti (2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-25 11:34:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15329', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Policies and Programmes Emphasize on Revival of Economy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 24: The government has made public the policies and programs for the upcoming fiscal year with the aim of developing the agricultural sector, reviving the troubled economy and expanding the physical infrastructure. Addressing a joint session of the federal parliament on Tuesday, President Bidya Devi Bhandari made public the policies and programmes of the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 145-point program highlights the fact that remittance inflow has improved over the past few months and the growth in revenue collection from tourism has been creating a positive environment, despite the external pressure on the economy due to the unfavorable conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In order to achieve economic growth and sustainability through the combination of fiscal and monetary policies, the government has outlined agriculture, transport, energy, tourism and information technology as the drivers of economic growth. The government has adopted a clear policy of building a resilient economy through special economic recovery programs and keeping inflation within the limits. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programmes of the government intend to implement projects from the provincial and local levels except mega projects of national pride and of strategic importance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government plans to conserve, use and distribute natural resources equitably in coordination among the federal, province and local governments. As per the policies and programmes of the government, the basis of economic prosperity will be laid by linking local economies with the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government aims to make policy, legal and systemic reforms to increase domestic production and industrialization by building quality infrastructure, promoting investment, and facilitating business environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The policies and programme have given clear guidelines to include development programmes and projects in the budget on the basis of national priorities. Budget will not be allocated for projects that have not been prepared beforehand and have not been included in the project bank. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has given priority to reviewing the existing tax system, creating a clean, transparent and investment-friendly environment, and facilitating local revenue mobilization. It plans to facilitate credit flow to the manufacturing and employment-oriented sectors. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">For the first time, the government has addressed the issue of formulating a new national agricultural policy for developing the agricultural sector as a major driving force of economic growth and employment. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15071', 'image' => '20220524092214_RS-KTM-ParliamentPresidenta.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 21:21:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15328', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crisis to Extend for Some More Time', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: There are signs that the liquidity crisis in the banking system will likely extend for some more time. The liquidity crisis is unlikely to end anytime soon as the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are reeling under shortage of investible capital with just two months left in the current fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the deposit collection of BFIs increased by Rs 237.85 billion as of mid-April this year while the credit flow during this period was worth Rs 558.99 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB officials have concluded that the liquidity crisis is a result of high credit flow against deposit collection and that most of the loans have been invested for importing consumable goods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As the crisis started deepening, banks have started taking inter-bank loans and various monetary tools to address their immediate problems.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The short-term lending between banks increased by one and a half times between mid-March and mid-April. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the central bank, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks stood at Rs 2299.22 billion while development banks and finance companies took inter-bank loans worth Rs 2069.68 billion during the review period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the corresponding period of last fiscal year, the inter-bank loans taken by commercial banks was worth Rs 875.50 billion while development banks and finance companies had received inter-bank loans worth Rs 1059.42 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The liquidity crisis has also affected the inter-bank interest rate. Such interest rate has increased to nearly 7 percent. One year ago, the inter-bank interest rate was just 2.03 percent, which increased to 6.99 percent in mid-April.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15070', 'image' => '20220524024820_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:47:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15327', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Where is Russian Oil Heading Towards?', 'sub_title' => 'China and India become major importers of Russian oil despite sanctions', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rama Subedi</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: Nearly 90 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in one of the biggest invasion since the World War II. European countries have cut Russian oil imports, a key pillar of the Russian economy, as part of sanctions against Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United States has announced that it will suspend imports of Russian oil. The G7, a group of seven industrialized nations, also announced last weekend that it would gradually reduce Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But Russia still has a lot of buyers. The oil imported by other buyers is enough to keep the Russian government's revenue high and cover the necessary expenses. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia sold 785 million barrels of crude oil a day to Europe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But since the invasion of Ukraine, Europe has announced a sudden reduction in its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Ukraine crisis raised the prices of crude oil across the world. Russia, meanwhile, is benefiting from rising crude oil prices as it seeks new buyers and seeks to increase exports to the Asian markets.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia's oil revenues are expected to rise sharply to USD 180 billion this year, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will be 45 per cent higher than the same period last year. Looking at the trend of tanker traffic, Russia's crude oil exports have declined by a maximum of 20 per cent. A study by Spire Global for the Washington Post found that an average of 17 tankers were released from Russian ports daily when the United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia on March 8.