January 20: Although the government has made antigen test mandatory for passengers of domestic flights, the Airline's Operators' Association of Nepal (AOAN) is of the view that air travel can be made by submitting vaccination…
January 20: Although the government has made antigen test mandatory for passengers of domestic flights, the Airline's Operators' Association of Nepal (AOAN) is of the view that air travel can be made by submitting vaccination…
January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the…
January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January…
January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in…
January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. …
January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable…
January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu…
January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic.…
January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October…
January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus.…
January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December.…
January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY…
January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of…
January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron…
January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolvethe current financial crisis faced by the…
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Despite the decision of the Council of Ministers to conduct antigen tests from January 22, the association decided to hold a meeting on Wednesday and announced that passengers should be allowed to travel by showing their vaccination card.</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 association has issued a notice making it mandatory to use the anti-Covid card for air travel. The association has stated that other necessary measures will be implemented for the prevention and control of the new variant of Covid-19 while adhering to health safety standards during domestic flights. </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"">AOAN has also set rules for airlines to follow. According to AOAN, airlines should provide sanitizers inside airplanes, disinfect the aircraft and baggage after each flight, and impose public health standards. </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"">Airline companies have stepped up health standards as the new variant of Covid-19 - omicron – has spread rapidly in many parts of the country. A few days ago, Buddha Air surveyed 1,895 individuals and found that 95 percent of the passengers were vaccinated.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14388', 'image' => '20220120014340_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 13:42:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Westerly Wind likely to Cause Rain, Snowfall ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This file photo shows snowfall in Humla. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu has witnessed a fall in mercury level with a foggy sky since early morning today (January 20). The capital has also witnessed light rain, the division informed urging one and all to adopt necessary safety measures as temperature is likely to drop further with chances of rainfall and snowfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kathmandu’s maximum temperature was recorded at 5.2 degree Celsius and minimum was at 1.8 degree Celsius as per the latest update of the division. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14387', 'image' => '20220120120618_DaneBohara_Humla_RSS_14(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 12:04:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). </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"">As per the new adjustment, prices of diesel, petrol and kerosene have increased by Rs 3 per liter while aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is up by Rs 5 (for domestic flights) per litre and USD 100 per kiloliter (for international 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"">According NOC, diesel and kerosene are now being sold for Rs 122 per liter each while petrol costs Rs 139 per litre. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (for domestic flights) is being sold for Rs 106 per liter while ATF for international flights now costs USD 995 per kilolitre. </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"">However, price of cooking gas remains unchanged, according to NOC. The state-owned oil monopoly said that the price of cooking gas (LPG) has not been changed despite projecting a loss of over Rs 1.88 billion for the next two weeks after price adjustment.</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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the prices of petroleum products on October 29 and November 10.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14386', 'image' => '20220120113623_20210824101943_20210707102647_20190503125003_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 11:35:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business in Nepal Slumps', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Krishna Subedi, chief of the Kalanki Land Revenue Office, said that the real estate business has declined since the past four months due to the lack of liquidity in the banking sector. The real estate business in the Kathmandu Valley has slumped by 40 to 50 percent in the last two months compared to the previous year. However, the online system of the Department of Land Management and Records has shown inconsistent data of some offices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The online data shows that the Kalanki Land Revenue Office has collected registration fee of Rs 560 million in November and more than Rs 510 million in December. However, the registration fee collected in November and December has not exceeded Rs 350 million, insists Subedi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Land Service Center shows the number of transactions and revenue in the system once it is entered even if there is no transaction. Therefore, the actual number of transactions and revenue collection is less than what the data of the Department of Statistics suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ichcha Bahadur Wagle, president of the Nepal Housing and Land Development Association, said he had seen such a recession only twice in his 20-year business journey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"While all indicators of the economy are negative, the real estate business has also slowed down. Unless other indicators of the economy improve, the real estate business is unlikely to improve," Wagle said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the contrary, if this situation continues, many businessmen may get into trouble, he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claims that even though some of the people in trouble have sold the land at throw-away price, the price of the land has not gone down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">People sell their property at low price due to circumstances. Individuals have been doing that in the past and will continue doing so in the future based on their situation. However, the fact that a few people sold their land at less price does not mean that the overall price of real estate has decreased, he opined.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14385', 'image' => '20220119045351_20211213123222_20170320111604_ep.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:52:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14641', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pashupatinath Temple Closed for Devotees from January 19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the revered Hindu holy shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva has been closed for the public until further notice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pashupatinath Temple as well as other shrines on the premises such as Guhyeshwari and Chandrabinayak had been drawing large gatherings of devotees lately, posing threat of transmission of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PADT's executive director Dr Ghanashyam Khatiwada told the national news agency RSS that regular worship will continue in these shrines during this period adhering to health safety measures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All other services in the Pashupatinath Temple such as special puja, hymn singing and other rituals have been closed as per the decision of the government to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, the PADT said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Pashupatinath Temple was closed for devotees during March, 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 hit the country. The temple was reopened after nine months, towards mid-December, 2020 and devotees as well as temple authorities were subjected to adherence to health safety protocols against the deadly infection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the second wave hit during last April, the temple authorities again closed the Temple owing to the risk of Delta variant of COVID-19. The temple was reopened after nearly five months as the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now , as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has become pervasive, the PADT decided to close the Pashupatinath Temple for the devotees indefinitely. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14384', 'image' => '20220119043423_Nepal_Aug11_mymiFBv.