February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the…
February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the…
February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year.…
February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February…
February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February…
February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage…
February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more…
February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY…
February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal…
February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti…
February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON).…
February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of…
February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half…
February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning…
February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to…
February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions of the cabinet meeting of February 17 at a press conference on Saturday, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki confirmed that the government has decided to construct a labour hospital. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting approved the proposal of Labour Minister Krishna Kumar Shrestha to construct such hospital.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Deepak Kafle is preparing the modality of the hospital which included the number of beds and design among other issues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry had formed a team to conduct a feasibility study of labour hospital under the leadership of the then Joint Secretary Sesh Narayan Poudel, who has now been transferred to the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The labour hospital will be constructed in industrial corridor in the first phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minster Karki further shared that the government has decided to grant authority to the Secretary of Ministry of Health and Population to sign a tripartite agreement for the implementation of Global Funds Programme 2021-24 aimed at preventing and controlling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the government decided to approve Drugs Registration (Fourth Amendment) Regulation, 2078 and Nepal Medical Council (Fifth Amendment) Regulation, 2078, Minister Karki shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the cabinet decided to accept the World Bank's loan assistance of USD 18 million (approximately Rs 2 billion) for the COVID-19 Rapid Response and Public Health Risk Preparedness Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by MinisternKarki, the government decided to approve Renewable Energy Grant Policy, 2078 and also took the decision to amend the Annex 1 of Civil Offense Work Procedure Code, 2074. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14538', 'image' => '20220220023452_hhhhhh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 13:54:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14794', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Gives Mixed Reaction to Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. The private sector has welcomed the central bank’s announcement to provide subsidized loan to the productive sector. However, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has expressed concern that the overall policy arrangements would likely affect the economic activities which have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and is struggling to recover from its impacts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has concluded that the central bank’s decision to increase the interest rates, tighten the loan flow and restrict imports of certain goods is likely to directly impact the overall economic activities. FNCCI said that the revised provisions would most likely affect medium and small-scale industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank had announced refinancing for the businesses affected by the pandemic. But the increase in interest rate for refinancing is certain to affect the small and middle-scale industries,” FNCCI said in a statement on Friday, adding, “Although the concessional loan to the productive sector would help assist in industrialisation, the overall trade, business and investment would be affected as most of the recommendations of the private sector have not addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has drawn attention of the central bank towards adverse impacts on production, price hike, revenue collection and employment generation as the review of monetary policy was focused on reduction of imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FNCCI said deposit collection has not increased despite increase in interest rate on deposit. Due to this, the monetary policy is focused on increasing interest on loan which is likely to increase the production cost and cause further burden to the business enterprises as well as BFIs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has said that central bank’s decision to increase the bank rate by two percentage points is likely to cause further problems to the banks. The CNI said that such decision would increase the interest on investment, cause price hike and that in turn would make the economy more fragile.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CNI further said that some of the revised provisions of the monetary policy would not help in easing the liquidity crisis faced by the market.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14537', 'image' => '20220220105323_istockphoto-538042130-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 10:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14792', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has been increasing the price of petroleum products since last July arguing that the price of oil has been increasing in the international market. This is the sixth time in the last seven months that the NOC has increased the price of petroleum products. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During last July, the price of petrol was Rs 128 per litre, which has increased to Rs 145 per litre now after the NOC hiked the price by Rs 3 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC has also increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Rs 3 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the hike in price, diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 128 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC, however, has kept the prices of cooking gas and aviation turbine fuel unchanged. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC's deputy spokesperson Pushkar Karki said that the NOC still has to bear a fortnightly loss of Rs 2.15 billion after increasing the price. NOC said in a statement that it has to bear a loss of Rs 16.59 for a litre of petrol, Rs 12.98 per litre of diesel and Rs 560 per cylinder of cooking gas despite the price hike.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC argued that the prices have been incireased in line with the revised list received from the Indian Oil Corporation as per the automatic pricing mechanism. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The last time NOC hiked the price of petroleum products was on February 1 almost three weeks ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14536', 'image' => '20220220082656_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 08:23:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14795', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ruling Alliance Agrees to Table MCC in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20). The alliance meeting held at the residence of Prime Minister in Baluwatar took a decision to this effect, said the government's spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Business Advisory Committee meeting of the House of Representatives has also decided to table the MCC compact in the parliament today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The coalition parties were earlier divided over tabling the compact in parliament. But the committee meeting presided over by Speaker Agni Sapkota forged the agreement to advance MCC compact, according to spokesperson of parliament secretariat, Dr Rojnath Pande. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then government led by KP Sharma Oli had decided on February 8, 2019 to table MCC compact in parliament. Similarly, then Finance Minister Dr Yubraj Khatiwada had presented MCC compact in the parliament on July 15, 2019 for its passage. However, the endorsement of the MCC has been delayed due to the differing views from within the ruling alliance itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regarding the parliament obstruction continued by the main opposition CPN (UML), the Minister said the UML themselves had brought the compact.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whether or not they continue parliament obstruction, the issue is up to them. Ask them about it," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted Minister Karki as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Minister Karki, the issue will now be presented in the “sovereign parliament” and conclusion will be drawn from there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting had been called for 1 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The funds of the US$ 55 billion project will be used to construct transmission lines and roads in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In view of the differing views on MCC compact and protest in the street, security has been beefed up at Baneswhor area.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14535', 'image' => '20220220123811_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 12:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14791', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Increases Bank Rate after Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank made such arrangement on Thursday (February 18) after the mid-year review of the monetary policy. Earlier, the bank rate was 5 percent but now it has been increased to 7 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the standing liquidity facility rate, policy repo rate and deposit collection rate associated with the interest rate corridor have also been increased by 2 percentage points each. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Standing liquidity facility rate has been increased from 5 percent to 7 percent, policy repo rate from 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent and deposit collection rate from 2 percent to 4 percent. The existing mandatory cash ratio and statutory liquidity ratio have been kept unchanged. The new arrangement is certain to increase the interest rate of loans taken by banks from NRB. As a result, interest rates on bank loans are also likely to rise. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of NRB Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank increased the bank rate as per the indication of the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We conducted a mid-year review of monetary policy with the objective of controlling the growing balance of payments deficit. We have increased the bank rate to attain the same goal," he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate charged by banks on refinancing will also be increased by 2 percentage points to 7 percent. Until now, banks used to charge up to 5 percent interest to the customers by bringing back refinancing from NRB at 3 percent interest. The monetary policy has now made it possible for banks to charge interest of up to 7 percent on such loans. Bhatta said that the interest rate has been raised to control the rising credit flow in recent times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Lately, more credit has flowed in less productive sector and for import purposes. On top of that, the banks have been giving loans to the customers by taking cheaper loans from the central bank," he said, "So we have increased the bank rate, refinancing interest rate and other rates to discourage such activities." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14534', 'image' => '20220218015858_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:58:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14790', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minister Demands Effective Monitoring of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During an inspection visit to the Department of Cooperatives on Thursday, Minister Shrestha said that the problem has increased as many cooperatives are not working in accordance with the universal principles, values and norms of cooperatives and directed the department to make the monitoring more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As many co-operatives do not work according to the principles, values, norms and general practice, the number of complaints from the members is increasing,” she said adding, “Identify the problem in time, the ministry is ready to solve it.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the monitoring should be made effective for the solution of the problems seen in the cooperative sector, Minister Shrestha directed the staff of the department to work responsibly. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is necessary to give momentum to the cooperatives as per the universal principles, values and norms of the cooperatives,” she said adding, “The department should work without any pressure or influence.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Shrestha also stressed on the need to collect the actual data of the cooperatives operating regularly, solve the problems seen in the integration of cooperatives, upgrade the cooperative training center and perform result-oriented work in line with the spirit of federalism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ram Prasad Thapaliya said that the department should play an effective role in maintaining good governance in the cooperative sector. Registrar of the department, Rudra Prasad Pandit expressed his commitment to take initiative to solve the problems in the cooperative sector.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14533', 'image' => '20220218014447_Cooperative dept.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:44:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14789', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Trade through Birgunj Customs Stands at Rs 4 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79). Goods worth Rs 462.53 billion have been imported and exported from Birgunj customs between mid-July to mid-February of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs chief Harihar Poudel said that the revenue collected during the period amounted to Rs 121.72 billion. He also informed that the revenue collection was 4 percent more than the target. The revenue collection target for the first seven months of the current fiscal year was set at Rs 116.71 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the total foreign trade through Birgunj, goods worth Rs 402.48 billion were imported while goods worth Rs 60 billion were exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Information and Technology Branch of the customs, the trade deficit through this customs point alone is Rs 342 billion. Mainly, petroleum products, vehicles and spare parts and industrial raw materials are imported from Birgunj customs point. Meanwhile, customs data show that refined edible oil, juice, clothes, shoes and other items are exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Birgunj customs has collected customs duty of Rs 44.39 billion, value added tax of Rs 47.53 billion and excise duty of Rs 13.67 billion. It has collected Rs 80 million from commodity exports as well. According to the Birgunj customs, more than Rs 9 billion has been raised under the heading of infrastructure tax, Rs 2.31 billion has been raised for road maintenance and improvement and Rs 3.40 billion for road construction and maintenance.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14532', 'image' => '20220218013543_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:35:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14788', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 1 Billion as Relief for Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the Home Minstry has decided to compensate the farmers for the loss as per the recommendation of the District Disaster Management Committee. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The relief amount is to be provided to the farmers as per the latest guidelines of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the details made public by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, a total of 325,258 metric tons of paddy worth Rs 8.268 billion have been damaged by the unseasonal rainfall in October. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry added that the production of paddy also declined this year due to the natural disaster.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Presenting a report in January, the ministry had said that the production of paddy had declined in the country by 8.74 percent due to the damage caused by the unseasonal rainfall across the country from October 17 to 20. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data collected by the ministry from across the country, the production of paddy in the current fiscal year has been found to be the lowest in the last five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had earlier decided to provide up to 65 per cent subsidy to paddy farmers for the loss they incurred from the floods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on October 28 took a decision to dole out subsidy to the farmers by classifying them into small, medium and large groups based on the area of farming</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In November, the government had approved the work procedure submitted by a taskforce recommending relief to the farmers for the damage sustained to their crop by the unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14531', 'image' => '20220218120606_20211110083158_20210512035550_20181125011444_pady-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 12:05:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14787', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commercial Flights from Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport from May 16 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) shared that calibration test for commercial flights will start from Friday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Director General Pradip Adhikari said that necessary preparations have been made for the operation of Gautam Buddha Airport as an alternative international airport of the country. He mentioned that the calibration flight will be conducted for seven days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An aircraft belonging to Aero Thai landed in Nepal on Thursday for the calibration flight. The HS-AIM aircraft, which landed at Tribhuvan International Airport from Thailand, has already reached Bhairahawa airport, said CAAN's engineer Muluk Mishra. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commercial flights will take place after the success of test flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director General Adhikari shared that Gautam Buddha International Airport has same capacity as TIA when it comes to passenger handling. Both the international airports can handle around 9.2 million passengers annually but for that to happen, another terminal should be brought into operation at the earliest at the Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current terminal at the Gautam Buddha International Airport can only handle around 2 million passengers, according to the CAAN. The second terminal for the Gautam Buddha International Airport would be operative soon, assured Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that Gautam Buddha International Airport was of strategic importance for economic growth of the country, he asserted that Nepal's aviation sector made another stride with the construction of soon-to-be-operated international airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The COVID-19 crisis also slowed down the technical work relating to the construction and operation process of the second international airport in the country. Commercial operation would have started earlier if there was no COVID-19 crisis, said CAAN. Thanks to the consistent follow-up and positive intervention of the CAAN, the Airport in Bhairahawa is going to be operative very soon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><strong>Model project </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gautam Buddha International Airport was initially a sick project but, it gained significant physical process in no time. It has become a model project amongst the other projects of national pride due to its timely construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project suffered some setbacks initially. Delay and negligence on the part of the contractor company impeded the project while COVID-19 crisis also contributed to the slowdown of construction in between. