February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the…
February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the…
February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters…
February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given…
February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”.…
February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval.…
February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election…
February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months.…
February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within…
February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital…
February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time.…
February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and…
February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing.…
February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign…
February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal…
February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The taskforce will have a maximum of three members from each country. As per the understanding, a company will be established at the government level of both the countries and this company will build a hydropower project with joint investment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such agreement was reached during the ninth meeting of the Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee on Thursday, informed Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Chiranjibi Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of the Energy Ministry Debendra Karki from Nepal and Secretary of the Energy Ministry of India Alok Kumar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the meeting, issues including existing transmission lines between the two countries, under-construction and proposed cross-border transmission line, the Arun III hydropower project and transmission line and cross-border power trade were discussed, said Joint Secretary Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting agreed to increase the capacity of the 400 KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting also agreed to establish a joint company of Nepal and India within April 2022 for the construction of the cross-border New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line. The 400 KV transmission line will span across 140 kilometers (20 kilometers in the Nepali territory and the remaining 120 km in the Indian territory). The Government of Nepal has to manage budget to construct the project on its side. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Government of India was positive towards the proposals of Nepal Electricity Authority at different dates to export electricity to India, said the meeting attendants. The NEA has requested India to approve the proposal to sell 850 megawatts of electricity to India before upcoming monsoon. -- RSS </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-25', 'modified' => '2022-02-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14569', 'image' => '20220225082256_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-25 08:20:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14825', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Invades Ukraine in Major Assault since WWII', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus, and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The BBC also confirmed that Russian forces invaded Ukraine, with missile strikes and explosions reported near major cities and on its military infrastructure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Ukrainian military reported said it has killed about 50 Russian "occupiers" and shot down at least six Russian aircraft.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia on the other hand maintained that it met little resistance and claimed that Ukrainian armed forces fled en masse, abandoning their weapons and positions, BBC further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to BBC, emergency sirens have been sounding in Kyiv since the first explosions in the early hours while huge traffic jams have built up as residents tried to flee the city after Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to have worldwide impact as analysts predict a plunge is share markets across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal too will not remain unscathed as it depends on Ukraine for the supply of raw materials required for producing cooking oil. The oil industries are already bracing for a price hike as supplies have already stopped coming from Ukraine. The industrialists that have opened LC fear that their investment will go down the drain.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14568', 'image' => '20220224080713_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 20:06:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => true, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14826', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Fast Track unlikely to be Completed within the Deadline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline. The project still needs supplementary environmental impact assessment. Meanwhile, the revised design has pointed out the need to acquire more land for the right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expressway needs to increase the right of way to 100 meters, the new design states. Currently, the right of way of the expressway is 50 meters. However, as it is necessary to increase it up to 100 meters in terms of security, additional land acquisition, and tree felling are also required. Due to this, a supplementary EIA is needed by amending the previous EIA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It will take a maximum of 7 months to prepare the supplementary EIA, according to the Nepalese Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief and Brigadier General (Technical) Bikash Pokharel said that it would be difficult to complete the work on time if the government does not assist in acquisition of forest, environment, and land. "The supplementary EIA has not been approved by the concerned body for seven months," Pokhrel added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had assigned the contract management of the fast track to the Nepalese Army with a mandate to complete the construction of the expressway within fiscal year 2080/81. The army has requested for the acquisition of 411 ropanis of land in Khokna and facilitation by the concerned bodies in clearing the site for additional right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The big package and challenging task of the project is the construction of the tunnel," said Pokharel. According to him, it is estimated that 1 km of the tunnel can be dug in one year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On this basis, a 3 km tunnel can be dug in 3 years, and the excavation from both sides can be completed within the contract period, said Pokharel. Along with this, the work of bridges on the expressway will also be completed. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claimed that the work of the expressway would be completed within the stipulated time if the budget is assured and no future obstruction surfaces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, "As Khokna has become the center of five projects, the locals are afraid that Khokna will be lose its identity due to these projects. The locals are of the view that the expressway will not be a problem if the remaining four projects are not constructed here."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the expressway, Smart City, Outer Ring Road, Transmission Line, and Bagmati Corridor projects are also linked with the area that lies on the outskirts of Lalitpur. Stating that the locals have put forward two conditions for the entry of the expressway, Pokharel said, "They are of the view that there should be no problem at the starting point of the expressway if it is ensured that the compensation of land is increased and none of the other four projects are undertaken there."</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14567', 'image' => '20220224090712_fast track nov 21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 21:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14824', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Clean Mountain Campaign to Kick off in May', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. The campaign is to be launched with the budget managed by the Department of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board and Department of Forest and Environment. The aim is to clean four mountains with the involvement of 91 people. Among them, 29 people will be from the Nepalese Army, 48 Sherpas and other coordination committee members and 14 from Rear Operations Group.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepalese Army organized a program in Kathmandu on Tuesday to inform about the campaign. The army informed that garbage from Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Manaslu would be collected and managed properly under this campaign. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Major Kishor Adhikari, who climbed Mt Everest in 2013, said that the plan is to start the campaign from May. He also informed that the aim is to collect 35 tons of garbage from the above the base camp and nearby areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, the army informed that the government has provided Rs 83 million for the campaign, although a budget of Rs 139.6 million is required. Out of the remaining budget of Rs 46.6 million, the army will manage Rs 13 million and the rest will be sought from other sources. Earlier, the government had allocated Rs 100 million for the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2021”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The campaign was initiated in 2019. Presenting the work plan of the campaign, the official said that the campaign aims to reduce the impact of pollution and climate change on the environment, help the government to increase economic activities in the mountain areas, attract tourists as well as mountaineers and protect the mountains for future generations as well.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14566', 'image' => '20220224024229_eveest-expedition-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:41:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14823', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Presents New Regulation Related to Hedging in Cabinet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. The government decided to prepare a new draft of regulation related to hedging after the regulation prepared three years ago was not much effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasisi confirmed that the ministry prepared the new regulation in consultation with the Nepal Rastra Bank and has already presented it before the cabinet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the new regulation has been presented before the cabinet after amending many provisions in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation proposes hedging facility for health institutions, educational institutes, agriculture, tourism and IT sector companies as well as industries and urban development infrastructures with more than Rs 2 billion investment. It also has provision for green investment projects to enjoy hedging facility, which was not included in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, only the central bank and Finance Ministry were responsible for hedging but now even Infrastructure Development Bank and commercial banks can bear such responsibilities.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The previous regulation had proposed hedging facility for Monorail and Metrorail covering more than 10 kilometers distance but now even the projects covering 5 kilometer distance can benefit from hedging. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation has also proposed the timeframe during which projects can enjoy hedging facility. Earlier, the hedging period was only of 5 years but now it has been extended up to 20 years depending on the nature of the projects. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14565', 'image' => '20220224021447_hedging.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14822', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Secure Resources for Election ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 10 billion in the current fiscal year for the election. However, there is a problem in mobilizing resources as the Election Commission and other agencies have demanded more than Rs 50 billion. Despite the ministry's pleas with various donor agencies to meet the demand for the budget, the donors seem reluctant to help. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ministry officials are holding discussions with major partners such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and IMF to solicit support from them. Likewise, a senior official of the ministry said that the government is also lobbying with ambassadors from India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a meeting with Hartwig Schafer, World Bank’s vice president for South Asia, executive director Mohammad Hassan, and country director for the Maldives and Sri Lanka including Nepal Faris Hadad Zervos last week, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma requested them for assistance for the election. Sources said that the World Bank officials did not respond to his request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Nepal Musid Suleiman M Almarwani met Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka last week. Likewise, Khadka had a meeting with Hanan Goder, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nepal Thomas Prinz. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a foreign ministry source, they exchanged views on various issues related to development, cooperation, trade, investment and bilateral relations, and Foreign Minister Khadka requested financial assistance with them for the upcoming elections. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a televised interview two days ago, Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal had revealed that an ambassador had told him that the country which does not need a grant of Rs 50 billion does not require assistance. Donors are said to be irritated, especially after the parties in the coalition government split over the MCC. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14564', 'image' => '20220224014747_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 13:47:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14821', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepali Migrant Workers Visiting Foreign Countries Declining', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. The number of people leaving Nepal for foreign employment was lowest in the first month of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-August) with just 25,400 people leaving the country while it was the highest in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December) when 74,354 people left the country. But the number has been declining in the last two months, as per the data kept by the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, 66,625 Nepalese got the final labor permit in the month of Poush (mid-December to mid-January) while only 54,470 people got such permit in Magh (mid-January to mid-February). In the last seven months, a total of 349,000 Nepali workers have gone to 84 countries for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">District-wise, most of the workers traveled abroad for foreign employment from Dhanusha between mid-January to mid-February. According to the department, not a single person from Manang has gone abroad for foreign employment. Altogether 33,388 people from Dhanusha have left the country while the lowest number of four people leaving the country for foreign employment is from Mustang.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of workers going to the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, which are considered as the major labor destinations, is declining. Until a few years ago, Malaysia was the first choice of Nepali workers. But recently, the workers have been more attracted to Saudi Arabia for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of 349,000 workers who left the country in the last seven months, more than 122,000 have gone to Saudi Arabia. In the last 12 days alone, 19,831 Nepalis have left for Saudi Arabia. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Qatar is the second largest labor destination for Nepali workers followed by the UAE. But the number of workers visiting these countries has declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last seven months, 115,847 Nepalis left for Qatar for employment. The number of people leaving for Qatar between mid-January to mid-February was 14,751. Similarly, 11,303 Nepali migrant workers went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between mid-January to mid-February.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14563', 'image' => '20220224121136_20211215023334_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 12:11:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14819', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Tourists to get Concession on Domestic Flights in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Tourism Revitalization Steering Committee has inked an agreement with Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines to provide a discount in the airfare to foreign tourists to attract more external tourists. As per the agreement, foreign tourists will be charged an amount equal to the fair that Nepali passengers pay for domestic flights. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the committee formed under the chairmanship of Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale entered the agreement with the private airlines to ensure a concession in the domestic airfare for foreigners. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foreigners traveling by air within Nepal had been paying nearly a double fare that Nepalis used to pay for the air ticket for domestic flights due to the policy adopted by the government. There were growing concerns among the foreigners traveling to Nepal that they were charged more than the locals for air tickets, RSS reported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Coordinator of the committee Rajaram Giri told RSS that they made the same proposal with other private airlines and they too are positive about it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the committee has appealed with the agencies concerned to coordinate and collaboration with the stakeholders to identify new prospects for tourism sectors and enable invest-friendly atmosphere in this sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Committee has requested the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre to simplify and amend the travel criteria put in place by the government for the passengers traveling in and out of Nepal considering the decline in rate of COVID-19 infection in the country and across the world. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the Hotel Association of Nepal has also decided to provide a discount upto 20 per cent to the foreign tourists for booking hotel rooms in a bid to revive the tourism industry that has been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14562', 'image' => '20220224110533_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14820', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Alert in Kavre to Avoid Bird-Flu Outbreak ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In this connection, screening of birds has been tightened at the main entry point of the district and stakeholders’ discussion at local level has also been ramped up. Panauti municipality organized an interaction with stakeholders on Wednesday with commercial poultry entrepreneurs of its area. At the programme, municipality mayor Bhim Neupane urged the entrepreneurs to place high alert against the spread of bird-flu and not to hide the information about the flu outbreak. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Livestock Specialist Dr Sudip Humagain urged the entrepreneurs to keep vigilance on farm management and sanitation so as to avoid loss and damage caused by bird-flu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Adviser to Poultry Entrepreneurs Association Madhusudan Guragain said invasion of new diseases has eroded business opportunities which demand the adoption of new security strategies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last week Banepa municipality also hosted a discussion with local stakeholders on contagious disease on birds and security screening in the checkpoints with neighbouring districts. The municipality has intensified anti-bird-flu campaign in different places. It may be noted that bird-flu was detected in two places of Morang, Chitwan and Kathmandu recently. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14561', 'image' => '20220224114055_istockphoto-153240559-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:40:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14818', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business Goes Out of Control ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. However, due to the inability to manage the real estate sector, the state itself has suffered as well as the service seekers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Unnecessary price hike by middlemen have left the middle-class consumers unable to buy land and houses. "Two years ago, the land in Kirtipur used to cost Rs 1.2 million to Rs 1.5 million per aana (1 aana = 242 sq feet), but now it has reached Rs 2.2 million to Rs 2.5 million per aana," said a local.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to government figures, around Rs 50 billion is generated from the real estate business every year at this time. In a country with 50,000-60,000 real estate transactions every month, government officials say the revenue generated is not as much as expected due to the lack of a regulatory body.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pitamber Ghimire, director-general of the Department of Land Management and Records, the only body responsible for managing the real estate sector, admits that the task and duties assigned to them at present cannot end the problems of the real estate sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Named as the Department of Land Management some time ago, this department has now been developed as a record-keeping department.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has been working to maintain the minimum valuation of land across the country by managing the data of 126 Land Revenue Offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ghimire said that the government has realized the problems in the real estate sector and is aware that a separate body is needed to regulate it. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, he suggested that the Land Revenue Act should be amended first to establish a regulatory body and this could be done through amendment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted by the Confederation of Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CIBFIN) found that bank loans have mostly entered the real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, real estate prices have doubled in just two years. After the price hike, ordinary working people could not afford to buy land due to which the real estate businesses have also slumped.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the slump in real estate business, a large amount of money invested in the real estate has not been able to return to the banking channel. Experts say that one of the main reasons for the deteriorating state of Nepal's economy at this time is the real estate. Neighboring India also went through a similar situation. But the real estate companies in India say real estate prices in India have not risen by more than 10 percent in two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is because the Indian media has mentioned that the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India (RERA) has played a big role in keeping the price of real estate stable. In Nepal, real estate prices have been rising sharply since 2062/63.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14560', 'image' => '20220223070923_Real estate.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 19:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14817', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Cooking Oil likely to Increase due to Ukraine Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ukraine is one of the major suppliers of mustard seeds, sunflower seeds and wheat to the Nepalese industries, which have been processing the raw materials and selling them in the Indian market. The oil industries are worried that the shipment of those who have opened LC is unlikely to arrive due to the possible invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suppliers in Ukraine reportedly said that the shipping companies are delaying the shipments despite their request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nanda Kishore Rathi, vice-president of Morang Chamber of Commerce, said that the goods were ordered by opening LC but the goods have not been dispatched from there due to the possible invasion of Ukraine. “If the war starts, the companies will not be able to send the goods. Industries here can lose millions of rupees,” said Rathi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rising tensions between the two countries have pushed up the price of mustard by US$ 30 per ton. Besides Ukraine, mustard seeds are also imported to Nepal from Australia. According to the industrialists, the demand for mustard from Australia has increased due to the tension in Ukraine but it is more likely that the imports will be delayed due to the high demand. Even in Australia, the price of mustard has gone up by US$ 60 per ton. He said that the effect of this will be seen in the Nepali market after some time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Kumar Agrawal, vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, said that due to the tension between Russia and Ukraine, Nepal's oil industries have started importing mustard from Australia instead of Ukraine. According to Agrawal, although there is no shortage of raw materials in the market at the moment, the price of cooking oil is most likely to increase.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prices of mustard, sunflower and soybean oil have been on the rise for the past one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The price of mustard oil, which has gone up by Rs 100 per liter, is expected to rise further. The retail price of a liter of mustard is now Rs 280, sunflower oil is around Rs 230 and soybean oil is around Rs 200.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Morang Chamber of Commerce, Bikash Kumar Begwani said that the shipment of mustard, wheat and sunflower from Ukraine has not stopped yet, but is certain to halt in a few days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Once the war breaks out, the goods coming from there will be stopped,” said Begwani adding, “However, imports from countries including Australia will continue.” He said that the price hike of US$ 30 to 60 per ton of mustard has already affected the Nepali market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He says that if there is a war, the price of petroleum products will also go up and so will the cost of transportation. Banks in Nepal have been reluctant to open LCs for some time due to fear of a war between Ukraine and Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of mustard has already gone up by US$ 60 per ton in the international market in the last two months, said Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry. Rathi, who is also the operator of Chandrashiva Rice and Oil Mills, says, “The LC of mustard I opened two months ago at US$ 755 per ton has now arrived in Kolkata''.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But now the price of mustard in Australia has already reached US$ 820 per ton. The price of mustard was between US$ 580 to 600 per ton in January last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The crisis has intensified after Russia's recognized two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Recognizing the region as an independent state, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to enter Ukrainian territory. The Government of Nepal has taken interest in Nepalese living in Ukraine and has started collecting their data. European countries and the United States have strongly criticized this move of Russia.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14559', 'image' => '20220223064452_cookingwl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 18:44:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14816', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cases of Bad Loans Rising', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from the previous fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14813', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'CG Motocrop Rolls out Fuel-Efficient Suzuki Celerio', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">With the growing fuel price in the country, Celerio can be a perfect car for Nepalese customers as it promises to be low on running cost, the company said in a statement. According to the company, the new Celerio comes with an unparalleled driving experience, new 3D organic sculpted design, first-in-segment safety, and convenience features. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">According to Siraj Pant, general manager for sales and marketing of CG Motocrop, Celerio has been a much-loved family car in the Nepalese market. This next-generation Celerio, offers even more to the Nepalese customers with its highest mileage and unmatched safety and convenient features, while offering a fresh new design in this segment, added Pant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The statement added that the all-new Celerio offers a spacious cabin for increased comfort. Equipped with the next generation K-series engine with Dual Jet, Dual VVT, the all-new Celerio is the most fuel-efficient petrol car offering a mileage of 26.68 km per litre, the company claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">“With segment-first features like Idle Start-Stop, the all-new Celerio makes a step forward towards sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions by up to 19 percent across variants. Powered by cutting-edge technology, it offers a torque of 89Nm@3500rpm and power of 67ps@5500RPM. Development of Next-gen K-series engine is done with the use of state-of-art technology like cooled EGR, auto tensioner, and integrated exhaust manifold,” the statement said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Built on Suzuki’s signature HEARTECT platform, the all-new Celerio comes with a smooth structure for effective absorption and dispersion of impact force, the company further said. According to the statement, the HEARTECT platform improves rigidity and overall strength of the car. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14555', 'image' => '20220222091443_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 21:13:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, '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' => '14827', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Positive about Purchasing Electricity from Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The taskforce will have a maximum of three members from each country. As per the understanding, a company will be established at the government level of both the countries and this company will build a hydropower project with joint investment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such agreement was reached during the ninth meeting of the Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee on Thursday, informed Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Chiranjibi Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of the Energy Ministry Debendra Karki from Nepal and Secretary of the Energy Ministry of India Alok Kumar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the meeting, issues including existing transmission lines between the two countries, under-construction and proposed cross-border transmission line, the Arun III hydropower project and transmission line and cross-border power trade were discussed, said Joint Secretary Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting agreed to increase the capacity of the 400 KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting also agreed to establish a joint company of Nepal and India within April 2022 for the construction of the cross-border New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line. The 400 KV transmission line will span across 140 kilometers (20 kilometers in the Nepali territory and the remaining 120 km in the Indian territory). The Government of Nepal has to manage budget to construct the project on its side. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Government of India was positive towards the proposals of Nepal Electricity Authority at different dates to export electricity to India, said the meeting attendants. The NEA has requested India to approve the proposal to sell 850 megawatts of electricity to India before upcoming monsoon. -- RSS </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-25', 'modified' => '2022-02-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14569', 'image' => '20220225082256_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-25 08:20:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14825', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Invades Ukraine in Major Assault since WWII', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus, and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The BBC also confirmed that Russian forces invaded Ukraine, with missile strikes and explosions reported near major cities and on its military infrastructure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Ukrainian military reported said it has killed about 50 Russian "occupiers" and shot down at least six Russian aircraft.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia on the other hand maintained that it met little resistance and claimed that Ukrainian armed forces fled en masse, abandoning their weapons and positions, BBC further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to BBC, emergency sirens have been sounding in Kyiv since the first explosions in the early hours while huge traffic jams have built up as residents tried to flee the city after Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to have worldwide impact as analysts predict a plunge is share markets across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal too will not remain unscathed as it depends on Ukraine for the supply of raw materials required for producing cooking oil. The oil industries are already bracing for a price hike as supplies have already stopped coming from Ukraine. The industrialists that have opened LC fear that their investment will go down the drain.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14568', 'image' => '20220224080713_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 20:06:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => true, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14826', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Fast Track unlikely to be Completed within the Deadline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline. The project still needs supplementary environmental impact assessment. Meanwhile, the revised design has pointed out the need to acquire more land for the right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expressway needs to increase the right of way to 100 meters, the new design states. Currently, the right of way of the expressway is 50 meters. However, as it is necessary to increase it up to 100 meters in terms of security, additional land acquisition, and tree felling are also required. Due to this, a supplementary EIA is needed by amending the previous EIA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It will take a maximum of 7 months to prepare the supplementary EIA, according to the Nepalese Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief and Brigadier General (Technical) Bikash Pokharel said that it would be difficult to complete the work on time if the government does not assist in acquisition of forest, environment, and land. "The supplementary EIA has not been approved by the concerned body for seven months," Pokhrel added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had assigned the contract management of the fast track to the Nepalese Army with a mandate to complete the construction of the expressway within fiscal year 2080/81. The army has requested for the acquisition of 411 ropanis of land in Khokna and facilitation by the concerned bodies in clearing the site for additional right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The big package and challenging task of the project is the construction of the tunnel," said Pokharel. According to him, it is estimated that 1 km of the tunnel can be dug in one year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On this basis, a 3 km tunnel can be dug in 3 years, and the excavation from both sides can be completed within the contract period, said Pokharel. Along with this, the work of bridges on the expressway will also be completed. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claimed that the work of the expressway would be completed within the stipulated time if the budget is assured and no future obstruction surfaces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, "As Khokna has become the center of five projects, the locals are afraid that Khokna will be lose its identity due to these projects. The locals are of the view that the expressway will not be a problem if the remaining four projects are not constructed here."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the expressway, Smart City, Outer Ring Road, Transmission Line, and Bagmati Corridor projects are also linked with the area that lies on the outskirts of Lalitpur. Stating that the locals have put forward two conditions for the entry of the expressway, Pokharel said, "They are of the view that there should be no problem at the starting point of the expressway if it is ensured that the compensation of land is increased and none of the other four projects are undertaken there."</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14567', 'image' => '20220224090712_fast track nov 21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 21:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14824', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Clean Mountain Campaign to Kick off in May', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. The campaign is to be launched with the budget managed by the Department of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board and Department of Forest and Environment. The aim is to clean four mountains with the involvement of 91 people. Among them, 29 people will be from the Nepalese Army, 48 Sherpas and other coordination committee members and 14 from Rear Operations Group.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepalese Army organized a program in Kathmandu on Tuesday to inform about the campaign. The army informed that garbage from Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Manaslu would be collected and managed properly under this campaign. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Major Kishor Adhikari, who climbed Mt Everest in 2013, said that the plan is to start the campaign from May. He also informed that the aim is to collect 35 tons of garbage from the above the base camp and nearby areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, the army informed that the government has provided Rs 83 million for the campaign, although a budget of Rs 139.6 million is required. Out of the remaining budget of Rs 46.6 million, the army will manage Rs 13 million and the rest will be sought from other sources. Earlier, the government had allocated Rs 100 million for the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2021”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The campaign was initiated in 2019. Presenting the work plan of the campaign, the official said that the campaign aims to reduce the impact of pollution and climate change on the environment, help the government to increase economic activities in the mountain areas, attract tourists as well as mountaineers and protect the mountains for future generations as well.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14566', 'image' => '20220224024229_eveest-expedition-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:41:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14823', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Presents New Regulation Related to Hedging in Cabinet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. The government decided to prepare a new draft of regulation related to hedging after the regulation prepared three years ago was not much effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasisi confirmed that the ministry prepared the new regulation in consultation with the Nepal Rastra Bank and has already presented it before the cabinet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the new regulation has been presented before the cabinet after amending many provisions in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation proposes hedging facility for health institutions, educational institutes, agriculture, tourism and IT sector companies as well as industries and urban development infrastructures with more than Rs 2 billion investment. It also has provision for green investment projects to enjoy hedging facility, which was not included in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, only the central bank and Finance Ministry were responsible for hedging but now even Infrastructure Development Bank and commercial banks can bear such responsibilities.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The previous regulation had proposed hedging facility for Monorail and Metrorail covering more than 10 kilometers distance but now even the projects covering 5 kilometer distance can benefit from hedging. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation has also proposed the timeframe during which projects can enjoy hedging facility. Earlier, the hedging period was only of 5 years but now it has been extended up to 20 years depending on the nature of the projects. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14565', 'image' => '20220224021447_hedging.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14822', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Secure Resources for Election ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 10 billion in the current fiscal year for the election. However, there is a problem in mobilizing resources as the Election Commission and other agencies have demanded more than Rs 50 billion. Despite the ministry's pleas with various donor agencies to meet the demand for the budget, the donors seem reluctant to help. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ministry officials are holding discussions with major partners such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and IMF to solicit support from them. Likewise, a senior official of the ministry said that the government is also lobbying with ambassadors from India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a meeting with Hartwig Schafer, World Bank’s vice president for South Asia, executive director Mohammad Hassan, and country director for the Maldives and Sri Lanka including Nepal Faris Hadad Zervos last week, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma requested them for assistance for the election. Sources said that the World Bank officials did not respond to his request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Nepal Musid Suleiman M Almarwani met Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka last week. Likewise, Khadka had a meeting with Hanan Goder, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nepal Thomas Prinz. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a foreign ministry source, they exchanged views on various issues related to development, cooperation, trade, investment and bilateral relations, and Foreign Minister Khadka requested financial assistance with them for the upcoming elections. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a televised interview two days ago, Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal had revealed that an ambassador had told him that the country which does not need a grant of Rs 50 billion does not require assistance. Donors are said to be irritated, especially after the parties in the coalition government split over the MCC. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14564', 'image' => '20220224014747_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 13:47:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14821', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepali Migrant Workers Visiting Foreign Countries Declining', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. The number of people leaving Nepal for foreign employment was lowest in the first month of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-August) with just 25,400 people leaving the country while it was the highest in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December) when 74,354 people left the country. But the number has been declining in the last two months, as per the data kept by the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, 66,625 Nepalese got the final labor permit in the month of Poush (mid-December to mid-January) while only 54,470 people got such permit in Magh (mid-January to mid-February). In the last seven months, a total of 349,000 Nepali workers have gone to 84 countries for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">District-wise, most of the workers traveled abroad for foreign employment from Dhanusha between mid-January to mid-February. According to the department, not a single person from Manang has gone abroad for foreign employment. Altogether 33,388 people from Dhanusha have left the country while the lowest number of four people leaving the country for foreign employment is from Mustang.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of workers going to the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, which are considered as the major labor destinations, is declining. Until a few years ago, Malaysia was the first choice of Nepali workers. But recently, the workers have been more attracted to Saudi Arabia for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of 349,000 workers who left the country in the last seven months, more than 122,000 have gone to Saudi Arabia. In the last 12 days alone, 19,831 Nepalis have left for Saudi Arabia. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Qatar is the second largest labor destination for Nepali workers followed by the UAE. But the number of workers visiting these countries has declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last seven months, 115,847 Nepalis left for Qatar for employment. The number of people leaving for Qatar between mid-January to mid-February was 14,751. Similarly, 11,303 Nepali migrant workers went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between mid-January to mid-February.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14563', 'image' => '20220224121136_20211215023334_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 12:11:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14819', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Tourists to get Concession on Domestic Flights in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Tourism Revitalization Steering Committee has inked an agreement with Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines to provide a discount in the airfare to foreign tourists to attract more external tourists. As per the agreement, foreign tourists will be charged an amount equal to the fair that Nepali passengers pay for domestic flights. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the committee formed under the chairmanship of Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale entered the agreement with the private airlines to ensure a concession in the domestic airfare for foreigners. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foreigners traveling by air within Nepal had been paying nearly a double fare that Nepalis used to pay for the air ticket for domestic flights due to the policy adopted by the government. There were growing concerns among the foreigners traveling to Nepal that they were charged more than the locals for air tickets, RSS reported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Coordinator of the committee Rajaram Giri told RSS that they made the same proposal with other private airlines and they too are positive about it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the committee has appealed with the agencies concerned to coordinate and collaboration with the stakeholders to identify new prospects for tourism sectors and enable invest-friendly atmosphere in this sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Committee has requested the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre to simplify and amend the travel criteria put in place by the government for the passengers traveling in and out of Nepal considering the decline in rate of COVID-19 infection in the country and across the world. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the Hotel Association of Nepal has also decided to provide a discount upto 20 per cent to the foreign tourists for booking hotel rooms in a bid to revive the tourism industry that has been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14562', 'image' => '20220224110533_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14820', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Alert in Kavre to Avoid Bird-Flu Outbreak ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In this connection, screening of birds has been tightened at the main entry point of the district and stakeholders’ discussion at local level has also been ramped up. Panauti municipality organized an interaction with stakeholders on Wednesday with commercial poultry entrepreneurs of its area. At the programme, municipality mayor Bhim Neupane urged the entrepreneurs to place high alert against the spread of bird-flu and not to hide the information about the flu outbreak. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Livestock Specialist Dr Sudip Humagain urged the entrepreneurs to keep vigilance on farm management and sanitation so as to avoid loss and damage caused by bird-flu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Adviser to Poultry Entrepreneurs Association Madhusudan Guragain said invasion of new diseases has eroded business opportunities which demand the adoption of new security strategies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last week Banepa municipality also hosted a discussion with local stakeholders on contagious disease on birds and security screening in the checkpoints with neighbouring districts. The municipality has intensified anti-bird-flu campaign in different places. It may be noted that bird-flu was detected in two places of Morang, Chitwan and Kathmandu recently. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14561', 'image' => '20220224114055_istockphoto-153240559-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:40:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14818', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business Goes Out of Control ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. However, due to the inability to manage the real estate sector, the state itself has suffered as well as the service seekers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Unnecessary price hike by middlemen have left the middle-class consumers unable to buy land and houses. "Two years ago, the land in Kirtipur used to cost Rs 1.2 million to Rs 1.5 million per aana (1 aana = 242 sq feet), but now it has reached Rs 2.2 million to Rs 2.5 million per aana," said a local.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to government figures, around Rs 50 billion is generated from the real estate business every year at this time. In a country with 50,000-60,000 real estate transactions every month, government officials say the revenue generated is not as much as expected due to the lack of a regulatory body.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pitamber Ghimire, director-general of the Department of Land Management and Records, the only body responsible for managing the real estate sector, admits that the task and duties assigned to them at present cannot end the problems of the real estate sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Named as the Department of Land Management some time ago, this department has now been developed as a record-keeping department.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has been working to maintain the minimum valuation of land across the country by managing the data of 126 Land Revenue Offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ghimire said that the government has realized the problems in the real estate sector and is aware that a separate body is needed to regulate it. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, he suggested that the Land Revenue Act should be amended first to establish a regulatory body and this could be done through amendment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted by the Confederation of Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CIBFIN) found that bank loans have mostly entered the real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, real estate prices have doubled in just two years. After the price hike, ordinary working people could not afford to buy land due to which the real estate businesses have also slumped.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the slump in real estate business, a large amount of money invested in the real estate has not been able to return to the banking channel. Experts say that one of the main reasons for the deteriorating state of Nepal's economy at this time is the real estate. Neighboring India also went through a similar situation. But the real estate companies in India say real estate prices in India have not risen by more than 10 percent in two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is because the Indian media has mentioned that the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India (RERA) has played a big role in keeping the price of real estate stable. In Nepal, real estate prices have been rising sharply since 2062/63.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14560', 'image' => '20220223070923_Real estate.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 19:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14817', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Cooking Oil likely to Increase due to Ukraine Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ukraine is one of the major suppliers of mustard seeds, sunflower seeds and wheat to the Nepalese industries, which have been processing the raw materials and selling them in the Indian market. The oil industries are worried that the shipment of those who have opened LC is unlikely to arrive due to the possible invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suppliers in Ukraine reportedly said that the shipping companies are delaying the shipments despite their request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nanda Kishore Rathi, vice-president of Morang Chamber of Commerce, said that the goods were ordered by opening LC but the goods have not been dispatched from there due to the possible invasion of Ukraine. “If the war starts, the companies will not be able to send the goods. Industries here can lose millions of rupees,” said Rathi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rising tensions between the two countries have pushed up the price of mustard by US$ 30 per ton. Besides Ukraine, mustard seeds are also imported to Nepal from Australia. According to the industrialists, the demand for mustard from Australia has increased due to the tension in Ukraine but it is more likely that the imports will be delayed due to the high demand. Even in Australia, the price of mustard has gone up by US$ 60 per ton. He said that the effect of this will be seen in the Nepali market after some time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Kumar Agrawal, vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, said that due to the tension between Russia and Ukraine, Nepal's oil industries have started importing mustard from Australia instead of Ukraine. According to Agrawal, although there is no shortage of raw materials in the market at the moment, the price of cooking oil is most likely to increase.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prices of mustard, sunflower and soybean oil have been on the rise for the past one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The price of mustard oil, which has gone up by Rs 100 per liter, is expected to rise further. The retail price of a liter of mustard is now Rs 280, sunflower oil is around Rs 230 and soybean oil is around Rs 200.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Morang Chamber of Commerce, Bikash Kumar Begwani said that the shipment of mustard, wheat and sunflower from Ukraine has not stopped yet, but is certain to halt in a few days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Once the war breaks out, the goods coming from there will be stopped,” said Begwani adding, “However, imports from countries including Australia will continue.” He said that the price hike of US$ 30 to 60 per ton of mustard has already affected the Nepali market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He says that if there is a war, the price of petroleum products will also go up and so will the cost of transportation. Banks in Nepal have been reluctant to open LCs for some time due to fear of a war between Ukraine and Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of mustard has already gone up by US$ 60 per ton in the international market in the last two months, said Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry. Rathi, who is also the operator of Chandrashiva Rice and Oil Mills, says, “The LC of mustard I opened two months ago at US$ 755 per ton has now arrived in Kolkata''.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But now the price of mustard in Australia has already reached US$ 820 per ton. The price of mustard was between US$ 580 to 600 per ton in January last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The crisis has intensified after Russia's recognized two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Recognizing the region as an independent state, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to enter Ukrainian territory. The Government of Nepal has taken interest in Nepalese living in Ukraine and has started collecting their data. European countries and the United States have strongly criticized this move of Russia.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14559', 'image' => '20220223064452_cookingwl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 18:44:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14816', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cases of Bad Loans Rising', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from the previous fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14813', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'CG Motocrop Rolls out Fuel-Efficient Suzuki Celerio', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">With the growing fuel price in the country, Celerio can be a perfect car for Nepalese customers as it promises to be low on running cost, the company said in a statement. According to the company, the new Celerio comes with an unparalleled driving experience, new 3D organic sculpted design, first-in-segment safety, and convenience features. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">According to Siraj Pant, general manager for sales and marketing of CG Motocrop, Celerio has been a much-loved family car in the Nepalese market. This next-generation Celerio, offers even more to the Nepalese customers with its highest mileage and unmatched safety and convenient features, while offering a fresh new design in this segment, added Pant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The statement added that the all-new Celerio offers a spacious cabin for increased comfort. Equipped with the next generation K-series engine with Dual Jet, Dual VVT, the all-new Celerio is the most fuel-efficient petrol car offering a mileage of 26.68 km per litre, the company claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">“With segment-first features like Idle Start-Stop, the all-new Celerio makes a step forward towards sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions by up to 19 percent across variants. Powered by cutting-edge technology, it offers a torque of 89Nm@3500rpm and power of 67ps@5500RPM. Development of Next-gen K-series engine is done with the use of state-of-art technology like cooled EGR, auto tensioner, and integrated exhaust manifold,” the statement said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Built on Suzuki’s signature HEARTECT platform, the all-new Celerio comes with a smooth structure for effective absorption and dispersion of impact force, the company further said. According to the statement, the HEARTECT platform improves rigidity and overall strength of the car. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14555', 'image' => '20220222091443_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 21:13:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, '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' => '14827', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Positive about Purchasing Electricity from Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The taskforce will have a maximum of three members from each country. As per the understanding, a company will be established at the government level of both the countries and this company will build a hydropower project with joint investment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such agreement was reached during the ninth meeting of the Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee on Thursday, informed Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Chiranjibi Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of the Energy Ministry Debendra Karki from Nepal and Secretary of the Energy Ministry of India Alok Kumar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the meeting, issues including existing transmission lines between the two countries, under-construction and proposed cross-border transmission line, the Arun III hydropower project and transmission line and cross-border power trade were discussed, said Joint Secretary Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting agreed to increase the capacity of the 400 KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting also agreed to establish a joint company of Nepal and India within April 2022 for the construction of the cross-border New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line. The 400 KV transmission line will span across 140 kilometers (20 kilometers in the Nepali territory and the remaining 120 km in the Indian territory). The Government of Nepal has to manage budget to construct the project on its side. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Government of India was positive towards the proposals of Nepal Electricity Authority at different dates to export electricity to India, said the meeting attendants. The NEA has requested India to approve the proposal to sell 850 megawatts of electricity to India before upcoming monsoon. -- RSS </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-25', 'modified' => '2022-02-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14569', 'image' => '20220225082256_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-25 08:20:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14825', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Invades Ukraine in Major Assault since WWII', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus, and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The BBC also confirmed that Russian forces invaded Ukraine, with missile strikes and explosions reported near major cities and on its military infrastructure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Ukrainian military reported said it has killed about 50 Russian "occupiers" and shot down at least six Russian aircraft.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia on the other hand maintained that it met little resistance and claimed that Ukrainian armed forces fled en masse, abandoning their weapons and positions, BBC further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to BBC, emergency sirens have been sounding in Kyiv since the first explosions in the early hours while huge traffic jams have built up as residents tried to flee the city after Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to have worldwide impact as analysts predict a plunge is share markets across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal too will not remain unscathed as it depends on Ukraine for the supply of raw materials required for producing cooking oil. The oil industries are already bracing for a price hike as supplies have already stopped coming from Ukraine. The industrialists that have opened LC fear that their investment will go down the drain.