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:33:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of BFIs likely to Increase', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds. BFIs used to avoid bad loans by collecting both capital and interest from overdraft loans, but recent problems of liquidity is expected to give rise to bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While closing accounts, BFIs used to recover principal and interest of old loans by extending loans to individuals and institutional borrowers through overdraft. However, due to lack of liquidity, credit expansion has slowed down compared to the same period of the last fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, credit of commercial banks has increased by only Rs 59 billion in the current fiscal year. In the first quarter (as of mid-October), commercial banks had extended Rs 126 billion after closing the account.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the credit expansion of banks has been affected, the recovery of principal and interest installment (EMI) has been affected. Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association and CEO of Agriculture Development Bank, said, "Banks are not investing aggressively as they are focused on maintaining liquidity. When the banking system doesn't function properly, money from the market also doesn't come back to the system."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions are allowed to collect the principal and interest of the loan through overdraft. However, banks are not allowed to lend more than the overdraft limit to collect the installment, said NRB Executive Director Dev Kumar Dhakal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits of commercial banks increased by Rs. 123 billion in the current fiscal year while credit expansion increased by Rs 422 billion. According to the NRB, the credit of banks has gone to short-term and personal spending. Out of the credit extended by BFIs till mid-November of the current fiscal year, overdraft increased by 17.2 percent and demand and working capital loan increased by 5.4 percent .</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14383', 'image' => '20220119035640_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 15:55:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14639', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Booster Dose at 19 Places in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson of the Ministry Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari told the state-owned RSS that those working in the frontline are being given booster doses from 19 places in the Kathmandu Valley since January 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, booster dose is being administered at Birendra Army Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Armed Police Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital, Maternity Hospital, Martyr Shukraraj Tropical and Communicable Diseases Hospital, Civil Hospital, Subheksha Hospital, People's Dental Hospital, Janamitri Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Kathmandu Model Hospital, Norvic Hospital, Nobel Hospital, Vayodha Hospital, Shaheed Smriti Hospital, New Bus Park and Apex Polyclinic, Jadibuti, Koteswar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has requested all concerned to carry their vaccination card for the booster dose. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14382', 'image' => '20220118101632_072572-770x533-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 22:15:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14638', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prime Minister's Employment Programme Becomes Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. The execution of the programme has now become uncertain after the new coalition government took charge of the nation.</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"">Danduraj Ghimire, National Program Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme and Joint Secretary at the Labour Ministry, said that out of the 750,000 people registered in the employment center in the current fiscal year, only 6,000 got employment so far. According to him, employees have been paid for 100 days of work at Rs 577 per day.</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"">Joint Secretary Ghimire said that the delay in the amendment of the regulations affected the implementation of the programme in the current fiscal year. He said that the execution of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme Operation Directive (Second Amendment) -2078 BS has been approved by the Council of Ministers.</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 wage rate is the same in mountains, hills and the plains, which is not practical.</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"">"Everywhere the same wage rate does not seem practical, so by amending the directive, the local wage rate has been fixed at Rs 577,” said Joint Secretary Ghimire.</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"">Among those registered for the employment, individuals listed as poor and extremely poor have been employed by the government. Ghimire claims that 176,000 people got employment last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had given continuity to this programme in the budget of the current fiscal year by allocating Rs 12 billion to provide employment to 200,000 people for 100 days. However, only Rs 346.2 million has been spent so far, according to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme.</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"">Donors have been supporting this program since last year. The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of Rs 14 billion to support this programme.</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 World Bank had provided a loan of Rs 7 billion in the current fiscal year while the government had allocated Rs 5 billion in the budget.</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 lack of budget expenditure under this programme for six months of the current fiscal year has raised fears that the fund might be misused. Past experiences have shown that the effectiveness of such programme is weak and this programme has been much criticized.</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"">In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year 2078/79, the programme has not been implemented properly. However, funds have been sent to the local level for the implementation of the programme through budget transfer.</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 made arrangements to use the budget only for programmes such as road construction, maintenance of buildings, river control, irrigation, and tree planting which are being operated at the local level. However, there has been a tendency to spend the budget allocated for this programme even for other general works.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14381', 'image' => '20220118041131_20200909034726_1599602881.3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 16:09:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14636', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production of Rice Declines ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20. Stakeholders blame the unseasonal rainfall during harvesting season for the reduction in quantity of rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One quintal of clean and good paddy yields up to 52 kg of rice. However, due to the sudden rainfall this year, paddy planted in most of the districts were rotten.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Due to this, the quantity of rice in one quintal of paddy has decreased by up to 7 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry, if the paddy is good, up to 52 kg of rice and 10 kg of grains are produced from one quintal of paddy. However, now the quantity of rice fragments has increased to 17 kg and the quantity of husk has reached 38 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that this would be a loss for the paddy farmers, rice industrialists and consumers. “Decline in the amount of rice in paddy also increases the production cost. Consumers are directly affected by this. The price of rice has not increased immediately but the price might go up later,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Rice industries operating at less than 50 percent capacity </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the rice industries are operating at less than 50 percent of their production capacity. According to the association, traders are now importing less amount of paddy and more amount of rice from the Indian market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rathi said that Nepali rice industries have not been able to fully utilize their production capacity due to high import of rice from India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since rice produced in Nepal cannot meet the domestic demand, it has to be imported from India. However, Rathi is of the view that the Nepali rice industries would continue production if they could import more paddy than rice and this would help in creating employment in the country. He said that the government should encourage domestic industries to import paddy rather than rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The food industries operating in Nepal produce 60 percent of rice, 62 percent pulses and 35 percent oil that is required annually in the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14380', 'image' => '20220118011111_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:10:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14637', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Infected with COVID-19 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourism Minister Prem Bahadur Ale during a recent function held in Pokhara. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. Minister Ale’s secretariat confirmed the report following a test carried out on Monday (January 17).</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"">Along with the minister, his private secretary Hemanta Regmi has also been infected. Both of them are in isolation at their home. The minister's secretariat urged all those who came in contact with the duo to get themselves tested and take precaution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14379', 'image' => '20220118013756_RK-Pokhara-MinisterAalee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:36:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14635', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digital Payments Up since mid-December', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. According to a report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), digital payments which had declined in October/November have increased again from mid-December. </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 report revealed that transactions done through online payment platforms such as wallet, mobile banking, internet banking, connect IPS have increased since mid-December. Digital payments gained momentum after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic but it had witnessed a decline in the month of Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) which is again on its track from mid-December. </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"">In the period between mid-Oct to mid-Nov, transactions worth Rs 203 billion were done through ConnectIPS, which increased to Rs 228 billion in mid-Nov to mid-December. Likewise, mobile banking transactions worth Rs 781 billion were completed in the period between mid Sep-mid Oct which reached Rs 885 billion in mid-Nov to mid-Dec. All other transactions done through internet banking, mobile, wallet, QR base payment have also increased.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Guruprasad Poudel, head of the Department of Payment System of NRB, said, “Digital payments have increased since December. It is expected to grow gradually." He said that payments have declined during the month of November since it is the closing period of the first quarter of the fiscal year. "Digital payments have increased significantly in the last one year. The overall monthly number of digital transactions has fluctuated this year but there has been a huge growth in digital payments during this period," he said.</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, cash and digital payments go hand in hand. All the places don't have facilities for digital payments. People are using both cash and digital wallets. When all places have required infrastructure, use of cash goes minimal. The central bank has also prioritized digital payment and building necessary infrastructures. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14378', 'image' => '20220117072256_20210518011138_5f50d.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 19:21:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14634', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fails to Meet the Target of Revenue Collection', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government has not been able to collect half of the revenue target of Rs 1.18 trillion set for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By mid-January, the government had collected only 45.91 percent of the revenue target, or Rs 591 billion. The share of tax revenue is Rs 494.01 billion, and the share of non-tax revenue is Rs 48.06 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the preliminary data of the Inland Revenue Department, only 93 percent of the target has been collected in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Out of the target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in taxes during this period, only Rs 225.47 billion has been collected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had set a target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in internal revenue by mid-January. The value added tax (VAT) collected during this period is equivalent to Rs 53.52 billion. This amount is equal to 87 percent of the target set for VAT collection till mid-December.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has stated that Rs. 74.71 billion has been raised from excise duty so far and this collection is 100 percent of the half-yearly target of excise duty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the department has collected Rs 2.97 billion under health care tax which is 203 percent of the current target and the education service tax collected so far is Rs 282 million or 56 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although budget expenditure under different headings including capital expenditure has a role to play in revenue collection, it does not seem to have been spent accordingly. According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government spending has been weak during the review period. By mid-December, only 31 percent of the annual target had been met, according to the FCGO.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the annual budget allocation of Rs. 1632.82 billion for the current fiscal year, Rs 506.69 billion has been spent so far. Out of this, 38.15 percent or Rs. 406.41 billion includes current expenditure, 13.44 percent or Rs 50.80 billion is capital expenditure and 26.12 percent or Rs 49.47 billion was spent for financial management.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has stepped up its ban on businesses, citing a surge of the new variant of Covid-19. This will also have an impact on revenue collection as well as expenditure and will further challenge the government to meet the target in the coming days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14377', 'image' => '20220117021230_20210308113657_20200911125203_1599773733.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 14:11:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14633', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Poultry Business in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. </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 prices of maize and soybean, the main raw materials used for making poultry feed, have skyrocketed in the international market. The farmers have been forced to sell chicken at less than half the cost price due to the sudden decline in number of poultry farmers. This has led to a crisis in the business. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had declared Nepal self-sufficient in livestock last April. However, this sector is in trouble now. </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 Nepal Poultry Federation does not have the exact data on the number of farmers leaving the poultry business after the skyrocketing price of poultry feed. However, entrepreneurs say that the number of poultry farmers has dropped dramatically. As a result, even the hatchery industry is in a dire situation. General Secretary of the federation Dinesh Mishra said that the hatchery industry is in trouble as the demand for chickens suddenly dropped after farmers stopped raising chickens. </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, the price of raw material has doubled in the last six months and the price of grain has increased by Rs 6 per kg. Soybeans, which used to cost Rs 60 per kg, have gone up to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the price of maize which used to cost Rs 28 per kg has increased up to Rs 40 per kg. </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 now increased the customs duty on maize and soybean imports from 1.6 percent to 10 percent. “Poultry traders are further discouraged by the obligation to pay 10 percent customs duty on maize and soybeans, which constitute up to 80 percent of the raw material of poultry feed. This rule of the government has brought the poultry sector on the verge of collapse,” Mishra told New Business Age. </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"">About 80 percent of the maize and about 99 percent of the soybean required for producing poultry feed in Nepal are imported from countries including the United States, Brazil and India. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14376', 'image' => '20220117010719_20210411050124_20160613051853_20160613104208_Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 13:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Issues New Order to Contain the Spread of Omicron Variant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.', 'content' => '<p><em>Government Spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki shared that the cabinet meeting of January 14 has decided to impose a ban on all sorts of mass meetings, rallies and gatherings until February 12. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the order, any symposium, seminar, review meeting and related activities should be conducted virtually while only 25 persons can attend such events in person with negative report of antigen test in case they are required to organise the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Only fully immunised people against COVID-19 can attend such events after January 21,” the order stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Businesses and companies that provide regular services to the customers need to ensure that the staff members in the forefront of the service undergo Covid-19 tests two times a week. As per the new order, employees working in counters and those who are directly involved in customer care service need to undergo antigen tests twice a week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, film halls, dance bars, clubs, health clubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other events that see public gatherings cannot not be operated until January 29. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki said that schools, universities, tuition centres and other academic activities would not be allowed to run in persons until January 29 and urged them to opt for online classes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the prescheduled examinations of schools, colleges and human resource recruitment, language skill test for foreign employment and exams of medical education shall run by complying with the public health protocol. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14375', 'image' => '20220117100655_RS_KTM_MantriKarki-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 10:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Accepts Concessional Loan of Rs 47 Billion from IMF', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolvethe current financial crisis faced by the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolve the current financial crisis faced by the country. The International Monetary Fund had decided to provide a concessional loan of Rs 46.7 billion loan under the enhanced credit facility (ECF) to Nepal at zero percent interest rate upon the request from the Ministry of Finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the credit facility, the government will received a sum of Rs 13 billion (US$ 110 million) as the first installment within a week, according to the Ministry of Finance. The ministry further said that the remaining amount will be received in various installments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The fund will be utilized to give continuity to the government’s attempts to minimize the impacts of Covid-19 on public health and economy, protect the underprivileged groups, develop the overall economy and to help in financial stability, sustainable development and poverty alleviation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financial assistance received from the IMF will be included in the budget as per the requirement and on priority basis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary at the MoF Ritesh Shakya informed that the concessional loan can be included in the budget of the current fiscal year as per an understanding reached with the officials of IMF.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The IMF had announced last year to provide concessional loans to 25 developing nations including Nepal amid Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-16', 'modified' => '2022-01-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14374', 'image' => '20220116044746_imf.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-16 16:46:42', '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' => '14645', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'AOAN Mandates Covid-19 Vaccination Card for Air Travel ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: Although the government has made antigen test mandatory for passengers of domestic flights, the Airline's Operators' Association of Nepal (AOAN) is of the view that air travel can be made by submitting vaccination card.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 20: Although the government has made antigen test mandatory for passengers of domestic flights, the Airline's Operators' Association of Nepal (AOAN) is of the view that air travel can be made by submitting vaccination card.</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"">AOAN insists that air travel can be done by showing the vaccination card at the airport.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the executive committee of the association held on Wednesday has decided make air travel easy for passengers by accepting a digital copy of vaccination card that passengers can show from their mobile phones.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on December 12 had directed the airline companies to conduct an antigen of the passengers. Despite the decision of the Council of Ministers to conduct antigen tests from January 22, the association decided to hold a meeting on Wednesday and announced that passengers should be allowed to travel by showing their vaccination card.</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 association has issued a notice making it mandatory to use the anti-Covid card for air travel. The association has stated that other necessary measures will be implemented for the prevention and control of the new variant of Covid-19 while adhering to health safety standards during domestic flights. </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"">AOAN has also set rules for airlines to follow. According to AOAN, airlines should provide sanitizers inside airplanes, disinfect the aircraft and baggage after each flight, and impose public health standards. </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"">Airline companies have stepped up health standards as the new variant of Covid-19 - omicron – has spread rapidly in many parts of the country. A few days ago, Buddha Air surveyed 1,895 individuals and found that 95 percent of the passengers were vaccinated.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14388', 'image' => '20220120014340_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 13:42:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Westerly Wind likely to Cause Rain, Snowfall ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This file photo shows snowfall in Humla. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu has witnessed a fall in mercury level with a foggy sky since early morning today (January 20). The capital has also witnessed light rain, the division informed urging one and all to adopt necessary safety measures as temperature is likely to drop further with chances of rainfall and snowfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kathmandu’s maximum temperature was recorded at 5.2 degree Celsius and minimum was at 1.8 degree Celsius as per the latest update of the division. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14387', 'image' => '20220120120618_DaneBohara_Humla_RSS_14(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 12:04:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). </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"">As per the new adjustment, prices of diesel, petrol and kerosene have increased by Rs 3 per liter while aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is up by Rs 5 (for domestic flights) per litre and USD 100 per kiloliter (for international 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"">According NOC, diesel and kerosene are now being sold for Rs 122 per liter each while petrol costs Rs 139 per litre. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (for domestic flights) is being sold for Rs 106 per liter while ATF for international flights now costs USD 995 per kilolitre. </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"">However, price of cooking gas remains unchanged, according to NOC. The state-owned oil monopoly said that the price of cooking gas (LPG) has not been changed despite projecting a loss of over Rs 1.88 billion for the next two weeks after price adjustment.</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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the prices of petroleum products on October 29 and November 10.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14386', 'image' => '20220120113623_20210824101943_20210707102647_20190503125003_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 11:35:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business in Nepal Slumps', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Krishna Subedi, chief of the Kalanki Land Revenue Office, said that the real estate business has declined since the past four months due to the lack of liquidity in the banking sector. The real estate business in the Kathmandu Valley has slumped by 40 to 50 percent in the last two months compared to the previous year. However, the online system of the Department of Land Management and Records has shown inconsistent data of some offices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The online data shows that the Kalanki Land Revenue Office has collected registration fee of Rs 560 million in November and more than Rs 510 million in December. However, the registration fee collected in November and December has not exceeded Rs 350 million, insists Subedi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Land Service Center shows the number of transactions and revenue in the system once it is entered even if there is no transaction. Therefore, the actual number of transactions and revenue collection is less than what the data of the Department of Statistics suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ichcha Bahadur Wagle, president of the Nepal Housing and Land Development Association, said he had seen such a recession only twice in his 20-year business journey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"While all indicators of the economy are negative, the real estate business has also slowed down. Unless other indicators of the economy improve, the real estate business is unlikely to improve," Wagle said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the contrary, if this situation continues, many businessmen may get into trouble, he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claims that even though some of the people in trouble have sold the land at throw-away price, the price of the land has not gone down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">People sell their property at low price due to circumstances. Individuals have been doing that in the past and will continue doing so in the future based on their situation. However, the fact that a few people sold their land at less price does not mean that the overall price of real estate has decreased, he opined.