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2015, the airport construction should have ideally completed by 2017. Deadline for construction was reset for March, 2020 but construction process hit a snag yet again due to the breakout and spread of COVID-19 since 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Chinese construction company-Northwest Civil Aviation Construction Group- constructed the Airport at a subsidized loan provided by the Asian Development Bank. So far, Rs 11 billion has been spent for the construction of the airport having 45-metre width and 3,000-metre long runway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As the Gautam Buddha International Airport is coming into operation very soon, it is believed that the second international airport in the country would help reduce the pressure of the TIA. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14530', 'image' => '20220218082608_5f5b0b13eda46_5f5b06f6665cd_Goutam-Buddha-Airport-copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:25:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14786', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ramesh Hamal Appointed Chair of Securities Board ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Kumar Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday (February 17) appointed Hamal to the post. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A committee formed to select a new chairman of SEBON had recommended the names of three individuals including Hamal for the top post. Other two persons recommended by the committee were Dr Gopal Prasad Bhatta and Krishna Raj Pokharel. Among the three recommended names, the government appointed Hamal for the remaining term of the SEBON chair which was lying vacant after the government removed the then chairman of the Board Bhishma Raj Dhungana for his alleged involvement in a shares-purchase scam of a cement company.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The position had remained vacant since the last four months after the government had sacked Dhungana on October 5. Dhungana was appointed by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli around two years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, a resident of Silgadhi in Doti district, holds a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering and has served for eight years at Nepal Electricity Authority. He then acquired an MBA degree </span>from the Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, who was the president of the Thailand chapter of NRNA from 2007 to 2010, had returned back to Nepal only six years ago. Soon after his return, he started construction of a chain of Thailand’s renowned hotel brand Dusit Thani in Kavre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The newly appointed SEBON chair has pledged to diversify the stock market in the interest of small investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal added that he would make sincere efforts for the development and expansion of Nepal's stock market and to make it transparent and trustworthy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order in favour of sacked Dhungana.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A full bench of justices Meera Khadka, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Hari Prasad Phuyal decided not to issue interim order in the case. This has effectively ended Dhungana’s hopes of returning back to his post in SEBON.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14529', 'image' => '20220218081058_sebon-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:09:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14785', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI holds Discussions on ‘Defining’ Startup', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government is launching a startup business promotion program, it has not yet come up with a clear definition and procedures. The confederation organized the discussion programme with the objective of assisting the government in policy making.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced in the budget to provide seed capital for the promotion of startups since last year. However, due to lack of procedures, it has not been implemented yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation emphasizes on the need to promote young entrepreneurs with innovative thinking by implementing the programmes announced by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Secretary of the National Planning Commission Kewal Prasad Bhandari said that the program is being implemented with the objective of promoting innovative thinking. He also emphasized on the need to think liberally about providing necessary facilities and support for such businesses to move forward using innovative ideas and technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There are instances where we may have problems in understanding how to define a startup. Those who are associated with the business itself think in a broader way. Think about defining the business as a whole,” Bhandari said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Executive Director of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Niraj Giri said that the government should keep an open mind about the promotion of startup business. “Control-oriented thinking cannot promote startups, they need to be promoted with open thinking,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Gagan Bahadur B K said that the suggestions received from the private sector would help in formulating the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking on the occasion, President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bishnu Kumar Agrawal, said that the confederation was working with the objective of creating an industrial environment and promoting entrepreneurship. He also mentioned that he would take initiative to develop entrepreneurship by continuously communicating with the policy makers for the promotion of startups. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Agrawal said that the continuity of the business is more challenging than starting a business and emphasized on the need for a policy arrangement so that the entrepreneurs initiating a startup business would remain active in their business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“A conducive environment should be created for the promotion of entrepreneurship,” he said adding, “Many Nepali youths are now studying abroad. An environment must be created to attract them. Seed capital should be made available in an easy way.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman Agrawal also urged to include suggestions from the youth from all over the country while formulating the work procedure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have to move forward with decentralized thinking. Now, we have to create an environment where the youth of Dhangadhi can get seed capital while staying in Dhangadhi itself,” said chairman Agrawal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also urged the concerned authorities to focus on the promotion of startups for the sustainable development of the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Entrepreneurs pursuing business with innovative thinking need flexible policy and facilitation. In such a case, the government should think of the ways to promote them,” said Agrawal adding, “Development of entrepreneurship is necessary for the sustainable development of the economy. There should be support from the government in order to bring the entrepreneurs with innovative ideas into the mainstream of the economy.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Confederation, Rohit Gupta said that the promotion of startup business is the need of Nepali society. He said that the confederation would cooperate with all by promoting it as a campaign.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ayushi KC, chairperson of the startup campaign committee under the confederation, said that a clear vision is needed regarding startup business in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, 25 entrepreneurs doing business using innovative thinking and technology suggested that clarity is needed in the concept of startup. They said that small businesses and startups are perceived the same way and suggested the government to define them differently. They also insisted on the need for clarity in regulation of startup business, easy access to finance, clarity of startup business steps and policy facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the problem starts with the registration of a company itself in Nepal, they said that a hassle-free working environment should be created to encourage the youth. The committee will submit its suggestions to the National Planning Commission on the basis of the suggestions received during the discussion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14528', 'image' => '20220217054410_startup.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 17:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14784', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Properties Valued at Rs 200 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has given the responsibility finding out its property details to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), which also keeps the records of the government’s income and expenditure. The FCGO has been giving pressure to all the government bodies to maintain records through electronic medium. As per the instruction of the FCGO, all three tiers of governments have entered the property details in the government’s online system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Deputy Financial Comptroller General Navaraj Dhungana, until one and a half years ago the government did not have the details of public property owned by the three tiers of government since the country adopted the federalism. Therefore, the FCGO started keeping records of the public property in an integrated way and has not been able to make a tentative estimate of the properties owned by the government, said Dhungana. However, most of the government offices have not presented the valuation of property as per the current market price. That is the reason why the government’s property is not as much as it was expected to be, says Dhungana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of the FCGO, the combined property of the government bodies included in the Public Property Management System is equal to Rs 180 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the FCGO, the Ministry of Home Affairs owns the maximum property among all government bodies. The Home Ministry alone has properties worth Rs 27.74 billion followed by Defense Ministry (Rs 21.92 billion), Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (Rs 6.2 billion) and Finance Ministry (Rs 4.67 billion). The lowest property recorded so far belongs to the Indigenous Nationalities Commission which is valued at Rs 1.7 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the available data, the President’s Office has properties worth Rs 187.7 million while the Vice President’s Office is worth Rs 75.7 million. Similarly, the properties of province chiefs’ offices are valued at Rs 112.6 million while the federal parliament has properties worth Rs 44.6 million while the courts’ properties are valued at Rs 3.5 billion across the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The records maintained by the FCGO show that the properties of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority stand at Rs 665.9 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the initial phase, the FCGO has only included the value of the physical infrastructure, vehicles and buildings of government bodies while determining the property of the government. The government’s property calculated at the moment does not include billions of rupees spent on physical infrastructure such as public roads, drinking water pipelines, irrigation channels, bridges among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives had been issuing directive to the government time and again to keep an integrated record of its properties.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14527', 'image' => '20220217033422_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 15:33:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14783', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Road Infrastructure, Electricity Distribution to Improve in Next 5 Years: NPC Vice Chair', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.</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 that the Department of Roads is preparing to widen the Narayangarh-Pathlaiya road from four-lane to six-lane and the road from Inaruwa to Kakarvitta section is also being widened. "I have advised the technicians to make the road in such a way that motorists can travel at the rate of 100 km per hour," he said. </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"">Similarly, widening of Kamala-Kanchanpur (Saptari) section of East-West Highway has started. He said that the contractor has assured that the road expansion of Butwal-Narayanghat section will be completed in the next two and a half 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 Poudel, the highway connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara is also being upgraded into four lanes. It is also certain that the tunnel under Daunne will be constructed soon, assured Poudel. "The travel distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara will also be shortened to three hours. We can further shorten the distance," he said. </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 that if the previous government had paid attention, the Japanese would have been working on developing the Surya Binayak-Dhulikhel fast track and they would have been willing to work on the metro starting from Gongbu. </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"">"Even so, we are making efforts to get the project back on track. Even today, a group is in serious discussions to build a tunnel from Khurkot along the BP highway," he said. </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 him, electricity will reach all the households of Nepal within 2-3 years and it is estimated that there are 200,000 to 300,000 houses left where electricity is yet to reach. </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"">With the production of cement reaching 1.5 million metric tons per year, the government is in a position to provide subsidies on modern construction materials to the homes of all poor Nepalis, just like the government used to give subsidies for biogas, added Poudel. If the government works hard, in a few years, old and dilapidated houses will be replaced by earthquake resistant houses, he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14526', 'image' => '20220217020516_20170420033542_be1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 14:04:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14782', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inflation Expectations Survey shows Inflation to Reach 11 Percent this year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.</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 general public is of the view that the prices are going up, shows the Inflation Expectations Survey conducted by NRB from January 5 to 11. NRB carried out the survey to understand the expectations of the general public on the inflation during the second quarter of FY 2078/79.</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 a survey report released by the NRB on Wednesday, 97.1 percent of the respondents said that the inflation rate will increase over the next one year period. The respondents said the average inflation rate would reach 11.4 percent in the next year. Earlier, the average inflation rate was expected to reach 11 percent in the survey conducted in January 2020 and 10.3 percent in the survey conducted in September 2021.</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"">Prakash Kumar Shrestha, executive director of the NRB's research department, said the research was based on an assessment of what the future holds based on the current situation and that he felt inflation was rising.</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"">NRB has been conducting an inflation survey since last year to understand the expectations of the public about the inflation rate. He said that this would make it easier for the government to understand the expectations of the people and decide the policy in the coming days accordingly.</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's just an indication of what the general public thinks about inflation," Shrestha said.</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 report, the number of people expecting inflation to rise is increasing.</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 a study conducted in September 2021, 87 percent of the general public had expected inflation to increase in just three months, but in December, the number of those expecting it reached 91.1 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the general public is expecting the highest increase in food prices.</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"">Inflation is has been rising in the current Fiscal Year (FY) due to a lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions.</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 has set a target of keeping the inflation rate within 6 percent in the current fiscal year. However, the inflation rate reached 7.11 percent in November. In January, the inflation rate has come down to 5.65 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14525', 'image' => '20220217121905_Inflation.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 12:18:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'HAN Demands Smooth Operation of Hotels', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAN made such appeal after the government cancelled the licence of Hotel Yak and Yeti to operate casino after it failed to pay Rs 420 million in royalty. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by HAN President Shreejana Rana recently held talks with minister Ale and discussed the current issues faced by the tourism sector, according to a statement issued by HAN. During the meeting, President Rana apprised the minister of HAN's role in the development, promotion and protection of the country's tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that any individual or institution should not avoid its responsibility to pay revenues and taxes to the state as per the laws, HAN however drew that government’s attention to the cancellation of the five-star hotel’s license arguing that the decision has affected the staff and other people related to the casino and their salaries have been withheld.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The HAN always supports the state on the matter of implementing rules and regulations as per the law, but immense contributions of hotel sector to the country's economy should be honoured,” said Rana. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14524', 'image' => '20220217105213_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 10:51:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14796', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government gives Nod to Establish Labour Hospital ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions of the cabinet meeting of February 17 at a press conference on Saturday, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki confirmed that the government has decided to construct a labour hospital. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting approved the proposal of Labour Minister Krishna Kumar Shrestha to construct such hospital.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Deepak Kafle is preparing the modality of the hospital which included the number of beds and design among other issues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry had formed a team to conduct a feasibility study of labour hospital under the leadership of the then Joint Secretary Sesh Narayan Poudel, who has now been transferred to the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The labour hospital will be constructed in industrial corridor in the first phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minster Karki further shared that the government has decided to grant authority to the Secretary of Ministry of Health and Population to sign a tripartite agreement for the implementation of Global Funds Programme 2021-24 aimed at preventing and controlling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the government decided to approve Drugs Registration (Fourth Amendment) Regulation, 2078 and Nepal Medical Council (Fifth Amendment) Regulation, 2078, Minister Karki shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the cabinet decided to accept the World Bank's loan assistance of USD 18 million (approximately Rs 2 billion) for the COVID-19 Rapid Response and Public Health Risk Preparedness Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by MinisternKarki, the government decided to approve Renewable Energy Grant Policy, 2078 and also took the decision to amend the Annex 1 of Civil Offense Work Procedure Code, 2074. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14538', 'image' => '20220220023452_hhhhhh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 13:54:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14794', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Gives Mixed Reaction to Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. The private sector has welcomed the central bank’s announcement to provide subsidized loan to the productive sector. However, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has expressed concern that the overall policy arrangements would likely affect the economic activities which have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and is struggling to recover from its impacts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has concluded that the central bank’s decision to increase the interest rates, tighten the loan flow and restrict imports of certain goods is likely to directly impact the overall economic activities. FNCCI said that the revised provisions would most likely affect medium and small-scale industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank had announced refinancing for the businesses affected by the pandemic. But the increase in interest rate for refinancing is certain to affect the small and middle-scale industries,” FNCCI said in a statement on Friday, adding, “Although the concessional loan to the productive sector would help assist in industrialisation, the overall trade, business and investment would be affected as most of the recommendations of the private sector have not addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has drawn attention of the central bank towards adverse impacts on production, price hike, revenue collection and employment generation as the review of monetary policy was focused on reduction of imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FNCCI said deposit collection has not increased despite increase in interest rate on deposit. Due to this, the monetary policy is focused on increasing interest on loan which is likely to increase the production cost and cause further burden to the business enterprises as well as BFIs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has said that central bank’s decision to increase the bank rate by two percentage points is likely to cause further problems to the banks. The CNI said that such decision would increase the interest on investment, cause price hike and that in turn would make the economy more fragile.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CNI further said that some of the revised provisions of the monetary policy would not help in easing the liquidity crisis faced by the market.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14537', 'image' => '20220220105323_istockphoto-538042130-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 10:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14792', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has been increasing the price of petroleum products since last July arguing that the price of oil has been increasing in the international market. This is the sixth time in the last seven months that the NOC has increased the price of petroleum products. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During last July, the price of petrol was Rs 128 per litre, which has increased to Rs 145 per litre now after the NOC hiked the price by Rs 3 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC has also increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Rs 3 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the hike in price, diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 128 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC, however, has kept the prices of cooking gas and aviation turbine fuel unchanged. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC's deputy spokesperson Pushkar Karki said that the NOC still has to bear a fortnightly loss of Rs 2.15 billion after increasing the price. NOC said in a statement that it has to bear a loss of Rs 16.59 for a litre of petrol, Rs 12.98 per litre of diesel and Rs 560 per cylinder of cooking gas despite the price hike.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC argued that the prices have been incireased in line with the revised list received from the Indian Oil Corporation as per the automatic pricing mechanism. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The last time NOC hiked the price of petroleum products was on February 1 almost three weeks ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14536', 'image' => '20220220082656_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 08:23:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14795', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ruling Alliance Agrees to Table MCC in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20). The alliance meeting held at the residence of Prime Minister in Baluwatar took a decision to this effect, said the government's spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Business Advisory Committee meeting of the House of Representatives has also decided to table the MCC compact in the parliament today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The coalition parties were earlier divided over tabling the compact in parliament. But the committee meeting presided over by Speaker Agni Sapkota forged the agreement to advance MCC compact, according to spokesperson of parliament secretariat, Dr Rojnath Pande. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then government led by KP Sharma Oli had decided on February 8, 2019 to table MCC compact in parliament. Similarly, then Finance Minister Dr Yubraj Khatiwada had presented MCC compact in the parliament on July 15, 2019 for its passage. However, the endorsement of the MCC has been delayed due to the differing views from within the ruling alliance itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regarding the parliament obstruction continued by the main opposition CPN (UML), the Minister said the UML themselves had brought the compact.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whether or not they continue parliament obstruction, the issue is up to them. Ask them about it," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted Minister Karki as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Minister Karki, the issue will now be presented in the “sovereign parliament” and conclusion will be drawn from there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting had been called for 1 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The funds of the US$ 55 billion project will be used to construct transmission lines and roads in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In view of the differing views on MCC compact and protest in the street, security has been beefed up at Baneswhor area.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14535', 'image' => '20220220123811_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 12:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14791', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Increases Bank Rate after Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank made such arrangement on Thursday (February 18) after the mid-year review of the monetary policy. Earlier, the bank rate was 5 percent but now it has been increased to 7 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the standing liquidity facility rate, policy repo rate and deposit collection rate associated with the interest rate corridor have also been increased by 2 percentage points each. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Standing liquidity facility rate has been increased from 5 percent to 7 percent, policy repo rate from 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent and deposit collection rate from 2 percent to 4 percent. The existing mandatory cash ratio and statutory liquidity ratio have been kept unchanged. The new arrangement is certain to increase the interest rate of loans taken by banks from NRB. As a result, interest rates on bank loans are also likely to rise. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of NRB Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank increased the bank rate as per the indication of the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We conducted a mid-year review of monetary policy with the objective of controlling the growing balance of payments deficit. We have increased the bank rate to attain the same goal," he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate charged by banks on refinancing will also be increased by 2 percentage points to 7 percent. Until now, banks used to charge up to 5 percent interest to the customers by bringing back refinancing from NRB at 3 percent interest. The monetary policy has now made it possible for banks to charge interest of up to 7 percent on such loans. Bhatta said that the interest rate has been raised to control the rising credit flow in recent times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Lately, more credit has flowed in less productive sector and for import purposes. On top of that, the banks have been giving loans to the customers by taking cheaper loans from the central bank," he said, "So we have increased the bank rate, refinancing interest rate and other rates to discourage such activities." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14534', 'image' => '20220218015858_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:58:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14790', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minister Demands Effective Monitoring of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During an inspection visit to the Department of Cooperatives on Thursday, Minister Shrestha said that the problem has increased as many cooperatives are not working in accordance with the universal principles, values and norms of cooperatives and directed the department to make the monitoring more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As many co-operatives do not work according to the principles, values, norms and general practice, the number of complaints from the members is increasing,” she said adding, “Identify the problem in time, the ministry is ready to solve it.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the monitoring should be made effective for the solution of the problems seen in the cooperative sector, Minister Shrestha directed the staff of the department to work responsibly. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is necessary to give momentum to the cooperatives as per the universal principles, values and norms of the cooperatives,” she said adding, “The department should work without any pressure or influence.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Shrestha also stressed on the need to collect the actual data of the cooperatives operating regularly, solve the problems seen in the integration of cooperatives, upgrade the cooperative training center and perform result-oriented work in line with the spirit of federalism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ram Prasad Thapaliya said that the department should play an effective role in maintaining good governance in the cooperative sector. Registrar of the department, Rudra Prasad Pandit expressed his commitment to take initiative to solve the problems in the cooperative sector.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14533', 'image' => '20220218014447_Cooperative dept.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:44:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14789', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Trade through Birgunj Customs Stands at Rs 4 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79). Goods worth Rs 462.53 billion have been imported and exported from Birgunj customs between mid-July to mid-February of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs chief Harihar Poudel said that the revenue collected during the period amounted to Rs 121.72 billion. He also informed that the revenue collection was 4 percent more than the target. The revenue collection target for the first seven months of the current fiscal year was set at Rs 116.71 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the total foreign trade through Birgunj, goods worth Rs 402.48 billion were imported while goods worth Rs 60 billion were exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Information and Technology Branch of the customs, the trade deficit through this customs point alone is Rs 342 billion. Mainly, petroleum products, vehicles and spare parts and industrial raw materials are imported from Birgunj customs point. Meanwhile, customs data show that refined edible oil, juice, clothes, shoes and other items are exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Birgunj customs has collected customs duty of Rs 44.39 billion, value added tax of Rs 47.53 billion and excise duty of Rs 13.67 billion. It has collected Rs 80 million from commodity exports as well. According to the Birgunj customs, more than Rs 9 billion has been raised under the heading of infrastructure tax, Rs 2.31 billion has been raised for road maintenance and improvement and Rs 3.40 billion for road construction and maintenance.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14532', 'image' => '20220218013543_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:35:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14788', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 1 Billion as Relief for Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the Home Minstry has decided to compensate the farmers for the loss as per the recommendation of the District Disaster Management Committee. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The relief amount is to be provided to the farmers as per the latest guidelines of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the details made public by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, a total of 325,258 metric tons of paddy worth Rs 8.268 billion have been damaged by the unseasonal rainfall in October. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry added that the production of paddy also declined this year due to the natural disaster.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Presenting a report in January, the ministry had said that the production of paddy had declined in the country by 8.74 percent due to the damage caused by the unseasonal rainfall across the country from October 17 to 20. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data collected by the ministry from across the country, the production of paddy in the current fiscal year has been found to be the lowest in the last five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had earlier decided to provide up to 65 per cent subsidy to paddy farmers for the loss they incurred from the floods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on October 28 took a decision to dole out subsidy to the farmers by classifying them into small, medium and large groups based on the area of farming</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In November, the government had approved the work procedure submitted by a taskforce recommending relief to the farmers for the damage sustained to their crop by the unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14531', 'image' => '20220218120606_20211110083158_20210512035550_20181125011444_pady-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 12:05:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14787', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commercial Flights from Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport from May 16 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) shared that calibration test for commercial flights will start from Friday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Director General Pradip Adhikari said that necessary preparations have been made for the operation of Gautam Buddha Airport as an alternative international airport of the country. He mentioned that the calibration flight will be conducted for seven days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An aircraft belonging to Aero Thai landed in Nepal on Thursday for the calibration flight. The HS-AIM aircraft, which landed at Tribhuvan International Airport from Thailand, has already reached Bhairahawa airport, said CAAN's engineer Muluk Mishra. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commercial flights will take place after the success of test flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director General Adhikari shared that Gautam Buddha International Airport has same capacity as TIA when it comes to passenger handling. Both the international airports can handle around 9.2 million passengers annually but for that to happen, another terminal should be brought into operation at the earliest at the Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current terminal at the Gautam Buddha International Airport can only handle around 2 million passengers, according to the CAAN. The second terminal for the Gautam Buddha International Airport would be operative soon, assured Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that Gautam Buddha International Airport was of strategic importance for economic growth of the country, he asserted that Nepal's aviation sector made another stride with the construction of soon-to-be-operated international airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The COVID-19 crisis also slowed down the technical work relating to the construction and operation process of the second international airport in the country. Commercial operation would have started earlier if there was no COVID-19 crisis, said CAAN. Thanks to the consistent follow-up and positive intervention of the CAAN, the Airport in Bhairahawa is going to be operative very soon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><strong>Model project </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gautam Buddha International Airport was initially a sick project but, it gained significant physical process in no time. It has become a model project amongst the other projects of national pride due to its timely construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project suffered some setbacks initially. Delay and negligence on the part of the contractor company impeded the project while COVID-19 crisis also contributed to the slowdown of construction in between. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2015, the airport construction should have ideally completed by 2017. Deadline for construction was reset for March, 2020 but construction process hit a snag yet again due to the breakout and spread of COVID-19 since 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Chinese construction company-Northwest Civil Aviation Construction Group- constructed the Airport at a subsidized loan provided by the Asian Development Bank. So far, Rs 11 billion has been spent for the construction of the airport having 45-metre width and 3,000-metre long runway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As the Gautam Buddha International Airport is coming into operation very soon, it is believed that the second international airport in the country would help reduce the pressure of the TIA. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14530', 'image' => '20220218082608_5f5b0b13eda46_5f5b06f6665cd_Goutam-Buddha-Airport-copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:25:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14786', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ramesh Hamal Appointed Chair of Securities Board ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Kumar Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday (February 17) appointed Hamal to the post. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A committee formed to select a new chairman of SEBON had recommended the names of three individuals including Hamal for the top post. Other two persons recommended by the committee were Dr Gopal Prasad Bhatta and Krishna Raj Pokharel. Among the three recommended names, the government appointed Hamal for the remaining term of the SEBON chair which was lying vacant after the government removed the then chairman of the Board Bhishma Raj Dhungana for his alleged involvement in a shares-purchase scam of a cement company.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The position had remained vacant since the last four months after the government had sacked Dhungana on October 5. Dhungana was appointed by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli around two years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, a resident of Silgadhi in Doti district, holds a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering and has served for eight years at Nepal Electricity Authority. He then acquired an MBA degree </span>from the Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, who was the president of the Thailand chapter of NRNA from 2007 to 2010, had returned back to Nepal only six years ago. Soon after his return, he started construction of a chain of Thailand’s renowned hotel brand Dusit Thani in Kavre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The newly appointed SEBON chair has pledged to diversify the stock market in the interest of small investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal added that he would make sincere efforts for the development and expansion of Nepal's stock market and to make it transparent and trustworthy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order in favour of sacked Dhungana.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A full bench of justices Meera Khadka, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Hari Prasad Phuyal decided not to issue interim order in the case. This has effectively ended Dhungana’s hopes of returning back to his post in SEBON.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14529', 'image' => '20220218081058_sebon-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:09:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14785', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI holds Discussions on ‘Defining’ Startup', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government is launching a startup business promotion program, it has not yet come up with a clear definition and procedures. The confederation organized the discussion programme with the objective of assisting the government in policy making.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced in the budget to provide seed capital for the promotion of startups since last year. However, due to lack of procedures, it has not been implemented yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation emphasizes on the need to promote young entrepreneurs with innovative thinking by implementing the programmes announced by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Secretary of the National Planning Commission Kewal Prasad Bhandari said that the program is being implemented with the objective of promoting innovative thinking. He also emphasized on the need to think liberally about providing necessary facilities and support for such businesses to move forward using innovative ideas and technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There are instances where we may have problems in understanding how to define a startup. Those who are associated with the business itself think in a broader way. Think about defining the business as a whole,” Bhandari said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Executive Director of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Niraj Giri said that the government should keep an open mind about the promotion of startup business. “Control-oriented thinking cannot promote startups, they need to be promoted with open thinking,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Gagan Bahadur B K said that the suggestions received from the private sector would help in formulating the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking on the occasion, President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bishnu Kumar Agrawal, said that the confederation was working with the objective of creating an industrial environment and promoting entrepreneurship. He also mentioned that he would take initiative to develop entrepreneurship by continuously communicating with the policy makers for the promotion of startups. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Agrawal said that the continuity of the business is more challenging than starting a business and emphasized on the need for a policy arrangement so that the entrepreneurs initiating a startup business would remain active in their business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“A conducive environment should be created for the promotion of entrepreneurship,” he said adding, “Many Nepali youths are now studying abroad. An environment must be created to attract them. Seed capital should be made available in an easy way.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman Agrawal also urged to include suggestions from the youth from all over the country while formulating the work procedure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have to move forward with decentralized thinking. Now, we have to create an environment where the youth of Dhangadhi can get seed capital while staying in Dhangadhi itself,” said chairman Agrawal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also urged the concerned authorities to focus on the promotion of startups for the sustainable development of the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Entrepreneurs pursuing business with innovative thinking need flexible policy and facilitation. In such a case, the government should think of the ways to promote them,” said Agrawal adding, “Development of entrepreneurship is necessary for the sustainable development of the economy. There should be support from the government in order to bring the entrepreneurs with innovative ideas into the mainstream of the economy.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Confederation, Rohit Gupta said that the promotion of startup business is the need of Nepali society. He said that the confederation would cooperate with all by promoting it as a campaign.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ayushi KC, chairperson of the startup campaign committee under the confederation, said that a clear vision is needed regarding startup business in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, 25 entrepreneurs doing business using innovative thinking and technology suggested that clarity is needed in the concept of startup. They said that small businesses and startups are perceived the same way and suggested the government to define them differently. They also insisted on the need for clarity in regulation of startup business, easy access to finance, clarity of startup business steps and policy facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the problem starts with the registration of a company itself in Nepal, they said that a hassle-free working environment should be created to encourage the youth. The committee will submit its suggestions to the National Planning Commission on the basis of the suggestions received during the discussion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14528', 'image' => '20220217054410_startup.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 17:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14784', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Properties Valued at Rs 200 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has given the responsibility finding out its property details to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), which also keeps the records of the government’s income and expenditure. The FCGO has been giving pressure to all the government bodies to maintain records through electronic medium. As per the instruction of the FCGO, all three tiers of governments have entered the property details in the government’s online system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Deputy Financial Comptroller General Navaraj Dhungana, until one and a half years ago the government did not have the details of public property owned by the three tiers of government since the country adopted the federalism. Therefore, the FCGO started keeping records of the public property in an integrated way and has not been able to make a tentative estimate of the properties owned by the government, said Dhungana. However, most of the government offices have not presented the valuation of property as per the current market price. That is the reason why the government’s property is not as much as it was expected to be, says Dhungana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of the FCGO, the combined property of the government bodies included in the Public Property Management System is equal to Rs 180 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the FCGO, the Ministry of Home Affairs owns the maximum property among all government bodies. The Home Ministry alone has properties worth Rs 27.74 billion followed by Defense Ministry (Rs 21.92 billion), Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (Rs 6.2 billion) and Finance Ministry (Rs 4.67 billion). The lowest property recorded so far belongs to the Indigenous Nationalities Commission which is valued at Rs 1.7 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the available data, the President’s Office has properties worth Rs 187.7 million while the Vice President’s Office is worth Rs 75.7 million. Similarly, the properties of province chiefs’ offices are valued at Rs 112.6 million while the federal parliament has properties worth Rs 44.6 million while the courts’ properties are valued at Rs 3.5 billion across the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The records maintained by the FCGO show that the properties of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority stand at Rs 665.9 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the initial phase, the FCGO has only included the value of the physical infrastructure, vehicles and buildings of government bodies while determining the property of the government. The government’s property calculated at the moment does not include billions of rupees spent on physical infrastructure such as public roads, drinking water pipelines, irrigation channels, bridges among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives had been issuing directive to the government time and again to keep an integrated record of its properties.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14527', 'image' => '20220217033422_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 15:33:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14783', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Road Infrastructure, Electricity Distribution to Improve in Next 5 Years: NPC Vice Chair', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.</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 that the Department of Roads is preparing to widen the Narayangarh-Pathlaiya road from four-lane to six-lane and the road from Inaruwa to Kakarvitta section is also being widened. "I have advised the technicians to make the road in such a way that motorists can travel at the rate of 100 km per hour," he said. </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"">Similarly, widening of Kamala-Kanchanpur (Saptari) section of East-West Highway has started. He said that the contractor has assured that the road expansion of Butwal-Narayanghat section will be completed in the next two and a half 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 Poudel, the highway connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara is also being upgraded into four lanes. It is also certain that the tunnel under Daunne will be constructed soon, assured Poudel. "The travel distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara will also be shortened to three hours. We can further shorten the distance," he said. </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 that if the previous government had paid attention, the Japanese would have been working on developing the Surya Binayak-Dhulikhel fast track and they would have been willing to work on the metro starting from Gongbu. </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"">"Even so, we are making efforts to get the project back on track. Even today, a group is in serious discussions to build a tunnel from Khurkot along the BP highway," he said. </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 him, electricity will reach all the households of Nepal within 2-3 years and it is estimated that there are 200,000 to 300,000 houses left where electricity is yet to reach. </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"">With the production of cement reaching 1.5 million metric tons per year, the government is in a position to provide subsidies on modern construction materials to the homes of all poor Nepalis, just like the government used to give subsidies for biogas, added Poudel. If the government works hard, in a few years, old and dilapidated houses will be replaced by earthquake resistant houses, he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14526', 'image' => '20220217020516_20170420033542_be1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 14:04:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14782', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inflation Expectations Survey shows Inflation to Reach 11 Percent this year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.</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 general public is of the view that the prices are going up, shows the Inflation Expectations Survey conducted by NRB from January 5 to 11. NRB carried out the survey to understand the expectations of the general public on the inflation during the second quarter of FY 2078/79.</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 a survey report released by the NRB on Wednesday, 97.1 percent of the respondents said that the inflation rate will increase over the next one year period. The respondents said the average inflation rate would reach 11.4 percent in the next year. Earlier, the average inflation rate was expected to reach 11 percent in the survey conducted in January 2020 and 10.3 percent in the survey conducted in September 2021.</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"">Prakash Kumar Shrestha, executive director of the NRB's research department, said the research was based on an assessment of what the future holds based on the current situation and that he felt inflation was rising.</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"">NRB has been conducting an inflation survey since last year to understand the expectations of the public about the inflation rate. He said that this would make it easier for the government to understand the expectations of the people and decide the policy in the coming days accordingly.</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's just an indication of what the general public thinks about inflation," Shrestha said.</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 report, the number of people expecting inflation to rise is increasing.</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 a study conducted in September 2021, 87 percent of the general public had expected inflation to increase in just three months, but in December, the number of those expecting it reached 91.1 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the general public is expecting the highest increase in food prices.</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"">Inflation is has been rising in the current Fiscal Year (FY) due to a lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions.</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 has set a target of keeping the inflation rate within 6 percent in the current fiscal year. However, the inflation rate reached 7.11 percent in November. In January, the inflation rate has come down to 5.65 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14525', 'image' => '20220217121905_Inflation.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 12:18:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'HAN Demands Smooth Operation of Hotels', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAN made such appeal after the government cancelled the licence of Hotel Yak and Yeti to operate casino after it failed to pay Rs 420 million in royalty. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by HAN President Shreejana Rana recently held talks with minister Ale and discussed the current issues faced by the tourism sector, according to a statement issued by HAN. During the meeting, President Rana apprised the minister of HAN's role in the development, promotion and protection of the country's tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that any individual or institution should not avoid its responsibility to pay revenues and taxes to the state as per the laws, HAN however drew that government’s attention to the cancellation of the five-star hotel’s license arguing that the decision has affected the staff and other people related to the casino and their salaries have been withheld.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The HAN always supports the state on the matter of implementing rules and regulations as per the law, but immense contributions of hotel sector to the country's economy should be honoured,” said Rana. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14524', 'image' => '20220217105213_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 10:51:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14796', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government gives Nod to Establish Labour Hospital ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the country. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions of the cabinet meeting of February 17 at a press conference on Saturday, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki confirmed that the government has decided to construct a labour hospital. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting approved the proposal of Labour Minister Krishna Kumar Shrestha to construct such hospital.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Deepak Kafle is preparing the modality of the hospital which included the number of beds and design among other issues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry had formed a team to conduct a feasibility study of labour hospital under the leadership of the then Joint Secretary Sesh Narayan Poudel, who has now been transferred to the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The labour hospital will be constructed in industrial corridor in the first phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minster Karki further shared that the government has decided to grant authority to the Secretary of Ministry of Health and Population to sign a tripartite agreement for the implementation of Global Funds Programme 2021-24 aimed at preventing and controlling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the government decided to approve Drugs Registration (Fourth Amendment) Regulation, 2078 and Nepal Medical Council (Fifth Amendment) Regulation, 2078, Minister Karki shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the cabinet decided to accept the World Bank's loan assistance of USD 18 million (approximately Rs 2 billion) for the COVID-19 Rapid Response and Public Health Risk Preparedness Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by MinisternKarki, the government decided to approve Renewable Energy Grant Policy, 2078 and also took the decision to amend the Annex 1 of Civil Offense Work Procedure Code, 2074. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14538', 'image' => '20220220023452_hhhhhh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 13:54:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14794', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Gives Mixed Reaction to Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. The private sector has welcomed the central bank’s announcement to provide subsidized loan to the productive sector. However, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has expressed concern that the overall policy arrangements would likely affect the economic activities which have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and is struggling to recover from its impacts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has concluded that the central bank’s decision to increase the interest rates, tighten the loan flow and restrict imports of certain goods is likely to directly impact the overall economic activities. FNCCI said that the revised provisions would most likely affect medium and small-scale industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank had announced refinancing for the businesses affected by the pandemic. But the increase in interest rate for refinancing is certain to affect the small and middle-scale industries,” FNCCI said in a statement on Friday, adding, “Although the concessional loan to the productive sector would help assist in industrialisation, the overall trade, business and investment would be affected as most of the recommendations of the private sector have not addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has drawn attention of the central bank towards adverse impacts on production, price hike, revenue collection and employment generation as the review of monetary policy was focused on reduction of imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FNCCI said deposit collection has not increased despite increase in interest rate on deposit. Due to this, the monetary policy is focused on increasing interest on loan which is likely to increase the production cost and cause further burden to the business enterprises as well as BFIs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has said that central bank’s decision to increase the bank rate by two percentage points is likely to cause further problems to the banks. The CNI said that such decision would increase the interest on investment, cause price hike and that in turn would make the economy more fragile.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CNI further said that some of the revised provisions of the monetary policy would not help in easing the liquidity crisis faced by the market.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14537', 'image' => '20220220105323_istockphoto-538042130-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 10:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14792', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has been increasing the price of petroleum products since last July arguing that the price of oil has been increasing in the international market. This is the sixth time in the last seven months that the NOC has increased the price of petroleum products. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During last July, the price of petrol was Rs 128 per litre, which has increased to Rs 145 per litre now after the NOC hiked the price by Rs 3 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC has also increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Rs 3 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the hike in price, diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 128 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC, however, has kept the prices of cooking gas and aviation turbine fuel unchanged. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC's deputy spokesperson Pushkar Karki said that the NOC still has to bear a fortnightly loss of Rs 2.15 billion after increasing the price. NOC said in a statement that it has to bear a loss of Rs 16.59 for a litre of petrol, Rs 12.98 per litre of diesel and Rs 560 per cylinder of cooking gas despite the price hike.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC argued that the prices have been incireased in line with the revised list received from the Indian Oil Corporation as per the automatic pricing mechanism. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The last time NOC hiked the price of petroleum products was on February 1 almost three weeks ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14536', 'image' => '20220220082656_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 08:23:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14795', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ruling Alliance Agrees to Table MCC in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20). The alliance meeting held at the residence of Prime Minister in Baluwatar took a decision to this effect, said the government's spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Business Advisory Committee meeting of the House of Representatives has also decided to table the MCC compact in the parliament today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The coalition parties were earlier divided over tabling the compact in parliament. But the committee meeting presided over by Speaker Agni Sapkota forged the agreement to advance MCC compact, according to spokesperson of parliament secretariat, Dr Rojnath Pande. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then government led by KP Sharma Oli had decided on February 8, 2019 to table MCC compact in parliament. Similarly, then Finance Minister Dr Yubraj Khatiwada had presented MCC compact in the parliament on July 15, 2019 for its passage. However, the endorsement of the MCC has been delayed due to the differing views from within the ruling alliance itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regarding the parliament obstruction continued by the main opposition CPN (UML), the Minister said the UML themselves had brought the compact.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whether or not they continue parliament obstruction, the issue is up to them. Ask them about it," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted Minister Karki as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Minister Karki, the issue will now be presented in the “sovereign parliament” and conclusion will be drawn from there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting had been called for 1 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The funds of the US$ 55 billion project will be used to construct transmission lines and roads in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In view of the differing views on MCC compact and protest in the street, security has been beefed up at Baneswhor area.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14535', 'image' => '20220220123811_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 12:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14791', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Increases Bank Rate after Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank made such arrangement on Thursday (February 18) after the mid-year review of the monetary policy. Earlier, the bank rate was 5 percent but now it has been increased to 7 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the standing liquidity facility rate, policy repo rate and deposit collection rate associated with the interest rate corridor have also been increased by 2 percentage points each. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Standing liquidity facility rate has been increased from 5 percent to 7 percent, policy repo rate from 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent and deposit collection rate from 2 percent to 4 percent. The existing mandatory cash ratio and statutory liquidity ratio have been kept unchanged. The new arrangement is certain to increase the interest rate of loans taken by banks from NRB. As a result, interest rates on bank loans are also likely to rise. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of NRB Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank increased the bank rate as per the indication of the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We conducted a mid-year review of monetary policy with the objective of controlling the growing balance of payments deficit. We have increased the bank rate to attain the same goal," he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate charged by banks on refinancing will also be increased by 2 percentage points to 7 percent. Until now, banks used to charge up to 5 percent interest to the customers by bringing back refinancing from NRB at 3 percent interest. The monetary policy has now made it possible for banks to charge interest of up to 7 percent on such loans. Bhatta said that the interest rate has been raised to control the rising credit flow in recent times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Lately, more credit has flowed in less productive sector and for import purposes. On top of that, the banks have been giving loans to the customers by taking cheaper loans from the central bank," he said, "So we have increased the bank rate, refinancing interest rate and other rates to discourage such activities." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14534', 'image' => '20220218015858_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:58:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14790', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minister Demands Effective Monitoring of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During an inspection visit to the Department of Cooperatives on Thursday, Minister Shrestha said that the problem has increased as many cooperatives are not working in accordance with the universal principles, values and norms of cooperatives and directed the department to make the monitoring more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As many co-operatives do not work according to the principles, values, norms and general practice, the number of complaints from the members is increasing,” she said adding, “Identify the problem in time, the ministry is ready to solve it.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the monitoring should be made effective for the solution of the problems seen in the cooperative sector, Minister Shrestha directed the staff of the department to work responsibly. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is necessary to give momentum to the cooperatives as per the universal principles, values and norms of the cooperatives,” she said adding, “The department should work without any pressure or influence.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Shrestha also stressed on the need to collect the actual data of the cooperatives operating regularly, solve the problems seen in the integration of cooperatives, upgrade the cooperative training center and perform result-oriented work in line with the spirit of federalism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ram Prasad Thapaliya said that the department should play an effective role in maintaining good governance in the cooperative sector. Registrar of the department, Rudra Prasad Pandit expressed his commitment to take initiative to solve the problems in the cooperative sector.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14533', 'image' => '20220218014447_Cooperative dept.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:44:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14789', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Trade through Birgunj Customs Stands at Rs 4 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79). Goods worth Rs 462.53 billion have been imported and exported from Birgunj customs between mid-July to mid-February of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs chief Harihar Poudel said that the revenue collected during the period amounted to Rs 121.72 billion. He also informed that the revenue collection was 4 percent more than the target. The revenue collection target for the first seven months of the current fiscal year was set at Rs 116.71 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the total foreign trade through Birgunj, goods worth Rs 402.48 billion were imported while goods worth Rs 60 billion were exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Information and Technology Branch of the customs, the trade deficit through this customs point alone is Rs 342 billion. Mainly, petroleum products, vehicles and spare parts and industrial raw materials are imported from Birgunj customs point. Meanwhile, customs data show that refined edible oil, juice, clothes, shoes and other items are exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Birgunj customs has collected customs duty of Rs 44.39 billion, value added tax of Rs 47.53 billion and excise duty of Rs 13.67 billion. It has collected Rs 80 million from commodity exports as well. According to the Birgunj customs, more than Rs 9 billion has been raised under the heading of infrastructure tax, Rs 2.31 billion has been raised for road maintenance and improvement and Rs 3.40 billion for road construction and maintenance.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14532', 'image' => '20220218013543_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:35:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14788', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 1 Billion as Relief for Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the Home Minstry has decided to compensate the farmers for the loss as per the recommendation of the District Disaster Management Committee. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The relief amount is to be provided to the farmers as per the latest guidelines of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the details made public by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, a total of 325,258 metric tons of paddy worth Rs 8.268 billion have been damaged by the unseasonal rainfall in October. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry added that the production of paddy also declined this year due to the natural disaster.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Presenting a report in January, the ministry had said that the production of paddy had declined in the country by 8.74 percent due to the damage caused by the unseasonal rainfall across the country from October 17 to 20. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data collected by the ministry from across the country, the production of paddy in the current fiscal year has been found to be the lowest in the last five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had earlier decided to provide up to 65 per cent subsidy to paddy farmers for the loss they incurred from the floods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on October 28 took a decision to dole out subsidy to the farmers by classifying them into small, medium and large groups based on the area of farming</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In November, the government had approved the work procedure submitted by a taskforce recommending relief to the farmers for the damage sustained to their crop by the unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14531', 'image' => '20220218120606_20211110083158_20210512035550_20181125011444_pady-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 12:05:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14787', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commercial Flights from Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport from May 16 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) shared that calibration test for commercial flights will start from Friday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Director General Pradip Adhikari said that necessary preparations have been made for the operation of Gautam Buddha Airport as an alternative international airport of the country. He mentioned that the calibration flight will be conducted for seven days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An aircraft belonging to Aero Thai landed in Nepal on Thursday for the calibration flight. The HS-AIM aircraft, which landed at Tribhuvan International Airport from Thailand, has already reached Bhairahawa airport, said CAAN's engineer Muluk Mishra. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commercial flights will take place after the success of test flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director General Adhikari shared that Gautam Buddha International Airport has same capacity as TIA when it comes to passenger handling. Both the international airports can handle around 9.2 million passengers annually but for that to happen, another terminal should be brought into operation at the earliest at the Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current terminal at the Gautam Buddha International Airport can only handle around 2 million passengers, according to the CAAN. The second terminal for the Gautam Buddha International Airport would be operative soon, assured Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that Gautam Buddha International Airport was of strategic importance for economic growth of the country, he asserted that Nepal's aviation sector made another stride with the construction of soon-to-be-operated international airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The COVID-19 crisis also slowed down the technical work relating to the construction and operation process of the second international airport in the country. Commercial operation would have started earlier if there was no COVID-19 crisis, said CAAN. Thanks to the consistent follow-up and positive intervention of the CAAN, the Airport in Bhairahawa is going to be operative very soon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><strong>Model project </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gautam Buddha International Airport was initially a sick project but, it gained significant physical process in no time. It has become a model project amongst the other projects of national pride due to its timely construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project suffered some setbacks initially. Delay and negligence on the part of the contractor company impeded the project while COVID-19 crisis also contributed to the slowdown of construction in between. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2015, the airport construction should have ideally completed by 2017. Deadline for construction was reset for March, 2020 but construction process hit a snag yet again due to the breakout and spread of COVID-19 since 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Chinese construction company-Northwest Civil Aviation Construction Group- constructed the Airport at a subsidized loan provided by the Asian Development Bank. So far, Rs 11 billion has been spent for the construction of the airport having 45-metre width and 3,000-metre long runway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As the Gautam Buddha International Airport is coming into operation very soon, it is believed that the second international airport in the country would help reduce the pressure of the TIA. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14530', 'image' => '20220218082608_5f5b0b13eda46_5f5b06f6665cd_Goutam-Buddha-Airport-copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:25:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14786', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ramesh Hamal Appointed Chair of Securities Board ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Kumar Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday (February 17) appointed Hamal to the post. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A committee formed to select a new chairman of SEBON had recommended the names of three individuals including Hamal for the top post. Other two persons recommended by the committee were Dr Gopal Prasad Bhatta and Krishna Raj Pokharel. Among the three recommended names, the government appointed Hamal for the remaining term of the SEBON chair which was lying vacant after the government removed the then chairman of the Board Bhishma Raj Dhungana for his alleged involvement in a shares-purchase scam of a cement company.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The position had remained vacant since the last four months after the government had sacked Dhungana on October 5. Dhungana was appointed by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli around two years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, a resident of Silgadhi in Doti district, holds a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering and has served for eight years at Nepal Electricity Authority. He then acquired an MBA degree </span>from the Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, who was the president of the Thailand chapter of NRNA from 2007 to 2010, had returned back to Nepal only six years ago. Soon after his return, he started construction of a chain of Thailand’s renowned hotel brand Dusit Thani in Kavre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The newly appointed SEBON chair has pledged to diversify the stock market in the interest of small investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal added that he would make sincere efforts for the development and expansion of Nepal's stock market and to make it transparent and trustworthy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order in favour of sacked Dhungana.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A full bench of justices Meera Khadka, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Hari Prasad Phuyal decided not to issue interim order in the case. This has effectively ended Dhungana’s hopes of returning back to his post in SEBON.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14529', 'image' => '20220218081058_sebon-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:09:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14785', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI holds Discussions on ‘Defining’ Startup', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government is launching a startup business promotion program, it has not yet come up with a clear definition and procedures. The confederation organized the discussion programme with the objective of assisting the government in policy making.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced in the budget to provide seed capital for the promotion of startups since last year. However, due to lack of procedures, it has not been implemented yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation emphasizes on the need to promote young entrepreneurs with innovative thinking by implementing the programmes announced by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Secretary of the National Planning Commission Kewal Prasad Bhandari said that the program is being implemented with the objective of promoting innovative thinking. He also emphasized on the need to think liberally about providing necessary facilities and support for such businesses to move forward using innovative ideas and technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There are instances where we may have problems in understanding how to define a startup. Those who are associated with the business itself think in a broader way. Think about defining the business as a whole,” Bhandari said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Executive Director of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Niraj Giri said that the government should keep an open mind about the promotion of startup business. “Control-oriented thinking cannot promote startups, they need to be promoted with open thinking,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Gagan Bahadur B K said that the suggestions received from the private sector would help in formulating the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking on the occasion, President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bishnu Kumar Agrawal, said that the confederation was working with the objective of creating an industrial environment and promoting entrepreneurship. He also mentioned that he would take initiative to develop entrepreneurship by continuously communicating with the policy makers for the promotion of startups. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Agrawal said that the continuity of the business is more challenging than starting a business and emphasized on the need for a policy arrangement so that the entrepreneurs initiating a startup business would remain active in their business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“A conducive environment should be created for the promotion of entrepreneurship,” he said adding, “Many Nepali youths are now studying abroad. An environment must be created to attract them. Seed capital should be made available in an easy way.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman Agrawal also urged to include suggestions from the youth from all over the country while formulating the work procedure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have to move forward with decentralized thinking. Now, we have to create an environment where the youth of Dhangadhi can get seed capital while staying in Dhangadhi itself,” said chairman Agrawal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also urged the concerned authorities to focus on the promotion of startups for the sustainable development of the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Entrepreneurs pursuing business with innovative thinking need flexible policy and facilitation. In such a case, the government should think of the ways to promote them,” said Agrawal adding, “Development of entrepreneurship is necessary for the sustainable development of the economy. There should be support from the government in order to bring the entrepreneurs with innovative ideas into the mainstream of the economy.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Confederation, Rohit Gupta said that the promotion of startup business is the need of Nepali society. He said that the confederation would cooperate with all by promoting it as a campaign.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ayushi KC, chairperson of the startup campaign committee under the confederation, said that a clear vision is needed regarding startup business in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, 25 entrepreneurs doing business using innovative thinking and technology suggested that clarity is needed in the concept of startup. They said that small businesses and startups are perceived the same way and suggested the government to define them differently. They also insisted on the need for clarity in regulation of startup business, easy access to finance, clarity of startup business steps and policy facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the problem starts with the registration of a company itself in Nepal, they said that a hassle-free working environment should be created to encourage the youth. The committee will submit its suggestions to the National Planning Commission on the basis of the suggestions received during the discussion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14528', 'image' => '20220217054410_startup.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 17:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14784', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Properties Valued at Rs 200 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has given the responsibility finding out its property details to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), which also keeps the records of the government’s income and expenditure. The FCGO has been giving pressure to all the government bodies to maintain records through electronic medium. As per the instruction of the FCGO, all three tiers of governments have entered the property details in the government’s online system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Deputy Financial Comptroller General Navaraj Dhungana, until one and a half years ago the government did not have the details of public property owned by the three tiers of government since the country adopted the federalism. Therefore, the FCGO started keeping records of the public property in an integrated way and has not been able to make a tentative estimate of the properties owned by the government, said Dhungana. However, most of the government offices have not presented the valuation of property as per the current market price. That is the reason why the government’s property is not as much as it was expected to be, says Dhungana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of the FCGO, the combined property of the government bodies included in the Public Property Management System is equal to Rs 180 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the FCGO, the Ministry of Home Affairs owns the maximum property among all government bodies. The Home Ministry alone has properties worth Rs 27.74 billion followed by Defense Ministry (Rs 21.92 billion), Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (Rs 6.2 billion) and Finance Ministry (Rs 4.67 billion). The lowest property recorded so far belongs to the Indigenous Nationalities Commission which is valued at Rs 1.7 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the available data, the President’s Office has properties worth Rs 187.7 million while the Vice President’s Office is worth Rs 75.7 million. Similarly, the properties of province chiefs’ offices are valued at Rs 112.6 million while the federal parliament has properties worth Rs 44.6 million while the courts’ properties are valued at Rs 3.5 billion across the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The records maintained by the FCGO show that the properties of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority stand at Rs 665.9 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the initial phase, the FCGO has only included the value of the physical infrastructure, vehicles and buildings of government bodies while determining the property of the government. The government’s property calculated at the moment does not include billions of rupees spent on physical infrastructure such as public roads, drinking water pipelines, irrigation channels, bridges among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives had been issuing directive to the government time and again to keep an integrated record of its properties.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14527', 'image' => '20220217033422_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 15:33:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14783', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Road Infrastructure, Electricity Distribution to Improve in Next 5 Years: NPC Vice Chair', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.</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 that the Department of Roads is preparing to widen the Narayangarh-Pathlaiya road from four-lane to six-lane and the road from Inaruwa to Kakarvitta section is also being widened. "I have advised the technicians to make the road in such a way that motorists can travel at the rate of 100 km per hour," he said. </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"">Similarly, widening of Kamala-Kanchanpur (Saptari) section of East-West Highway has started. He said that the contractor has assured that the road expansion of Butwal-Narayanghat section will be completed in the next two and a half 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 Poudel, the highway connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara is also being upgraded into four lanes. It is also certain that the tunnel under Daunne will be constructed soon, assured Poudel. "The travel distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara will also be shortened to three hours. We can further shorten the distance," he said. </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 that if the previous government had paid attention, the Japanese would have been working on developing the Surya Binayak-Dhulikhel fast track and they would have been willing to work on the metro starting from Gongbu. </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"">"Even so, we are making efforts to get the project back on track. Even today, a group is in serious discussions to build a tunnel from Khurkot along the BP highway," he said. </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 him, electricity will reach all the households of Nepal within 2-3 years and it is estimated that there are 200,000 to 300,000 houses left where electricity is yet to reach. </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"">With the production of cement reaching 1.5 million metric tons per year, the government is in a position to provide subsidies on modern construction materials to the homes of all poor Nepalis, just like the government used to give subsidies for biogas, added Poudel. If the government works hard, in a few years, old and dilapidated houses will be replaced by earthquake resistant houses, he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14526', 'image' => '20220217020516_20170420033542_be1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 14:04:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14782', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inflation Expectations Survey shows Inflation to Reach 11 Percent this year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.</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 general public is of the view that the prices are going up, shows the Inflation Expectations Survey conducted by NRB from January 5 to 11. NRB carried out the survey to understand the expectations of the general public on the inflation during the second quarter of FY 2078/79.</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 a survey report released by the NRB on Wednesday, 97.1 percent of the respondents said that the inflation rate will increase over the next one year period. The respondents said the average inflation rate would reach 11.4 percent in the next year. Earlier, the average inflation rate was expected to reach 11 percent in the survey conducted in January 2020 and 10.3 percent in the survey conducted in September 2021.</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"">Prakash Kumar Shrestha, executive director of the NRB's research department, said the research was based on an assessment of what the future holds based on the current situation and that he felt inflation was rising.</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"">NRB has been conducting an inflation survey since last year to understand the expectations of the public about the inflation rate. He said that this would make it easier for the government to understand the expectations of the people and decide the policy in the coming days accordingly.</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's just an indication of what the general public thinks about inflation," Shrestha said.</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 report, the number of people expecting inflation to rise is increasing.</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 a study conducted in September 2021, 87 percent of the general public had expected inflation to increase in just three months, but in December, the number of those expecting it reached 91.1 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the general public is expecting the highest increase in food prices.</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"">Inflation is has been rising in the current Fiscal Year (FY) due to a lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions.</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 has set a target of keeping the inflation rate within 6 percent in the current fiscal year. However, the inflation rate reached 7.11 percent in November. In January, the inflation rate has come down to 5.65 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14525', 'image' => '20220217121905_Inflation.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 12:18:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'HAN Demands Smooth Operation of Hotels', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAN made such appeal after the government cancelled the licence of Hotel Yak and Yeti to operate casino after it failed to pay Rs 420 million in royalty. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by HAN President Shreejana Rana recently held talks with minister Ale and discussed the current issues faced by the tourism sector, according to a statement issued by HAN. During the meeting, President Rana apprised the minister of HAN's role in the development, promotion and protection of the country's tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that any individual or institution should not avoid its responsibility to pay revenues and taxes to the state as per the laws, HAN however drew that government’s attention to the cancellation of the five-star hotel’s license arguing that the decision has affected the staff and other people related to the casino and their salaries have been withheld.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The HAN always supports the state on the matter of implementing rules and regulations as per the law, but immense contributions of hotel sector to the country's economy should be honoured,” said Rana. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14524', 'image' => '20220217105213_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 10:51:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: The government has granted permission in principle to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to initiate necessary process to set up a labour hospital in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Unveiling the decisions of the cabinet meeting of February 17 at a press conference on Saturday, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki confirmed that the government has decided to construct a labour hospital. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting approved the proposal of Labour Minister Krishna Kumar Shrestha to construct such hospital.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Deepak Kafle is preparing the modality of the hospital which included the number of beds and design among other issues.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry had formed a team to conduct a feasibility study of labour hospital under the leadership of the then Joint Secretary Sesh Narayan Poudel, who has now been transferred to the Department of Foreign Employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The labour hospital will be constructed in industrial corridor in the first phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minster Karki further shared that the government has decided to grant authority to the Secretary of Ministry of Health and Population to sign a tripartite agreement for the implementation of Global Funds Programme 2021-24 aimed at preventing and controlling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also, the government decided to approve Drugs Registration (Fourth Amendment) Regulation, 2078 and Nepal Medical Council (Fifth Amendment) Regulation, 2078, Minister Karki shared. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the cabinet decided to accept the World Bank's loan assistance of USD 18 million (approximately Rs 2 billion) for the COVID-19 Rapid Response and Public Health Risk Preparedness Project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As informed by MinisternKarki, the government decided to approve Renewable Energy Grant Policy, 2078 and also took the decision to amend the Annex 1 of Civil Offense Work Procedure Code, 2074. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14538', 'image' => '20220220023452_hhhhhh.