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14568', 'image' => '20220224080713_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 20:06:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => true, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14826', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Fast Track unlikely to be Completed within the Deadline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline. The project still needs supplementary environmental impact assessment. Meanwhile, the revised design has pointed out the need to acquire more land for the right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expressway needs to increase the right of way to 100 meters, the new design states. Currently, the right of way of the expressway is 50 meters. However, as it is necessary to increase it up to 100 meters in terms of security, additional land acquisition, and tree felling are also required. Due to this, a supplementary EIA is needed by amending the previous EIA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It will take a maximum of 7 months to prepare the supplementary EIA, according to the Nepalese Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief and Brigadier General (Technical) Bikash Pokharel said that it would be difficult to complete the work on time if the government does not assist in acquisition of forest, environment, and land. "The supplementary EIA has not been approved by the concerned body for seven months," Pokhrel added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had assigned the contract management of the fast track to the Nepalese Army with a mandate to complete the construction of the expressway within fiscal year 2080/81. The army has requested for the acquisition of 411 ropanis of land in Khokna and facilitation by the concerned bodies in clearing the site for additional right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The big package and challenging task of the project is the construction of the tunnel," said Pokharel. According to him, it is estimated that 1 km of the tunnel can be dug in one year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On this basis, a 3 km tunnel can be dug in 3 years, and the excavation from both sides can be completed within the contract period, said Pokharel. Along with this, the work of bridges on the expressway will also be completed. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claimed that the work of the expressway would be completed within the stipulated time if the budget is assured and no future obstruction surfaces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, "As Khokna has become the center of five projects, the locals are afraid that Khokna will be lose its identity due to these projects. The locals are of the view that the expressway will not be a problem if the remaining four projects are not constructed here."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the expressway, Smart City, Outer Ring Road, Transmission Line, and Bagmati Corridor projects are also linked with the area that lies on the outskirts of Lalitpur. Stating that the locals have put forward two conditions for the entry of the expressway, Pokharel said, "They are of the view that there should be no problem at the starting point of the expressway if it is ensured that the compensation of land is increased and none of the other four projects are undertaken there."</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14567', 'image' => '20220224090712_fast track nov 21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 21:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14824', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Clean Mountain Campaign to Kick off in May', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. The campaign is to be launched with the budget managed by the Department of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board and Department of Forest and Environment. The aim is to clean four mountains with the involvement of 91 people. Among them, 29 people will be from the Nepalese Army, 48 Sherpas and other coordination committee members and 14 from Rear Operations Group.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepalese Army organized a program in Kathmandu on Tuesday to inform about the campaign. The army informed that garbage from Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Manaslu would be collected and managed properly under this campaign. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Major Kishor Adhikari, who climbed Mt Everest in 2013, said that the plan is to start the campaign from May. He also informed that the aim is to collect 35 tons of garbage from the above the base camp and nearby areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, the army informed that the government has provided Rs 83 million for the campaign, although a budget of Rs 139.6 million is required. Out of the remaining budget of Rs 46.6 million, the army will manage Rs 13 million and the rest will be sought from other sources. Earlier, the government had allocated Rs 100 million for the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2021”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The campaign was initiated in 2019. Presenting the work plan of the campaign, the official said that the campaign aims to reduce the impact of pollution and climate change on the environment, help the government to increase economic activities in the mountain areas, attract tourists as well as mountaineers and protect the mountains for future generations as well.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14566', 'image' => '20220224024229_eveest-expedition-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:41:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14823', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Presents New Regulation Related to Hedging in Cabinet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. The government decided to prepare a new draft of regulation related to hedging after the regulation prepared three years ago was not much effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasisi confirmed that the ministry prepared the new regulation in consultation with the Nepal Rastra Bank and has already presented it before the cabinet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the new regulation has been presented before the cabinet after amending many provisions in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation proposes hedging facility for health institutions, educational institutes, agriculture, tourism and IT sector companies as well as industries and urban development infrastructures with more than Rs 2 billion investment. It also has provision for green investment projects to enjoy hedging facility, which was not included in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, only the central bank and Finance Ministry were responsible for hedging but now even Infrastructure Development Bank and commercial banks can bear such responsibilities.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The previous regulation had proposed hedging facility for Monorail and Metrorail covering more than 10 kilometers distance but now even the projects covering 5 kilometer distance can benefit from hedging. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation has also proposed the timeframe during which projects can enjoy hedging facility. Earlier, the hedging period was only of 5 years but now it has been extended up to 20 years depending on the nature of the projects. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14565', 'image' => '20220224021447_hedging.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14822', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Secure Resources for Election ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 10 billion in the current fiscal year for the election. However, there is a problem in mobilizing resources as the Election Commission and other agencies have demanded more than Rs 50 billion. Despite the ministry's pleas with various donor agencies to meet the demand for the budget, the donors seem reluctant to help. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ministry officials are holding discussions with major partners such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and IMF to solicit support from them. Likewise, a senior official of the ministry said that the government is also lobbying with ambassadors from India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a meeting with Hartwig Schafer, World Bank’s vice president for South Asia, executive director Mohammad Hassan, and country director for the Maldives and Sri Lanka including Nepal Faris Hadad Zervos last week, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma requested them for assistance for the election. Sources said that the World Bank officials did not respond to his request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Nepal Musid Suleiman M Almarwani met Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka last week. Likewise, Khadka had a meeting with Hanan Goder, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nepal Thomas Prinz. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a foreign ministry source, they exchanged views on various issues related to development, cooperation, trade, investment and bilateral relations, and Foreign Minister Khadka requested financial assistance with them for the upcoming elections. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a televised interview two days ago, Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal had revealed that an ambassador had told him that the country which does not need a grant of Rs 50 billion does not require assistance. Donors are said to be irritated, especially after the parties in the coalition government split over the MCC. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14564', 'image' => '20220224014747_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 13:47:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14821', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepali Migrant Workers Visiting Foreign Countries Declining', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. The number of people leaving Nepal for foreign employment was lowest in the first month of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-August) with just 25,400 people leaving the country while it was the highest in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December) when 74,354 people left the country. But the number has been declining in the last two months, as per the data kept by the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, 66,625 Nepalese got the final labor permit in the month of Poush (mid-December to mid-January) while only 54,470 people got such permit in Magh (mid-January to mid-February). In the last seven months, a total of 349,000 Nepali workers have gone to 84 countries for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">District-wise, most of the workers traveled abroad for foreign employment from Dhanusha between mid-January to mid-February. According to the department, not a single person from Manang has gone abroad for foreign employment. Altogether 33,388 people from Dhanusha have left the country while the lowest number of four people leaving the country for foreign employment is from Mustang.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of workers going to the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, which are considered as the major labor destinations, is declining. Until a few years ago, Malaysia was the first choice of Nepali workers. But recently, the workers have been more attracted to Saudi Arabia for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of 349,000 workers who left the country in the last seven months, more than 122,000 have gone to Saudi Arabia. In the last 12 days alone, 19,831 Nepalis have left for Saudi Arabia. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Qatar is the second largest labor destination for Nepali workers followed by the UAE. But the number of workers visiting these countries has declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last seven months, 115,847 Nepalis left for Qatar for employment. The number of people leaving for Qatar between mid-January to mid-February was 14,751. Similarly, 11,303 Nepali migrant workers went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between mid-January to mid-February.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14563', 'image' => '20220224121136_20211215023334_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 12:11:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14819', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Tourists to get Concession on Domestic Flights in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Tourism Revitalization Steering Committee has inked an agreement with Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines to provide a discount in the airfare to foreign tourists to attract more external tourists. As per the agreement, foreign tourists will be charged an amount equal to the fair that Nepali passengers pay for domestic flights. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the committee formed under the chairmanship of Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale entered the agreement with the private airlines to ensure a concession in the domestic airfare for foreigners. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foreigners traveling by air within Nepal had been paying nearly a double fare that Nepalis used to pay for the air ticket for domestic flights due to the policy adopted by the government. There were growing concerns among the foreigners traveling to Nepal that they were charged more than the locals for air tickets, RSS reported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Coordinator of the committee Rajaram Giri told RSS that they made the same proposal with other private airlines and they too are positive about it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the committee has appealed with the agencies concerned to coordinate and collaboration with the stakeholders to identify new prospects for tourism sectors and enable invest-friendly atmosphere in this sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Committee has requested the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre to simplify and amend the travel criteria put in place by the government for the passengers traveling in and out of Nepal considering the decline in rate of COVID-19 infection in the country and across the world. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the Hotel Association of Nepal has also decided to provide a discount upto 20 per cent to the foreign tourists for booking hotel rooms in a bid to revive the tourism industry that has been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14562', 'image' => '20220224110533_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14820', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Alert in Kavre to Avoid Bird-Flu Outbreak ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In this connection, screening of birds has been tightened at the main entry point of the district and stakeholders’ discussion at local level has also been ramped up. Panauti municipality organized an interaction with stakeholders on Wednesday with commercial poultry entrepreneurs of its area. At the programme, municipality mayor Bhim Neupane urged the entrepreneurs to place high alert against the spread of bird-flu and not to hide the information about the flu outbreak. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Livestock Specialist Dr Sudip Humagain urged the entrepreneurs to keep vigilance on farm management and sanitation so as to avoid loss and damage caused by bird-flu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Adviser to Poultry Entrepreneurs Association Madhusudan Guragain said invasion of new diseases has eroded business opportunities which demand the adoption of new security strategies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last week Banepa municipality also hosted a discussion with local stakeholders on contagious disease on birds and security screening in the checkpoints with neighbouring districts. The municipality has intensified anti-bird-flu campaign in different places. It may be noted that bird-flu was detected in two places of Morang, Chitwan and Kathmandu recently. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14561', 'image' => '20220224114055_istockphoto-153240559-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:40:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14818', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business Goes Out of Control ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. However, due to the inability to manage the real estate sector, the state itself has suffered as well as the service seekers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Unnecessary price hike by middlemen have left the middle-class consumers unable to buy land and houses. "Two years ago, the land in Kirtipur used to cost Rs 1.2 million to Rs 1.5 million per aana (1 aana = 242 sq feet), but now it has reached Rs 2.2 million to Rs 2.5 million per aana," said a local.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to government figures, around Rs 50 billion is generated from the real estate business every year at this time. In a country with 50,000-60,000 real estate transactions every month, government officials say the revenue generated is not as much as expected due to the lack of a regulatory body.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pitamber Ghimire, director-general of the Department of Land Management and Records, the only body responsible for managing the real estate sector, admits that the task and duties assigned to them at present cannot end the problems of the real estate sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Named as the Department of Land Management some time ago, this department has now been developed as a record-keeping department.