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14385', 'image' => '20220119045351_20211213123222_20170320111604_ep.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:52:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14641', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pashupatinath Temple Closed for Devotees from January 19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the revered Hindu holy shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva has been closed for the public until further notice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pashupatinath Temple as well as other shrines on the premises such as Guhyeshwari and Chandrabinayak had been drawing large gatherings of devotees lately, posing threat of transmission of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PADT's executive director Dr Ghanashyam Khatiwada told the national news agency RSS that regular worship will continue in these shrines during this period adhering to health safety measures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All other services in the Pashupatinath Temple such as special puja, hymn singing and other rituals have been closed as per the decision of the government to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, the PADT said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Pashupatinath Temple was closed for devotees during March, 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 hit the country. The temple was reopened after nine months, towards mid-December, 2020 and devotees as well as temple authorities were subjected to adherence to health safety protocols against the deadly infection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the second wave hit during last April, the temple authorities again closed the Temple owing to the risk of Delta variant of COVID-19. The temple was reopened after nearly five months as the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now , as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has become pervasive, the PADT decided to close the Pashupatinath Temple for the devotees indefinitely. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14384', 'image' => '20220119043423_Nepal_Aug11_mymiFBv.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:33:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of BFIs likely to Increase', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds. BFIs used to avoid bad loans by collecting both capital and interest from overdraft loans, but recent problems of liquidity is expected to give rise to bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While closing accounts, BFIs used to recover principal and interest of old loans by extending loans to individuals and institutional borrowers through overdraft. However, due to lack of liquidity, credit expansion has slowed down compared to the same period of the last fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, credit of commercial banks has increased by only Rs 59 billion in the current fiscal year. In the first quarter (as of mid-October), commercial banks had extended Rs 126 billion after closing the account.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the credit expansion of banks has been affected, the recovery of principal and interest installment (EMI) has been affected. Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association and CEO of Agriculture Development Bank, said, "Banks are not investing aggressively as they are focused on maintaining liquidity. When the banking system doesn't function properly, money from the market also doesn't come back to the system."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions are allowed to collect the principal and interest of the loan through overdraft. However, banks are not allowed to lend more than the overdraft limit to collect the installment, said NRB Executive Director Dev Kumar Dhakal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits of commercial banks increased by Rs. 123 billion in the current fiscal year while credit expansion increased by Rs 422 billion. According to the NRB, the credit of banks has gone to short-term and personal spending. Out of the credit extended by BFIs till mid-November of the current fiscal year, overdraft increased by 17.2 percent and demand and working capital loan increased by 5.4 percent .</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14383', 'image' => '20220119035640_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 15:55:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14639', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Booster Dose at 19 Places in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson of the Ministry Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari told the state-owned RSS that those working in the frontline are being given booster doses from 19 places in the Kathmandu Valley since January 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, booster dose is being administered at Birendra Army Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Armed Police Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital, Maternity Hospital, Martyr Shukraraj Tropical and Communicable Diseases Hospital, Civil Hospital, Subheksha Hospital, People's Dental Hospital, Janamitri Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Kathmandu Model Hospital, Norvic Hospital, Nobel Hospital, Vayodha Hospital, Shaheed Smriti Hospital, New Bus Park and Apex Polyclinic, Jadibuti, Koteswar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has requested all concerned to carry their vaccination card for the booster dose. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14382', 'image' => '20220118101632_072572-770x533-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 22:15:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14638', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prime Minister's Employment Programme Becomes Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. The execution of the programme has now become uncertain after the new coalition government took charge of the nation.</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"">Danduraj Ghimire, National Program Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme and Joint Secretary at the Labour Ministry, said that out of the 750,000 people registered in the employment center in the current fiscal year, only 6,000 got employment so far. According to him, employees have been paid for 100 days of work at Rs 577 per day.</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"">Joint Secretary Ghimire said that the delay in the amendment of the regulations affected the implementation of the programme in the current fiscal year. He said that the execution of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme Operation Directive (Second Amendment) -2078 BS has been approved by the Council of Ministers.</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 wage rate is the same in mountains, hills and the plains, which is not practical.</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"">"Everywhere the same wage rate does not seem practical, so by amending the directive, the local wage rate has been fixed at Rs 577,” said Joint Secretary Ghimire.</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"">Among those registered for the employment, individuals listed as poor and extremely poor have been employed by the government. Ghimire claims that 176,000 people got employment last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had given continuity to this programme in the budget of the current fiscal year by allocating Rs 12 billion to provide employment to 200,000 people for 100 days. However, only Rs 346.2 million has been spent so far, according to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme.</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"">Donors have been supporting this program since last year. The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of Rs 14 billion to support this programme.</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 World Bank had provided a loan of Rs 7 billion in the current fiscal year while the government had allocated Rs 5 billion in the budget.</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 lack of budget expenditure under this programme for six months of the current fiscal year has raised fears that the fund might be misused. Past experiences have shown that the effectiveness of such programme is weak and this programme has been much criticized.