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 13:54:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14794', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Private Sector Gives Mixed Reaction to Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The private sector has given mixed reaction to the mid-year review of monetary policy for the current fiscal year. The private sector has welcomed the central bank’s announcement to provide subsidized loan to the productive sector. However, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has expressed concern that the overall policy arrangements would likely affect the economic activities which have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and is struggling to recover from its impacts.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has concluded that the central bank’s decision to increase the interest rates, tighten the loan flow and restrict imports of certain goods is likely to directly impact the overall economic activities. FNCCI said that the revised provisions would most likely affect medium and small-scale industries. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank had announced refinancing for the businesses affected by the pandemic. But the increase in interest rate for refinancing is certain to affect the small and middle-scale industries,” FNCCI said in a statement on Friday, adding, “Although the concessional loan to the productive sector would help assist in industrialisation, the overall trade, business and investment would be affected as most of the recommendations of the private sector have not addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The FNCCI has drawn attention of the central bank towards adverse impacts on production, price hike, revenue collection and employment generation as the review of monetary policy was focused on reduction of imports. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, FNCCI said deposit collection has not increased despite increase in interest rate on deposit. Due to this, the monetary policy is focused on increasing interest on loan which is likely to increase the production cost and cause further burden to the business enterprises as well as BFIs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has said that central bank’s decision to increase the bank rate by two percentage points is likely to cause further problems to the banks. The CNI said that such decision would increase the interest on investment, cause price hike and that in turn would make the economy more fragile.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The CNI further said that some of the revised provisions of the monetary policy would not help in easing the liquidity crisis faced by the market.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14537', 'image' => '20220220105323_istockphoto-538042130-612x612.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 10:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14792', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 20: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has once again increased the prices of petroleum products effective from Saturday midnight (February 20). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned oil monopoly has been increasing the price of petroleum products since last July arguing that the price of oil has been increasing in the international market. This is the sixth time in the last seven months that the NOC has increased the price of petroleum products. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During last July, the price of petrol was Rs 128 per litre, which has increased to Rs 145 per litre now after the NOC hiked the price by Rs 3 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC has also increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by Rs 3 per litre.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the hike in price, diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs 128 per litre. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NOC, however, has kept the prices of cooking gas and aviation turbine fuel unchanged. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC's deputy spokesperson Pushkar Karki said that the NOC still has to bear a fortnightly loss of Rs 2.15 billion after increasing the price. NOC said in a statement that it has to bear a loss of Rs 16.59 for a litre of petrol, Rs 12.98 per litre of diesel and Rs 560 per cylinder of cooking gas despite the price hike.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NOC argued that the prices have been incireased in line with the revised list received from the Indian Oil Corporation as per the automatic pricing mechanism. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The last time NOC hiked the price of petroleum products was on February 1 almost three weeks ago. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14536', 'image' => '20220220082656_petrol.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 08:23:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14795', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ruling Alliance Agrees to Table MCC in Parliament ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 20: The coalition partners in the incumbent government have forged an agreement to table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the federal parliament today (February 20). The alliance meeting held at the residence of Prime Minister in Baluwatar took a decision to this effect, said the government's spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Business Advisory Committee meeting of the House of Representatives has also decided to table the MCC compact in the parliament today.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The coalition parties were earlier divided over tabling the compact in parliament. But the committee meeting presided over by Speaker Agni Sapkota forged the agreement to advance MCC compact, according to spokesperson of parliament secretariat, Dr Rojnath Pande. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The then government led by KP Sharma Oli had decided on February 8, 2019 to table MCC compact in parliament. Similarly, then Finance Minister Dr Yubraj Khatiwada had presented MCC compact in the parliament on July 15, 2019 for its passage. However, the endorsement of the MCC has been delayed due to the differing views from within the ruling alliance itself. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Regarding the parliament obstruction continued by the main opposition CPN (UML), the Minister said the UML themselves had brought the compact.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Whether or not they continue parliament obstruction, the issue is up to them. Ask them about it," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted Minister Karki as saying. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Minister Karki, the issue will now be presented in the “sovereign parliament” and conclusion will be drawn from there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The House of Representatives meeting had been called for 1 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The funds of the US$ 55 billion project will be used to construct transmission lines and roads in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In view of the differing views on MCC compact and protest in the street, security has been beefed up at Baneswhor area.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-20', 'modified' => '2022-02-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14535', 'image' => '20220220123811_MCC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-20 12:37:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14791', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Increases Bank Rate after Mid-Year Review of Monetary Policy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the bank rate or the interest on loans provided to banks and financial institutions by two percentage points. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank made such arrangement on Thursday (February 18) after the mid-year review of the monetary policy. Earlier, the bank rate was 5 percent but now it has been increased to 7 percent. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the standing liquidity facility rate, policy repo rate and deposit collection rate associated with the interest rate corridor have also been increased by 2 percentage points each. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Standing liquidity facility rate has been increased from 5 percent to 7 percent, policy repo rate from 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent and deposit collection rate from 2 percent to 4 percent. The existing mandatory cash ratio and statutory liquidity ratio have been kept unchanged. The new arrangement is certain to increase the interest rate of loans taken by banks from NRB. As a result, interest rates on bank loans are also likely to rise. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director and Spokesperson of NRB Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank increased the bank rate as per the indication of the monetary policy. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We conducted a mid-year review of monetary policy with the objective of controlling the growing balance of payments deficit. We have increased the bank rate to attain the same goal," he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate charged by banks on refinancing will also be increased by 2 percentage points to 7 percent. Until now, banks used to charge up to 5 percent interest to the customers by bringing back refinancing from NRB at 3 percent interest. The monetary policy has now made it possible for banks to charge interest of up to 7 percent on such loans. Bhatta said that the interest rate has been raised to control the rising credit flow in recent times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Lately, more credit has flowed in less productive sector and for import purposes. On top of that, the banks have been giving loans to the customers by taking cheaper loans from the central bank," he said, "So we have increased the bank rate, refinancing interest rate and other rates to discourage such activities." </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14534', 'image' => '20220218015858_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:58:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14790', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minister Demands Effective Monitoring of Cooperatives', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Shashi Shrestha has directed the concerned authorities to monitor cooperatives more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During an inspection visit to the Department of Cooperatives on Thursday, Minister Shrestha said that the problem has increased as many cooperatives are not working in accordance with the universal principles, values and norms of cooperatives and directed the department to make the monitoring more effective. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“As many co-operatives do not work according to the principles, values, norms and general practice, the number of complaints from the members is increasing,” she said adding, “Identify the problem in time, the ministry is ready to solve it.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the monitoring should be made effective for the solution of the problems seen in the cooperative sector, Minister Shrestha directed the staff of the department to work responsibly. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“It is necessary to give momentum to the cooperatives as per the universal principles, values and norms of the cooperatives,” she said adding, “The department should work without any pressure or influence.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Shrestha also stressed on the need to collect the actual data of the cooperatives operating regularly, solve the problems seen in the integration of cooperatives, upgrade the cooperative training center and perform result-oriented work in line with the spirit of federalism. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Secretary at the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ram Prasad Thapaliya said that the department should play an effective role in maintaining good governance in the cooperative sector. Registrar of the department, Rudra Prasad Pandit expressed his commitment to take initiative to solve the problems in the cooperative sector.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14533', 'image' => '20220218014447_Cooperative dept.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:44:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14789', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foreign Trade through Birgunj Customs Stands at Rs 4 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 18: Nepal’s foreign trade through the Birgunj customs has reached more than Rs 4 billion in the current fiscal year (FY 2078/79). Goods worth Rs 462.53 billion have been imported and exported from Birgunj customs between mid-July to mid-February of the current fiscal year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs chief Harihar Poudel said that the revenue collected during the period amounted to Rs 121.72 billion. He also informed that the revenue collection was 4 percent more than the target. The revenue collection target for the first seven months of the current fiscal year was set at Rs 116.71 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the total foreign trade through Birgunj, goods worth Rs 402.48 billion were imported while goods worth Rs 60 billion were exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Information and Technology Branch of the customs, the trade deficit through this customs point alone is Rs 342 billion. Mainly, petroleum products, vehicles and spare parts and industrial raw materials are imported from Birgunj customs point. Meanwhile, customs data show that refined edible oil, juice, clothes, shoes and other items are exported from the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Birgunj customs has collected customs duty of Rs 44.39 billion, value added tax of Rs 47.53 billion and excise duty of Rs 13.67 billion. It has collected Rs 80 million from commodity exports as well. According to the Birgunj customs, more than Rs 9 billion has been raised under the heading of infrastructure tax, Rs 2.31 billion has been raised for road maintenance and improvement and Rs 3.40 billion for road construction and maintenance.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14532', 'image' => '20220218013543_Birgunj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 13:35:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14788', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Releases Rs 1 Billion as Relief for Farmers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 18: The government has released Rs 1 billion to provide relief to the farmers who incurred loss and damage of paddy plantation due to unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned RSS, the Home Minstry has decided to compensate the farmers for the loss as per the recommendation of the District Disaster Management Committee. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The relief amount is to be provided to the farmers as per the latest guidelines of the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the details made public by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, a total of 325,258 metric tons of paddy worth Rs 8.268 billion have been damaged by the unseasonal rainfall in October. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The ministry added that the production of paddy also declined this year due to the natural disaster.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Presenting a report in January, the ministry had said that the production of paddy had declined in the country by 8.74 percent due to the damage caused by the unseasonal rainfall across the country from October 17 to 20. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data collected by the ministry from across the country, the production of paddy in the current fiscal year has been found to be the lowest in the last five years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government had earlier decided to provide up to 65 per cent subsidy to paddy farmers for the loss they incurred from the floods.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on October 28 took a decision to dole out subsidy to the farmers by classifying them into small, medium and large groups based on the area of farming</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In November, the government had approved the work procedure submitted by a taskforce recommending relief to the farmers for the damage sustained to their crop by the unseasonal rainfall. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14531', 'image' => '20220218120606_20211110083158_20210512035550_20181125011444_pady-1024x682.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 12:05:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14787', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Commercial Flights from Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport from May 16 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport, a national pride project, is all set to come into operation on May 16 coinciding with the Buddha Jayanti festival. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) shared that calibration test for commercial flights will start from Friday. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CAAN Director General Pradip Adhikari said that necessary preparations have been made for the operation of Gautam Buddha Airport as an alternative international airport of the country. He mentioned that the calibration flight will be conducted for seven days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">An aircraft belonging to Aero Thai landed in Nepal on Thursday for the calibration flight. The HS-AIM aircraft, which landed at Tribhuvan International Airport from Thailand, has already reached Bhairahawa airport, said CAAN's engineer Muluk Mishra. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commercial flights will take place after the success of test flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director General Adhikari shared that Gautam Buddha International Airport has same capacity as TIA when it comes to passenger handling. Both the international airports can handle around 9.2 million passengers annually but for that to happen, another terminal should be brought into operation at the earliest at the Gautam Buddha International Airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current terminal at the Gautam Buddha International Airport can only handle around 2 million passengers, according to the CAAN. The second terminal for the Gautam Buddha International Airport would be operative soon, assured Adhikari. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that Gautam Buddha International Airport was of strategic importance for economic growth of the country, he asserted that Nepal's aviation sector made another stride with the construction of soon-to-be-operated international airport. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The COVID-19 crisis also slowed down the technical work relating to the construction and operation process of the second international airport in the country. Commercial operation would have started earlier if there was no COVID-19 crisis, said CAAN. Thanks to the consistent follow-up and positive intervention of the CAAN, the Airport in Bhairahawa is going to be operative very soon. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><strong>Model project </strong> </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Gautam Buddha International Airport was initially a sick project but, it gained significant physical process in no time. It has become a model project amongst the other projects of national pride due to its timely construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project suffered some setbacks initially. Delay and negligence on the part of the contractor company impeded the project while COVID-19 crisis also contributed to the slowdown of construction in between. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Initiated in 2015, the airport construction should have ideally completed by 2017. Deadline for construction was reset for March, 2020 but construction process hit a snag yet again due to the breakout and spread of COVID-19 since 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A Chinese construction company-Northwest Civil Aviation Construction Group- constructed the Airport at a subsidized loan provided by the Asian Development Bank. So far, Rs 11 billion has been spent for the construction of the airport having 45-metre width and 3,000-metre long runway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As the Gautam Buddha International Airport is coming into operation very soon, it is believed that the second international airport in the country would help reduce the pressure of the TIA. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14530', 'image' => '20220218082608_5f5b0b13eda46_5f5b06f6665cd_Goutam-Buddha-Airport-copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:25:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14786', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ramesh Hamal Appointed Chair of Securities Board ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 18: The government has appointed Ramesh Kumar Hamal as the Chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON). A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday (February 17) appointed Hamal to the post. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A committee formed to select a new chairman of SEBON had recommended the names of three individuals including Hamal for the top post. Other two persons recommended by the committee were Dr Gopal Prasad Bhatta and Krishna Raj Pokharel. Among the three recommended names, the government appointed Hamal for the remaining term of the SEBON chair which was lying vacant after the government removed the then chairman of the Board Bhishma Raj Dhungana for his alleged involvement in a shares-purchase scam of a cement company.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The position had remained vacant since the last four months after the government had sacked Dhungana on October 5. Dhungana was appointed by the then government led by KP Sharma Oli around two years ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, a resident of Silgadhi in Doti district, holds a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering and has served for eight years at Nepal Electricity Authority. He then acquired an MBA degree </span>from the Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thailand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal, who was the president of the Thailand chapter of NRNA from 2007 to 2010, had returned back to Nepal only six years ago. Soon after his return, he started construction of a chain of Thailand’s renowned hotel brand Dusit Thani in Kavre. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The newly appointed SEBON chair has pledged to diversify the stock market in the interest of small investors.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hamal added that he would make sincere efforts for the development and expansion of Nepal's stock market and to make it transparent and trustworthy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order in favour of sacked Dhungana.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A full bench of justices Meera Khadka, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Hari Prasad Phuyal decided not to issue interim order in the case. This has effectively ended Dhungana’s hopes of returning back to his post in SEBON.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-18', 'modified' => '2022-02-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14529', 'image' => '20220218081058_sebon-logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-18 08:09:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14785', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'CNI holds Discussions on ‘Defining’ Startup', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The Startup Campaign Committee under the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) organized a discussion programme with the objective of defining startup business and facilitating policy makingin the context of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the government is launching a startup business promotion program, it has not yet come up with a clear definition and procedures. The confederation organized the discussion programme with the objective of assisting the government in policy making.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has announced in the budget to provide seed capital for the promotion of startups since last year. However, due to lack of procedures, it has not been implemented yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The confederation emphasizes on the need to promote young entrepreneurs with innovative thinking by implementing the programmes announced by the government.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Secretary of the National Planning Commission Kewal Prasad Bhandari said that the program is being implemented with the objective of promoting innovative thinking. He also emphasized on the need to think liberally about providing necessary facilities and support for such businesses to move forward using innovative ideas and technology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“There are instances where we may have problems in understanding how to define a startup. Those who are associated with the business itself think in a broader way. Think about defining the business as a whole,” Bhandari said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Executive Director of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Niraj Giri said that the government should keep an open mind about the promotion of startup business. “Control-oriented thinking cannot promote startups, they need to be promoted with open thinking,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Gagan Bahadur B K said that the suggestions received from the private sector would help in formulating the policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking on the occasion, President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bishnu Kumar Agrawal, said that the confederation was working with the objective of creating an industrial environment and promoting entrepreneurship. He also mentioned that he would take initiative to develop entrepreneurship by continuously communicating with the policy makers for the promotion of startups. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President Agrawal said that the continuity of the business is more challenging than starting a business and emphasized on the need for a policy arrangement so that the entrepreneurs initiating a startup business would remain active in their business.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“A conducive environment should be created for the promotion of entrepreneurship,” he said adding, “Many Nepali youths are now studying abroad. An environment must be created to attract them. Seed capital should be made available in an easy way.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman Agrawal also urged to include suggestions from the youth from all over the country while formulating the work procedure.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“We have to move forward with decentralized thinking. Now, we have to create an environment where the youth of Dhangadhi can get seed capital while staying in Dhangadhi itself,” said chairman Agrawal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He also urged the concerned authorities to focus on the promotion of startups for the sustainable development of the economy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Entrepreneurs pursuing business with innovative thinking need flexible policy and facilitation. In such a case, the government should think of the ways to promote them,” said Agrawal adding, “Development of entrepreneurship is necessary for the sustainable development of the economy. There should be support from the government in order to bring the entrepreneurs with innovative ideas into the mainstream of the economy.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Vice President of the Confederation, Rohit Gupta said that the promotion of startup business is the need of Nepali society. He said that the confederation would cooperate with all by promoting it as a campaign.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ayushi KC, chairperson of the startup campaign committee under the confederation, said that a clear vision is needed regarding startup business in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, 25 entrepreneurs doing business using innovative thinking and technology suggested that clarity is needed in the concept of startup. They said that small businesses and startups are perceived the same way and suggested the government to define them differently. They also insisted on the need for clarity in regulation of startup business, easy access to finance, clarity of startup business steps and policy facilitation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the problem starts with the registration of a company itself in Nepal, they said that a hassle-free working environment should be created to encourage the youth. The committee will submit its suggestions to the National Planning Commission on the basis of the suggestions received during the discussion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14528', 'image' => '20220217054410_startup.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 17:43:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14784', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government’s Properties Valued at Rs 200 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">February 17: The government’s property is estimated to be around Rs 200 billion, as per the integrated data collected since the last one and a half years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has given the responsibility finding out its property details to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), which also keeps the records of the government’s income and expenditure. The FCGO has been giving pressure to all the government bodies to maintain records through electronic medium. As per the instruction of the FCGO, all three tiers of governments have entered the property details in the government’s online system.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Deputy Financial Comptroller General Navaraj Dhungana, until one and a half years ago the government did not have the details of public property owned by the three tiers of government since the country adopted the federalism. Therefore, the FCGO started keeping records of the public property in an integrated way and has not been able to make a tentative estimate of the properties owned by the government, said Dhungana. However, most of the government offices have not presented the valuation of property as per the current market price. That is the reason why the government’s property is not as much as it was expected to be, says Dhungana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the data of the FCGO, the combined property of the government bodies included in the Public Property Management System is equal to Rs 180 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the FCGO, the Ministry of Home Affairs owns the maximum property among all government bodies. The Home Ministry alone has properties worth Rs 27.74 billion followed by Defense Ministry (Rs 21.92 billion), Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (Rs 6.2 billion) and Finance Ministry (Rs 4.67 billion). The lowest property recorded so far belongs to the Indigenous Nationalities Commission which is valued at Rs 1.7 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the available data, the President’s Office has properties worth Rs 187.7 million while the Vice President’s Office is worth Rs 75.7 million. Similarly, the properties of province chiefs’ offices are valued at Rs 112.6 million while the federal parliament has properties worth Rs 44.6 million while the courts’ properties are valued at Rs 3.5 billion across the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The records maintained by the FCGO show that the properties of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority stand at Rs 665.9 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In the initial phase, the FCGO has only included the value of the physical infrastructure, vehicles and buildings of government bodies while determining the property of the government. The government’s property calculated at the moment does not include billions of rupees spent on physical infrastructure such as public roads, drinking water pipelines, irrigation channels, bridges among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives had been issuing directive to the government time and again to keep an integrated record of its properties.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14527', 'image' => '20220217033422_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 15:33:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14783', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Road Infrastructure, Electricity Distribution to Improve in Next 5 Years: NPC Vice Chair', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: The country will witness improvement in road infrastructure to electricity distribution in the next five years, says Dr Bishwanath Poudel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.</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 that the Department of Roads is preparing to widen the Narayangarh-Pathlaiya road from four-lane to six-lane and the road from Inaruwa to Kakarvitta section is also being widened. "I have advised the technicians to make the road in such a way that motorists can travel at the rate of 100 km per hour," he said. </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"">Similarly, widening of Kamala-Kanchanpur (Saptari) section of East-West Highway has started. He said that the contractor has assured that the road expansion of Butwal-Narayanghat section will be completed in the next two and a half 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 Poudel, the highway connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara is also being upgraded into four lanes. It is also certain that the tunnel under Daunne will be constructed soon, assured Poudel. "The travel distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara will also be shortened to three hours. We can further shorten the distance," he said. </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 that if the previous government had paid attention, the Japanese would have been working on developing the Surya Binayak-Dhulikhel fast track and they would have been willing to work on the metro starting from Gongbu. </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"">"Even so, we are making efforts to get the project back on track. Even today, a group is in serious discussions to build a tunnel from Khurkot along the BP highway," he said. </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 him, electricity will reach all the households of Nepal within 2-3 years and it is estimated that there are 200,000 to 300,000 houses left where electricity is yet to reach. </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"">With the production of cement reaching 1.5 million metric tons per year, the government is in a position to provide subsidies on modern construction materials to the homes of all poor Nepalis, just like the government used to give subsidies for biogas, added Poudel. If the government works hard, in a few years, old and dilapidated houses will be replaced by earthquake resistant houses, he further said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14526', 'image' => '20220217020516_20170420033542_be1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 14:04:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14782', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Inflation Expectations Survey shows Inflation to Reach 11 Percent this year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.</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 general public is of the view that the prices are going up, shows the Inflation Expectations Survey conducted by NRB from January 5 to 11. NRB carried out the survey to understand the expectations of the general public on the inflation during the second quarter of FY 2078/79.</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 a survey report released by the NRB on Wednesday, 97.1 percent of the respondents said that the inflation rate will increase over the next one year period. The respondents said the average inflation rate would reach 11.4 percent in the next year. Earlier, the average inflation rate was expected to reach 11 percent in the survey conducted in January 2020 and 10.3 percent in the survey conducted in September 2021.</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"">Prakash Kumar Shrestha, executive director of the NRB's research department, said the research was based on an assessment of what the future holds based on the current situation and that he felt inflation was rising.</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"">NRB has been conducting an inflation survey since last year to understand the expectations of the public about the inflation rate. He said that this would make it easier for the government to understand the expectations of the people and decide the policy in the coming days accordingly.</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's just an indication of what the general public thinks about inflation," Shrestha said.</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 report, the number of people expecting inflation to rise is increasing.</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 a study conducted in September 2021, 87 percent of the general public had expected inflation to increase in just three months, but in December, the number of those expecting it reached 91.1 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the general public is expecting the highest increase in food prices.</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"">Inflation is has been rising in the current Fiscal Year (FY) due to a lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions.</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 has set a target of keeping the inflation rate within 6 percent in the current fiscal year. However, the inflation rate reached 7.11 percent in November. In January, the inflation rate has come down to 5.65 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14525', 'image' => '20220217121905_Inflation.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 12:18:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14781', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'HAN Demands Smooth Operation of Hotels', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">February 17: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has urged Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale to facilitate in the smooth operation of hotels and hospitality business amid setbacks brought by the ongoing global COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">HAN made such appeal after the government cancelled the licence of Hotel Yak and Yeti to operate casino after it failed to pay Rs 420 million in royalty. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A team led by HAN President Shreejana Rana recently held talks with minister Ale and discussed the current issues faced by the tourism sector, according to a statement issued by HAN. During the meeting, President Rana apprised the minister of HAN's role in the development, promotion and protection of the country's tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that any individual or institution should not avoid its responsibility to pay revenues and taxes to the state as per the laws, HAN however drew that government’s attention to the cancellation of the five-star hotel’s license arguing that the decision has affected the staff and other people related to the casino and their salaries have been withheld.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The HAN always supports the state on the matter of implementing rules and regulations as per the law, but immense contributions of hotel sector to the country's economy should be honoured,” said Rana. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-02-17', 'modified' => '2022-02-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14524', 'image' => '20220217105213_Hotel.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-02-17 10:51:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