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has been working to maintain the minimum valuation of land across the country by managing the data of 126 Land Revenue Offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ghimire said that the government has realized the problems in the real estate sector and is aware that a separate body is needed to regulate it. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, he suggested that the Land Revenue Act should be amended first to establish a regulatory body and this could be done through amendment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted by the Confederation of Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CIBFIN) found that bank loans have mostly entered the real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, real estate prices have doubled in just two years. After the price hike, ordinary working people could not afford to buy land due to which the real estate businesses have also slumped.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the slump in real estate business, a large amount of money invested in the real estate has not been able to return to the banking channel. Experts say that one of the main reasons for the deteriorating state of Nepal's economy at this time is the real estate. Neighboring India also went through a similar situation. But the real estate companies in India say real estate prices in India have not risen by more than 10 percent in two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is because the Indian media has mentioned that the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India (RERA) has played a big role in keeping the price of real estate stable. In Nepal, real estate prices have been rising sharply since 2062/63.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14560', 'image' => '20220223070923_Real estate.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 19:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14817', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Cooking Oil likely to Increase due to Ukraine Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ukraine is one of the major suppliers of mustard seeds, sunflower seeds and wheat to the Nepalese industries, which have been processing the raw materials and selling them in the Indian market. The oil industries are worried that the shipment of those who have opened LC is unlikely to arrive due to the possible invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suppliers in Ukraine reportedly said that the shipping companies are delaying the shipments despite their request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nanda Kishore Rathi, vice-president of Morang Chamber of Commerce, said that the goods were ordered by opening LC but the goods have not been dispatched from there due to the possible invasion of Ukraine. “If the war starts, the companies will not be able to send the goods. Industries here can lose millions of rupees,” said Rathi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rising tensions between the two countries have pushed up the price of mustard by US$ 30 per ton. Besides Ukraine, mustard seeds are also imported to Nepal from Australia. According to the industrialists, the demand for mustard from Australia has increased due to the tension in Ukraine but it is more likely that the imports will be delayed due to the high demand. Even in Australia, the price of mustard has gone up by US$ 60 per ton. He said that the effect of this will be seen in the Nepali market after some time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Kumar Agrawal, vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, said that due to the tension between Russia and Ukraine, Nepal's oil industries have started importing mustard from Australia instead of Ukraine. According to Agrawal, although there is no shortage of raw materials in the market at the moment, the price of cooking oil is most likely to increase.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prices of mustard, sunflower and soybean oil have been on the rise for the past one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The price of mustard oil, which has gone up by Rs 100 per liter, is expected to rise further. The retail price of a liter of mustard is now Rs 280, sunflower oil is around Rs 230 and soybean oil is around Rs 200.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Morang Chamber of Commerce, Bikash Kumar Begwani said that the shipment of mustard, wheat and sunflower from Ukraine has not stopped yet, but is certain to halt in a few days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Once the war breaks out, the goods coming from there will be stopped,” said Begwani adding, “However, imports from countries including Australia will continue.” He said that the price hike of US$ 30 to 60 per ton of mustard has already affected the Nepali market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He says that if there is a war, the price of petroleum products will also go up and so will the cost of transportation. Banks in Nepal have been reluctant to open LCs for some time due to fear of a war between Ukraine and Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of mustard has already gone up by US$ 60 per ton in the international market in the last two months, said Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry. Rathi, who is also the operator of Chandrashiva Rice and Oil Mills, says, “The LC of mustard I opened two months ago at US$ 755 per ton has now arrived in Kolkata''.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But now the price of mustard in Australia has already reached US$ 820 per ton. The price of mustard was between US$ 580 to 600 per ton in January last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The crisis has intensified after Russia's recognized two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Recognizing the region as an independent state, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to enter Ukrainian territory. The Government of Nepal has taken interest in Nepalese living in Ukraine and has started collecting their data. European countries and the United States have strongly criticized this move of Russia.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14559', 'image' => '20220223064452_cookingwl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 18:44:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14816', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cases of Bad Loans Rising', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from the previous fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14813', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'CG Motocrop Rolls out Fuel-Efficient Suzuki Celerio', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">With the growing fuel price in the country, Celerio can be a perfect car for Nepalese customers as it promises to be low on running cost, the company said in a statement. According to the company, the new Celerio comes with an unparalleled driving experience, new 3D organic sculpted design, first-in-segment safety, and convenience features. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">According to Siraj Pant, general manager for sales and marketing of CG Motocrop, Celerio has been a much-loved family car in the Nepalese market. This next-generation Celerio, offers even more to the Nepalese customers with its highest mileage and unmatched safety and convenient features, while offering a fresh new design in this segment, added Pant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The statement added that the all-new Celerio offers a spacious cabin for increased comfort. Equipped with the next generation K-series engine with Dual Jet, Dual VVT, the all-new Celerio is the most fuel-efficient petrol car offering a mileage of 26.68 km per litre, the company claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">“With segment-first features like Idle Start-Stop, the all-new Celerio makes a step forward towards sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions by up to 19 percent across variants. Powered by cutting-edge technology, it offers a torque of 89Nm@3500rpm and power of 67ps@5500RPM. Development of Next-gen K-series engine is done with the use of state-of-art technology like cooled EGR, auto tensioner, and integrated exhaust manifold,” the statement said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Built on Suzuki’s signature HEARTECT platform, the all-new Celerio comes with a smooth structure for effective absorption and dispersion of impact force, the company further said. According to the statement, the HEARTECT platform improves rigidity and overall strength of the car. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14555', 'image' => '20220222091443_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 21:13:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, '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' => '14827', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'India Positive about Purchasing Electricity from Nepal ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 25: Nepal and India have reached an understanding to form a joint taskforce to prepare a proposal to construct a hydropower project with joint investment from both the countries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The taskforce will have a maximum of three members from each country. As per the understanding, a company will be established at the government level of both the countries and this company will build a hydropower project with joint investment. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Such agreement was reached during the ninth meeting of the Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee on Thursday, informed Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Chiranjibi Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of the Energy Ministry Debendra Karki from Nepal and Secretary of the Energy Ministry of India Alok Kumar. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the meeting, issues including existing transmission lines between the two countries, under-construction and proposed cross-border transmission line, the Arun III hydropower project and transmission line and cross-border power trade were discussed, said Joint Secretary Chataut. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting agreed to increase the capacity of the 400 KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The meeting also agreed to establish a joint company of Nepal and India within April 2022 for the construction of the cross-border New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line. The 400 KV transmission line will span across 140 kilometers (20 kilometers in the Nepali territory and the remaining 120 km in the Indian territory). The Government of Nepal has to manage budget to construct the project on its side. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Government of India was positive towards the proposals of Nepal Electricity Authority at different dates to export electricity to India, said the meeting attendants. The NEA has requested India to approve the proposal to sell 850 megawatts of electricity to India before upcoming monsoon. -- RSS </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-25', 'modified' => '2022-02-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14569', 'image' => '20220225082256_Classification-of-Overhead-Transmission-lines-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-25 08:20:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14825', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Invades Ukraine in Major Assault since WWII', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Agencies</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in a massed assault by land, sea and air, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, Reuters reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the news agency, missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus, and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The BBC also confirmed that Russian forces invaded Ukraine, with missile strikes and explosions reported near major cities and on its military infrastructure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Ukrainian military reported said it has killed about 50 Russian "occupiers" and shot down at least six Russian aircraft.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia on the other hand maintained that it met little resistance and claimed that Ukrainian armed forces fled en masse, abandoning their weapons and positions, BBC further reported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to BBC, emergency sirens have been sounding in Kyiv since the first explosions in the early hours while huge traffic jams have built up as residents tried to flee the city after Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to have worldwide impact as analysts predict a plunge is share markets across the globe.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal too will not remain unscathed as it depends on Ukraine for the supply of raw materials required for producing cooking oil. The oil industries are already bracing for a price hike as supplies have already stopped coming from Ukraine. The industrialists that have opened LC fear that their investment will go down the drain.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14568', 'image' => '20220224080713_aaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 20:06:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => true, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14826', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Fast Track unlikely to be Completed within the Deadline', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Kathmandu-Terai Expressway (Fast Track), a national pride project, is unlikely to be completed within the given deadline. The project still needs supplementary environmental impact assessment. Meanwhile, the revised design has pointed out the need to acquire more land for the right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The expressway needs to increase the right of way to 100 meters, the new design states. Currently, the right of way of the expressway is 50 meters. However, as it is necessary to increase it up to 100 meters in terms of security, additional land acquisition, and tree felling are also required. Due to this, a supplementary EIA is needed by amending the previous EIA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It will take a maximum of 7 months to prepare the supplementary EIA, according to the Nepalese Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief and Brigadier General (Technical) Bikash Pokharel said that it would be difficult to complete the work on time if the government does not assist in acquisition of forest, environment, and land. "The supplementary EIA has not been approved by the concerned body for seven months," Pokhrel added.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had assigned the contract management of the fast track to the Nepalese Army with a mandate to complete the construction of the expressway within fiscal year 2080/81. The army has requested for the acquisition of 411 ropanis of land in Khokna and facilitation by the concerned bodies in clearing the site for additional right of way.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The big package and challenging task of the project is the construction of the tunnel," said Pokharel. According to him, it is estimated that 1 km of the tunnel can be dug in one year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On this basis, a 3 km tunnel can be dug in 3 years, and the excavation from both sides can be completed within the contract period, said Pokharel. Along with this, the work of bridges on the expressway will also be completed. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claimed that the work of the expressway would be completed within the stipulated time if the budget is assured and no future obstruction surfaces.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said, "As Khokna has become the center of five projects, the locals are afraid that Khokna will be lose its identity due to these projects. The locals are of the view that the expressway will not be a problem if the remaining four projects are not constructed here."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the expressway, Smart City, Outer Ring Road, Transmission Line, and Bagmati Corridor projects are also linked with the area that lies on the outskirts of Lalitpur. Stating that the locals have put forward two conditions for the entry of the expressway, Pokharel said, "They are of the view that there should be no problem at the starting point of the expressway if it is ensured that the compensation of land is increased and none of the other four projects are undertaken there."