</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"">In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year 2078/79, the programme has not been implemented properly. However, funds have been sent to the local level for the implementation of the programme through budget transfer.</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 made arrangements to use the budget only for programmes such as road construction, maintenance of buildings, river control, irrigation, and tree planting which are being operated at the local level. However, there has been a tendency to spend the budget allocated for this programme even for other general works.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14381', 'image' => '20220118041131_20200909034726_1599602881.3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 16:09:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14636', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production of Rice Declines ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20. Stakeholders blame the unseasonal rainfall during harvesting season for the reduction in quantity of rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One quintal of clean and good paddy yields up to 52 kg of rice. However, due to the sudden rainfall this year, paddy planted in most of the districts were rotten.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Due to this, the quantity of rice in one quintal of paddy has decreased by up to 7 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry, if the paddy is good, up to 52 kg of rice and 10 kg of grains are produced from one quintal of paddy. However, now the quantity of rice fragments has increased to 17 kg and the quantity of husk has reached 38 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that this would be a loss for the paddy farmers, rice industrialists and consumers. “Decline in the amount of rice in paddy also increases the production cost. Consumers are directly affected by this. The price of rice has not increased immediately but the price might go up later,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Rice industries operating at less than 50 percent capacity </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the rice industries are operating at less than 50 percent of their production capacity. According to the association, traders are now importing less amount of paddy and more amount of rice from the Indian market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rathi said that Nepali rice industries have not been able to fully utilize their production capacity due to high import of rice from India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since rice produced in Nepal cannot meet the domestic demand, it has to be imported from India. However, Rathi is of the view that the Nepali rice industries would continue production if they could import more paddy than rice and this would help in creating employment in the country. He said that the government should encourage domestic industries to import paddy rather than rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The food industries operating in Nepal produce 60 percent of rice, 62 percent pulses and 35 percent oil that is required annually in the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14380', 'image' => '20220118011111_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:10:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14637', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Infected with COVID-19 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourism Minister Prem Bahadur Ale during a recent function held in Pokhara. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. Minister Ale’s secretariat confirmed the report following a test carried out on Monday (January 17).</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"">Along with the minister, his private secretary Hemanta Regmi has also been infected. Both of them are in isolation at their home. The minister's secretariat urged all those who came in contact with the duo to get themselves tested and take precaution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14379', 'image' => '20220118013756_RK-Pokhara-MinisterAalee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:36:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14635', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digital Payments Up since mid-December', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. According to a report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), digital payments which had declined in October/November have increased again from mid-December. </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 report revealed that transactions done through online payment platforms such as wallet, mobile banking, internet banking, connect IPS have increased since mid-December. Digital payments gained momentum after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic but it had witnessed a decline in the month of Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) which is again on its track from mid-December. </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"">In the period between mid-Oct to mid-Nov, transactions worth Rs 203 billion were done through ConnectIPS, which increased to Rs 228 billion in mid-Nov to mid-December. Likewise, mobile banking transactions worth Rs 781 billion were completed in the period between mid Sep-mid Oct which reached Rs 885 billion in mid-Nov to mid-Dec. All other transactions done through internet banking, mobile, wallet, QR base payment have also increased.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Guruprasad Poudel, head of the Department of Payment System of NRB, said, “Digital payments have increased since December. It is expected to grow gradually." He said that payments have declined during the month of November since it is the closing period of the first quarter of the fiscal year. "Digital payments have increased significantly in the last one year. The overall monthly number of digital transactions has fluctuated this year but there has been a huge growth in digital payments during this period," he said.</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, cash and digital payments go hand in hand. All the places don't have facilities for digital payments. People are using both cash and digital wallets. When all places have required infrastructure, use of cash goes minimal. The central bank has also prioritized digital payment and building necessary infrastructures. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14378', 'image' => '20220117072256_20210518011138_5f50d.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 19:21:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14634', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fails to Meet the Target of Revenue Collection', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government has not been able to collect half of the revenue target of Rs 1.18 trillion set for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By mid-January, the government had collected only 45.91 percent of the revenue target, or Rs 591 billion. The share of tax revenue is Rs 494.01 billion, and the share of non-tax revenue is Rs 48.06 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the preliminary data of the Inland Revenue Department, only 93 percent of the target has been collected in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Out of the target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in taxes during this period, only Rs 225.47 billion has been collected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had set a target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in internal revenue by mid-January. The value added tax (VAT) collected during this period is equivalent to Rs 53.52 billion. This amount is equal to 87 percent of the target set for VAT collection till mid-December.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has stated that Rs. 74.71 billion has been raised from excise duty so far and this collection is 100 percent of the half-yearly target of excise duty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the department has collected Rs 2.97 billion under health care tax which is 203 percent of the current target and the education service tax collected so far is Rs 282 million or 56 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although budget expenditure under different headings including capital expenditure has a role to play in revenue collection, it does not seem to have been spent accordingly. According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government spending has been weak during the review period. By mid-December, only 31 percent of the annual target had been met, according to the FCGO.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the annual budget allocation of Rs. 1632.82 billion for the current fiscal year, Rs 506.69 billion has been spent so far. Out of this, 38.15 percent or Rs. 406.41 billion includes current expenditure, 13.44 percent or Rs 50.80 billion is capital expenditure and 26.12 percent or Rs 49.47 billion was spent for financial management.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has stepped up its ban on businesses, citing a surge of the new variant of Covid-19. This will also have an impact on revenue collection as well as expenditure and will further challenge the government to meet the target in the coming days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14377', 'image' => '20220117021230_20210308113657_20200911125203_1599773733.