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">India and China have been buying Russian oil in defiance of sanctions imposed on Russia over the war. At one time, Russian oil accounted for less than 3 per cent of India's total consumption. Now it is constantly increasing.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In March, India bought 274,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. In April, it rose to 627,000 barrels, according to data from international data company S&P Global.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia became India's fourth-largest oil supplier in April. India's oil purchase appears to have increased further in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">China is already Russia's largest Asian buyer. China has recently increased its purchases of Russian oil. China's daily import of Russian oil is expected to reach 1.1 million barrels by the sea in May.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">That's 350,000 more barrels a day than in the first quarter of this year, and 300,000 more a day in 2020.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil has become even cheaper than water for India after Russia offered oil at a much lower price than the international selling mark after the US and Europe imposed sanctions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brent and WTI, the international benchmarks for crude oil in the Western markets, are above USD 110 as Europe prepares to ban Russian oil imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russia is now selling domestic benchmark Ural Brent crude at USD 34 less than before the invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the economy is slowing, buying cheap Russian oil has been a boon for China. For India, this is a golden opportunity to reduce the trade deficit.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Russian oil is now much cheaper for both China and India than the oil imported from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15069', 'image' => '20220524022002_Indiaruaaia.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 14:18:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15325', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Responsibility for Trading of Petroleum Products should not be Handed Over to Private Sector’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">May 24: The trade union of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has objected to the government's decision to hand over the responsibility of importing petrol, diesel and cooking gas to the private sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking at a programme organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Sunday, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu had said that homework is being done to hand over the responsibility of supplying petroleum products in the country to the private sector.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madhumas Pun, the chairperson of the Nepal Oil Corporation’s Trade Union, objected to the government's decision after this announcement, claiming that the private sector will not be able to provide services to consumers like the government is providing currently if the responsibility of importing petroleum products is handed over to them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He objected to the government's decision through his social media page saying that it will not be acceptable to ruin the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) by not letting it adjust the fuel price making it bankrupt by denying money to buy oil while colluding with the private sector to hand over the responsibilities of supplying fuel in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He mentioned that if the responsibility is shifted to the private sector, the consumers will not be able to buy petrol at Rs 180 as its actual cost is Rs 195 per liter. Meanwhile, diesel which costs Rs 163 will cost Rs 190 per liter and gas cylinder worth Rs 1800 will cost Rs 2680 per cylinder if the private sector handles the fuel supply, said Pun. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also mentioned that the state should always work for the welfare of the people.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15068', 'image' => '20220524093816_petrol-pump.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15324', 'article_category_id' => '279', 'title' => 'Malaysia Reluctant to Invest in Nepal due to lack of Assurance of Return', 'sub_title' => 'Nepal Chamber of Commerce requests Malaysia to set up Industrial Village in Nepal', 'summary' => 'May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 24: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has requested Malaysia to establish an industrial village in Nepal. The chamber made such a request under the concept of integrated investment in tourism, information technology and manufacturing during a meeting with the Charge d'Affaires of Malaysia to Nepal, Mohd Fadzle Abu Hassan, at Jamal-based building of the NCC in Kathmandu on Monday.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NCC Chairman Rajendra Malla said that they will take initiative for Malaysia's investment in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Chairman Malla said, “There has been a high level of cooperation between Nepal and Malaysia in the field of labor. Malaysia has also become an excellent destination for Nepal in terms of remittance inflow. About 400,000 Nepali youth are employed in Malaysia. We urge the Malaysian government to invest in various other sectors of Nepal and also urge for labor cooperation.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He said that there should be a high level cooperation between the government bodies for enhancing the Nepal-Malaysia investment relations. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, he mentioned that Malaysia could invest in sectors like tourism, hydropower, information technology and handicraft of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Malaysia's Charge d'Affaires to Nepal Hassan expressed his concerns saying that although they were ready for the investment, the law regarding assurance of return is not clear. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Lately, Malaysia has been increasing its investment in information technology in South Asian countries. We have no problem investing in Nepal. However, we are still unable to clarify the policy provisions regarding the returns,” said Hassan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that Malaysia currently provides employment to millions of Nepali youth, he said that this number may increase in the coming days. He said that Malaysia is ready to invest in Nepal in various fields including hydropower and tourism.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-05-24', 'modified' => '2022-05-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15067', 'image' => '20220524092438_1653317337.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-05-24 09:23:52', '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