</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14567', 'image' => '20220224090712_fast track nov 21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 21:06:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14824', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Clean Mountain Campaign to Kick off in May', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The Nepalese Army is preparing to launch the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2022”. The campaign is to be launched with the budget managed by the Department of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board and Department of Forest and Environment. The aim is to clean four mountains with the involvement of 91 people. Among them, 29 people will be from the Nepalese Army, 48 Sherpas and other coordination committee members and 14 from Rear Operations Group.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Nepalese Army organized a program in Kathmandu on Tuesday to inform about the campaign. The army informed that garbage from Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Manaslu would be collected and managed properly under this campaign. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Major Kishor Adhikari, who climbed Mt Everest in 2013, said that the plan is to start the campaign from May. He also informed that the aim is to collect 35 tons of garbage from the above the base camp and nearby areas.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion, the army informed that the government has provided Rs 83 million for the campaign, although a budget of Rs 139.6 million is required. Out of the remaining budget of Rs 46.6 million, the army will manage Rs 13 million and the rest will be sought from other sources. Earlier, the government had allocated Rs 100 million for the “Clean Mountain Campaign – 2021”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The campaign was initiated in 2019. Presenting the work plan of the campaign, the official said that the campaign aims to reduce the impact of pollution and climate change on the environment, help the government to increase economic activities in the mountain areas, attract tourists as well as mountaineers and protect the mountains for future generations as well.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14566', 'image' => '20220224024229_eveest-expedition-.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:41:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14823', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Ministry Presents New Regulation Related to Hedging in Cabinet', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: The Ministry of Finance has presented Hedging-related Regulation 2078 to the Council of Minister for approval. The government decided to prepare a new draft of regulation related to hedging after the regulation prepared three years ago was not much effective.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasisi confirmed that the ministry prepared the new regulation in consultation with the Nepal Rastra Bank and has already presented it before the cabinet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to him, the new regulation has been presented before the cabinet after amending many provisions in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation proposes hedging facility for health institutions, educational institutes, agriculture, tourism and IT sector companies as well as industries and urban development infrastructures with more than Rs 2 billion investment. It also has provision for green investment projects to enjoy hedging facility, which was not included in the previous regulation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Earlier, only the central bank and Finance Ministry were responsible for hedging but now even Infrastructure Development Bank and commercial banks can bear such responsibilities.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The previous regulation had proposed hedging facility for Monorail and Metrorail covering more than 10 kilometers distance but now even the projects covering 5 kilometer distance can benefit from hedging. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The new regulation has also proposed the timeframe during which projects can enjoy hedging facility. Earlier, the hedging period was only of 5 years but now it has been extended up to 20 years depending on the nature of the projects. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14565', 'image' => '20220224021447_hedging.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 14:14:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14822', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Struggling to Secure Resources for Election ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The government, which has announced to hold local elections on May 13, is facing problems in managing the resources for the election expenses. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 10 billion in the current fiscal year for the election. However, there is a problem in mobilizing resources as the Election Commission and other agencies have demanded more than Rs 50 billion. Despite the ministry's pleas with various donor agencies to meet the demand for the budget, the donors seem reluctant to help. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ministry officials are holding discussions with major partners such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and IMF to solicit support from them. Likewise, a senior official of the ministry said that the government is also lobbying with ambassadors from India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During a meeting with Hartwig Schafer, World Bank’s vice president for South Asia, executive director Mohammad Hassan, and country director for the Maldives and Sri Lanka including Nepal Faris Hadad Zervos last week, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma requested them for assistance for the election. Sources said that the World Bank officials did not respond to his request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Nepal Musid Suleiman M Almarwani met Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka last week. Likewise, Khadka had a meeting with Hanan Goder, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal and Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nepal Thomas Prinz. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to a foreign ministry source, they exchanged views on various issues related to development, cooperation, trade, investment and bilateral relations, and Foreign Minister Khadka requested financial assistance with them for the upcoming elections. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In a televised interview two days ago, Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal had revealed that an ambassador had told him that the country which does not need a grant of Rs 50 billion does not require assistance. Donors are said to be irritated, especially after the parties in the coalition government split over the MCC. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14564', 'image' => '20220224014747_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 13:47:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14821', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepali Migrant Workers Visiting Foreign Countries Declining', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 24: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined in the last two months. The number of people leaving Nepal for foreign employment was lowest in the first month of the current fiscal year (mid-July to mid-August) with just 25,400 people leaving the country while it was the highest in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December) when 74,354 people left the country. But the number has been declining in the last two months, as per the data kept by the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the department, 66,625 Nepalese got the final labor permit in the month of Poush (mid-December to mid-January) while only 54,470 people got such permit in Magh (mid-January to mid-February). In the last seven months, a total of 349,000 Nepali workers have gone to 84 countries for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">District-wise, most of the workers traveled abroad for foreign employment from Dhanusha between mid-January to mid-February. According to the department, not a single person from Manang has gone abroad for foreign employment. Altogether 33,388 people from Dhanusha have left the country while the lowest number of four people leaving the country for foreign employment is from Mustang.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The number of workers going to the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, which are considered as the major labor destinations, is declining. Until a few years ago, Malaysia was the first choice of Nepali workers. But recently, the workers have been more attracted to Saudi Arabia for employment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of 349,000 workers who left the country in the last seven months, more than 122,000 have gone to Saudi Arabia. In the last 12 days alone, 19,831 Nepalis have left for Saudi Arabia. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Qatar is the second largest labor destination for Nepali workers followed by the UAE. But the number of workers visiting these countries has declined.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the last seven months, 115,847 Nepalis left for Qatar for employment. The number of people leaving for Qatar between mid-January to mid-February was 14,751. Similarly, 11,303 Nepali migrant workers went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between mid-January to mid-February.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14563', 'image' => '20220224121136_20211215023334_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 12:11:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14819', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Tourists to get Concession on Domestic Flights in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: Foreign tourists can now enjoy a discount in airfare within Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Tourism Revitalization Steering Committee has inked an agreement with Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines to provide a discount in the airfare to foreign tourists to attract more external tourists. As per the agreement, foreign tourists will be charged an amount equal to the fair that Nepali passengers pay for domestic flights. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the committee formed under the chairmanship of Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale entered the agreement with the private airlines to ensure a concession in the domestic airfare for foreigners. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Foreigners traveling by air within Nepal had been paying nearly a double fare that Nepalis used to pay for the air ticket for domestic flights due to the policy adopted by the government. There were growing concerns among the foreigners traveling to Nepal that they were charged more than the locals for air tickets, RSS reported. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Coordinator of the committee Rajaram Giri told RSS that they made the same proposal with other private airlines and they too are positive about it. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the committee has appealed with the agencies concerned to coordinate and collaboration with the stakeholders to identify new prospects for tourism sectors and enable invest-friendly atmosphere in this sector. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Committee has requested the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre to simplify and amend the travel criteria put in place by the government for the passengers traveling in and out of Nepal considering the decline in rate of COVID-19 infection in the country and across the world. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the Hotel Association of Nepal has also decided to provide a discount upto 20 per cent to the foreign tourists for booking hotel rooms in a bid to revive the tourism industry that has been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14562', 'image' => '20220224110533_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14820', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'High Alert in Kavre to Avoid Bird-Flu Outbreak ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 24: High alert measures have been put in place in Kavrepalanchowk – the eastern entry point of Kathmandu Valley and the country’s second largest poultry production hub – after bird-flu was detected in some districts, including the federal capital Kathmandu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In this connection, screening of birds has been tightened at the main entry point of the district and stakeholders’ discussion at local level has also been ramped up. Panauti municipality organized an interaction with stakeholders on Wednesday with commercial poultry entrepreneurs of its area. At the programme, municipality mayor Bhim Neupane urged the entrepreneurs to place high alert against the spread of bird-flu and not to hide the information about the flu outbreak. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Livestock Specialist Dr Sudip Humagain urged the entrepreneurs to keep vigilance on farm management and sanitation so as to avoid loss and damage caused by bird-flu. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Adviser to Poultry Entrepreneurs Association Madhusudan Guragain said invasion of new diseases has eroded business opportunities which demand the adoption of new security strategies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last week Banepa municipality also hosted a discussion with local stakeholders on contagious disease on birds and security screening in the checkpoints with neighbouring districts. The municipality has intensified anti-bird-flu campaign in different places. It may be noted that bird-flu was detected in two places of Morang, Chitwan and Kathmandu recently. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-24', 'modified' => '2022-02-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14561', 'image' => '20220224114055_istockphoto-153240559-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-24 11:40:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14818', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business Goes Out of Control ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Stakeholders have been demanding the government to make the real estate business ell organized since a long time. However, due to the inability to manage the real estate sector, the state itself has suffered as well as the service seekers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Unnecessary price hike by middlemen have left the middle-class consumers unable to buy land and houses. "Two years ago, the land in Kirtipur used to cost Rs 1.2 million to Rs 1.5 million per aana (1 aana = 242 sq feet), but now it has reached Rs 2.2 million to Rs 2.5 million per aana," said a local.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to government figures, around Rs 50 billion is generated from the real estate business every year at this time. In a country with 50,000-60,000 real estate transactions every month, government officials say the revenue generated is not as much as expected due to the lack of a regulatory body.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pitamber Ghimire, director-general of the Department of Land Management and Records, the only body responsible for managing the real estate sector, admits that the task and duties assigned to them at present cannot end the problems of the real estate sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Named as the Department of Land Management some time ago, this department has now been developed as a record-keeping department.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has been working to maintain the minimum valuation of land across the country by managing the data of 126 Land Revenue Offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ghimire said that the government has realized the problems in the real estate sector and is aware that a separate body is needed to regulate it. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, he suggested that the Land Revenue Act should be amended first to establish a regulatory body and this could be done through amendment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A study conducted by the Confederation of Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CIBFIN) found that bank loans have mostly entered the real estate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As a result, real estate prices have doubled in just two years. After the price hike, ordinary working people could not afford to buy land due to which the real estate businesses have also slumped.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Due to the slump in real estate business, a large amount of money invested in the real estate has not been able to return to the banking channel. Experts say that one of the main reasons for the deteriorating state of Nepal's economy at this time is the real estate. Neighboring India also went through a similar situation. But the real estate companies in India say real estate prices in India have not risen by more than 10 percent in two years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This is because the Indian media has mentioned that the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India (RERA) has played a big role in keeping the price of real estate stable. In Nepal, real estate prices have been rising sharply since 2062/63.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14560', 'image' => '20220223070923_Real estate.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 19:08:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14817', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Cooking Oil likely to Increase due to Ukraine Crisis', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: Nepal’s oil industries are facing shortage of raw materials due to the prospect of war between Russia and Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ukraine is one of the major suppliers of mustard seeds, sunflower seeds and wheat to the Nepalese industries, which have been processing the raw materials and selling them in the Indian market. The oil industries are worried that the shipment of those who have opened LC is unlikely to arrive due to the possible invasion of Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suppliers in Ukraine reportedly said that the shipping companies are delaying the shipments despite their request. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nanda Kishore Rathi, vice-president of Morang Chamber of Commerce, said that the goods were ordered by opening LC but the goods have not been dispatched from there due to the possible invasion of Ukraine. “If the war starts, the companies will not be able to send the goods. Industries here can lose millions of rupees,” said Rathi.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rising tensions between the two countries have pushed up the price of mustard by US$ 30 per ton. Besides Ukraine, mustard seeds are also imported to Nepal from Australia. According to the industrialists, the demand for mustard from Australia has increased due to the tension in Ukraine but it is more likely that the imports will be delayed due to the high demand. Even in Australia, the price of mustard has gone up by US$ 60 per ton. He said that the effect of this will be seen in the Nepali market after some time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Krishna Kumar Agrawal, vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, said that due to the tension between Russia and Ukraine, Nepal's oil industries have started importing mustard from Australia instead of Ukraine. According to Agrawal, although there is no shortage of raw materials in the market at the moment, the price of cooking oil is most likely to increase.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prices of mustard, sunflower and soybean oil have been on the rise for the past one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The price of mustard oil, which has gone up by Rs 100 per liter, is expected to rise further. The retail price of a liter of mustard is now Rs 280, sunflower oil is around Rs 230 and soybean oil is around Rs 200.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Morang Chamber of Commerce, Bikash Kumar Begwani said that the shipment of mustard, wheat and sunflower from Ukraine has not stopped yet, but is certain to halt in a few days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Once the war breaks out, the goods coming from there will be stopped,” said Begwani adding, “However, imports from countries including Australia will continue.” He said that the price hike of US$ 30 to 60 per ton of mustard has already affected the Nepali market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He says that if there is a war, the price of petroleum products will also go up and so will the cost of transportation. Banks in Nepal have been reluctant to open LCs for some time due to fear of a war between Ukraine and Russia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The price of mustard has already gone up by US$ 60 per ton in the international market in the last two months, said Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry. Rathi, who is also the operator of Chandrashiva Rice and Oil Mills, says, “The LC of mustard I opened two months ago at US$ 755 per ton has now arrived in Kolkata''.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But now the price of mustard in Australia has already reached US$ 820 per ton. The price of mustard was between US$ 580 to 600 per ton in January last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The crisis has intensified after Russia's recognized two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Recognizing the region as an independent state, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to enter Ukrainian territory. The Government of Nepal has taken interest in Nepalese living in Ukraine and has started collecting their data. European countries and the United States have strongly criticized this move of Russia.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14559', 'image' => '20220223064452_cookingwl.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 18:44:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14816', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Cases of Bad Loans Rising', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 23: The number of cases filed in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which was set up for recovering bad loans of banks and financial institutions, is increasing. The number of cases has increased as banks and financial institutions have stepped up debt recovery. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of January of the current fiscal year, 123 cases have been registered in the tribunal. A total of 125 cases were registered in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The process of debt recovery of the banks were affected last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of cases is increasing in the current fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Compared to the previous year, the number of cases has increased this year," said Kul Prasad Dahal, information officer of the tribunal, "The number of cases may have increased this year due to the impact of the pandemic in previous years." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the tribunal, a total of 371 cases have been registered in the tribunal as of January this year. Of them, 248 cases are from the previous fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of this, only 89 cases have been settled till December and 282 cases are yet to be decided. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The tribunal was established in 2060 to facilitate the recovery of loans as per the Debt Recovery Act 2058. Banks and financial institutions can file a case in the tribunal if the principal amount above Rs 500,000 is to be recovered. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks can register case in the tribunal if they fail to recover the debt. Such cases must be registered within four years after the defaulter crosses the time given for repaying the debt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">So far, the tribunal has recovered Rs 31.17 billion from the defaulters. It has collected Rs. 443 million in the current fiscal year alone. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the number of cases in the tribunal has increased, the number of decisions made has decreased. While 45.54 percent cases were decided in the fiscal year 2071/72, only 17.58 percent cases were decided in the last fiscal year. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14558', 'image' => '20220223033635_20220128034042_Bad Loan (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 15:35:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14815', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Liquidity Crunch Results in Decline in Foreign Trade', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">February 23: The liquidity crunch faced by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) is now having impact on the country’s foreign trade. Imports and exports of Nepal have both declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) due to the inability of BFIs to provide loan to the importers as per their demand and also due to the central bank’s policy to restrict import of luxurious goods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the review month, Nepal’s imports declined by almost Rs 13 billion while the exports also dropped by Rs 3 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">As per the data made public by the Department of Customs, the country imported goods worth Rs 148.12 billion during the review period against exports worth Rs 160.93 billion a month before (mid-December to mid-January).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had imposed measures to restrict the import of luxurious goods after the country’s Balance of Payments increased and foreign exchange reserves declined due to high volume of imports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank had introduced a provision of 100 percent cash margin for opening LC in the third week of December. The items that required 100 percent cash margin included beer, wine, and other liquors as well as tobacco products, silver, gold, furniture, sugar, sweet meats, mineral water, energy drinks, nail polish, body lotion, face cream and other cosmetics, caps, shoes, leather, construction materials, marble tiles among others.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In February, the central bank added new list requiring 100 percent cash margin that included products such as walnut, almond, banana, cigarette, cake, handbag, watches, seat of vehicles, painting and drawing materials that also require 100 percent cash margin for opening LC.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Likewise, goods such as motorcycles and scooters, woolen thread, readymade garments, jackets among others require 50 percent cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BFIs are not allowed to provide loan for the cash margin while the amount deposited by the importers will not be entitled to interest, according to NRB’s recent directive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Data show that imports have started declining due to the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported goods worth Rs 150 billion in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year which increased to Rs 188 billion in the fifth month (mid-November to mid-December). However, the imports declined from mid-January after the central bank introduced the provision of cash margin.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Exports have also declined in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February). Nepal exported goods worth Rs 12.8 billion in the review month against exports worth Rs 15.93 billion a month ago (midDecember to mid-January). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The decline in foreign trade has also hit the revenue collection. The revenue collection in mid-January to mid-February dropped to Rs 36.7 billion from Rs 40.27 billion a month ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Trade deficit has increased due to excessive imports compared to exports. The country’s trade deficit stood at Rs 1,015 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year while it was Rs 733 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit has increased by 38.45 per cent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14557', 'image' => '20220223082241_20220222074504_Foreign Trade.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 08:21:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14814', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Refuses to Register Writ Petition against MCC', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected registration of a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 23: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact stating that the agreement was under consideration in the federal parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Registrar at the apex court, Narayan Prasad Panthi, refused to register the writ petition saying the issue put forth by the applicant was a policy issue of the Government of Nepal, and was also under consideration in the parliament. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The issue of MCC compact agreement signed between the Ministry of Finance of Nepal and the United States on September 24, 2017 is under consideration in parliament," stated the rejection order. "The issue raised by the petitioner seems to be a policy issue of Nepal government and is also under consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to bring the writ petition for judicial remedy." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior advocate Dr Surendra Bhandari had filed the writ petition on Tuesday (February 22) demanding the court’s intervention in preventing discussion on the MCC agreement tabled in the parliament. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-23', 'modified' => '2022-02-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14556', 'image' => '20220223074707_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-23 07:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14813', 'article_category_id' => '236', 'title' => 'CG Motocrop Rolls out Fuel-Efficient Suzuki Celerio', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">February 22: CG Motocorp, the authorized distributor of Suzuki four-wheelers in Nepal and automotive division of CG Holdings, has launched Suzuki Celerio which the company claims to be the “most fuel-efficient family car”.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">With the growing fuel price in the country, Celerio can be a perfect car for Nepalese customers as it promises to be low on running cost, the company said in a statement. According to the company, the new Celerio comes with an unparalleled driving experience, new 3D organic sculpted design, first-in-segment safety, and convenience features. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">According to Siraj Pant, general manager for sales and marketing of CG Motocrop, Celerio has been a much-loved family car in the Nepalese market. This next-generation Celerio, offers even more to the Nepalese customers with its highest mileage and unmatched safety and convenient features, while offering a fresh new design in this segment, added Pant.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The statement added that the all-new Celerio offers a spacious cabin for increased comfort. Equipped with the next generation K-series engine with Dual Jet, Dual VVT, the all-new Celerio is the most fuel-efficient petrol car offering a mileage of 26.68 km per litre, the company claimed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">“With segment-first features like Idle Start-Stop, the all-new Celerio makes a step forward towards sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions by up to 19 percent across variants. Powered by cutting-edge technology, it offers a torque of 89Nm@3500rpm and power of 67ps@5500RPM. Development of Next-gen K-series engine is done with the use of state-of-art technology like cooled EGR, auto tensioner, and integrated exhaust manifold,” the statement said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Built on Suzuki’s signature HEARTECT platform, the all-new Celerio comes with a smooth structure for effective absorption and dispersion of impact force, the company further said. According to the statement, the HEARTECT platform improves rigidity and overall strength of the car. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-22', 'modified' => '2022-02-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14555', 'image' => '20220222091443_Untitled.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-22 21:13:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, '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