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 14:11:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14633', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Poultry Business in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. </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 prices of maize and soybean, the main raw materials used for making poultry feed, have skyrocketed in the international market. The farmers have been forced to sell chicken at less than half the cost price due to the sudden decline in number of poultry farmers. This has led to a crisis in the business. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had declared Nepal self-sufficient in livestock last April. However, this sector is in trouble now. </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 Nepal Poultry Federation does not have the exact data on the number of farmers leaving the poultry business after the skyrocketing price of poultry feed. However, entrepreneurs say that the number of poultry farmers has dropped dramatically. As a result, even the hatchery industry is in a dire situation. General Secretary of the federation Dinesh Mishra said that the hatchery industry is in trouble as the demand for chickens suddenly dropped after farmers stopped raising chickens. </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, the price of raw material has doubled in the last six months and the price of grain has increased by Rs 6 per kg. Soybeans, which used to cost Rs 60 per kg, have gone up to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the price of maize which used to cost Rs 28 per kg has increased up to Rs 40 per kg. </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 now increased the customs duty on maize and soybean imports from 1.6 percent to 10 percent. “Poultry traders are further discouraged by the obligation to pay 10 percent customs duty on maize and soybeans, which constitute up to 80 percent of the raw material of poultry feed. This rule of the government has brought the poultry sector on the verge of collapse,” Mishra told New Business Age. </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"">About 80 percent of the maize and about 99 percent of the soybean required for producing poultry feed in Nepal are imported from countries including the United States, Brazil and India. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14376', 'image' => '20220117010719_20210411050124_20160613051853_20160613104208_Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 13:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Issues New Order to Contain the Spread of Omicron Variant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.', 'content' => '<p><em>Government Spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki shared that the cabinet meeting of January 14 has decided to impose a ban on all sorts of mass meetings, rallies and gatherings until February 12. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the order, any symposium, seminar, review meeting and related activities should be conducted virtually while only 25 persons can attend such events in person with negative report of antigen test in case they are required to organise the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Only fully immunised people against COVID-19 can attend such events after January 21,” the order stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Businesses and companies that provide regular services to the customers need to ensure that the staff members in the forefront of the service undergo Covid-19 tests two times a week. As per the new order, employees working in counters and those who are directly involved in customer care service need to undergo antigen tests twice a week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, film halls, dance bars, clubs, health clubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other events that see public gatherings cannot not be operated until January 29. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki said that schools, universities, tuition centres and other academic activities would not be allowed to run in persons until January 29 and urged them to opt for online classes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the prescheduled examinations of schools, colleges and human resource recruitment, language skill test for foreign employment and exams of medical education shall run by complying with the public health protocol. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14375', 'image' => '20220117100655_RS_KTM_MantriKarki-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 10:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Accepts Concessional Loan of Rs 47 Billion from IMF', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolvethe current financial crisis faced by the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolve the current financial crisis faced by the country. The International Monetary Fund had decided to provide a concessional loan of Rs 46.7 billion loan under the enhanced credit facility (ECF) to Nepal at zero percent interest rate upon the request from the Ministry of Finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the credit facility, the government will received a sum of Rs 13 billion (US$ 110 million) as the first installment within a week, according to the Ministry of Finance. The ministry further said that the remaining amount will be received in various installments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The fund will be utilized to give continuity to the government’s attempts to minimize the impacts of Covid-19 on public health and economy, protect the underprivileged groups, develop the overall economy and to help in financial stability, sustainable development and poverty alleviation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financial assistance received from the IMF will be included in the budget as per the requirement and on priority basis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary at the MoF Ritesh Shakya informed that the concessional loan can be included in the budget of the current fiscal year as per an understanding reached with the officials of IMF.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The IMF had announced last year to provide concessional loans to 25 developing nations including Nepal amid Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-16', 'modified' => '2022-01-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14374', 'image' => '20220116044746_imf.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-16 16:46:42', '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' => '14645', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'AOAN Mandates Covid-19 Vaccination Card for Air Travel ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: Although the government has made antigen test mandatory for passengers of domestic flights, the Airline's Operators' Association of Nepal (AOAN) is of the view that air travel can be made by submitting vaccination card.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 20: Although the government has made antigen test mandatory for passengers of domestic flights, the Airline's Operators' Association of Nepal (AOAN) is of the view that air travel can be made by submitting vaccination card.</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"">AOAN insists that air travel can be done by showing the vaccination card at the airport.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the executive committee of the association held on Wednesday has decided make air travel easy for passengers by accepting a digital copy of vaccination card that passengers can show from their mobile phones.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on December 12 had directed the airline companies to conduct an antigen of the passengers. Despite the decision of the Council of Ministers to conduct antigen tests from January 22, the association decided to hold a meeting on Wednesday and announced that passengers should be allowed to travel by showing their vaccination card.</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 association has issued a notice making it mandatory to use the anti-Covid card for air travel. The association has stated that other necessary measures will be implemented for the prevention and control of the new variant of Covid-19 while adhering to health safety standards during domestic flights. </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"">AOAN has also set rules for airlines to follow. According to AOAN, airlines should provide sanitizers inside airplanes, disinfect the aircraft and baggage after each flight, and impose public health standards. </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"">Airline companies have stepped up health standards as the new variant of Covid-19 - omicron – has spread rapidly in many parts of the country. A few days ago, Buddha Air surveyed 1,895 individuals and found that 95 percent of the passengers were vaccinated.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14388', 'image' => '20220120014340_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 13:42:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Westerly Wind likely to Cause Rain, Snowfall ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This file photo shows snowfall in Humla. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu has witnessed a fall in mercury level with a foggy sky since early morning today (January 20). The capital has also witnessed light rain, the division informed urging one and all to adopt necessary safety measures as temperature is likely to drop further with chances of rainfall and snowfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kathmandu’s maximum temperature was recorded at 5.2 degree Celsius and minimum was at 1.8 degree Celsius as per the latest update of the division. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14387', 'image' => '20220120120618_DaneBohara_Humla_RSS_14(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 12:04:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). </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"">As per the new adjustment, prices of diesel, petrol and kerosene have increased by Rs 3 per liter while aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is up by Rs 5 (for domestic flights) per litre and USD 100 per kiloliter (for international 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"">According NOC, diesel and kerosene are now being sold for Rs 122 per liter each while petrol costs Rs 139 per litre. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (for domestic flights) is being sold for Rs 106 per liter while ATF for international flights now costs USD 995 per kilolitre. </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"">However, price of cooking gas remains unchanged, according to NOC. The state-owned oil monopoly said that the price of cooking gas (LPG) has not been changed despite projecting a loss of over Rs 1.88 billion for the next two weeks after price adjustment.</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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the prices of petroleum products on October 29 and November 10.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14386', 'image' => '20220120113623_20210824101943_20210707102647_20190503125003_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 11:35:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business in Nepal Slumps', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Krishna Subedi, chief of the Kalanki Land Revenue Office, said that the real estate business has declined since the past four months due to the lack of liquidity in the banking sector. The real estate business in the Kathmandu Valley has slumped by 40 to 50 percent in the last two months compared to the previous year. However, the online system of the Department of Land Management and Records has shown inconsistent data of some offices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The online data shows that the Kalanki Land Revenue Office has collected registration fee of Rs 560 million in November and more than Rs 510 million in December. However, the registration fee collected in November and December has not exceeded Rs 350 million, insists Subedi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Land Service Center shows the number of transactions and revenue in the system once it is entered even if there is no transaction. Therefore, the actual number of transactions and revenue collection is less than what the data of the Department of Statistics suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ichcha Bahadur Wagle, president of the Nepal Housing and Land Development Association, said he had seen such a recession only twice in his 20-year business journey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"While all indicators of the economy are negative, the real estate business has also slowed down. Unless other indicators of the economy improve, the real estate business is unlikely to improve," Wagle said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the contrary, if this situation continues, many businessmen may get into trouble, he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claims that even though some of the people in trouble have sold the land at throw-away price, the price of the land has not gone down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">People sell their property at low price due to circumstances. Individuals have been doing that in the past and will continue doing so in the future based on their situation. However, the fact that a few people sold their land at less price does not mean that the overall price of real estate has decreased, he opined.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14385', 'image' => '20220119045351_20211213123222_20170320111604_ep.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:52:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14641', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pashupatinath Temple Closed for Devotees from January 19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the revered Hindu holy shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva has been closed for the public until further notice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pashupatinath Temple as well as other shrines on the premises such as Guhyeshwari and Chandrabinayak had been drawing large gatherings of devotees lately, posing threat of transmission of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PADT's executive director Dr Ghanashyam Khatiwada told the national news agency RSS that regular worship will continue in these shrines during this period adhering to health safety measures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All other services in the Pashupatinath Temple such as special puja, hymn singing and other rituals have been closed as per the decision of the government to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, the PADT said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Pashupatinath Temple was closed for devotees during March, 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 hit the country. The temple was reopened after nine months, towards mid-December, 2020 and devotees as well as temple authorities were subjected to adherence to health safety protocols against the deadly infection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the second wave hit during last April, the temple authorities again closed the Temple owing to the risk of Delta variant of COVID-19. The temple was reopened after nearly five months as the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now , as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has become pervasive, the PADT decided to close the Pashupatinath Temple for the devotees indefinitely. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14384', 'image' => '20220119043423_Nepal_Aug11_mymiFBv.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:33:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of BFIs likely to Increase', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds. BFIs used to avoid bad loans by collecting both capital and interest from overdraft loans, but recent problems of liquidity is expected to give rise to bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While closing accounts, BFIs used to recover principal and interest of old loans by extending loans to individuals and institutional borrowers through overdraft. However, due to lack of liquidity, credit expansion has slowed down compared to the same period of the last fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, credit of commercial banks has increased by only Rs 59 billion in the current fiscal year. In the first quarter (as of mid-October), commercial banks had extended Rs 126 billion after closing the account.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the credit expansion of banks has been affected, the recovery of principal and interest installment (EMI) has been affected. Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association and CEO of Agriculture Development Bank, said, "Banks are not investing aggressively as they are focused on maintaining liquidity. When the banking system doesn't function properly, money from the market also doesn't come back to the system."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions are allowed to collect the principal and interest of the loan through overdraft. However, banks are not allowed to lend more than the overdraft limit to collect the installment, said NRB Executive Director Dev Kumar Dhakal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits of commercial banks increased by Rs. 123 billion in the current fiscal year while credit expansion increased by Rs 422 billion. According to the NRB, the credit of banks has gone to short-term and personal spending. Out of the credit extended by BFIs till mid-November of the current fiscal year, overdraft increased by 17.2 percent and demand and working capital loan increased by 5.4 percent .</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14383', 'image' => '20220119035640_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 15:55:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14639', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Booster Dose at 19 Places in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson of the Ministry Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari told the state-owned RSS that those working in the frontline are being given booster doses from 19 places in the Kathmandu Valley since January 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, booster dose is being administered at Birendra Army Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Armed Police Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital, Maternity Hospital, Martyr Shukraraj Tropical and Communicable Diseases Hospital, Civil Hospital, Subheksha Hospital, People's Dental Hospital, Janamitri Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Kathmandu Model Hospital, Norvic Hospital, Nobel Hospital, Vayodha Hospital, Shaheed Smriti Hospital, New Bus Park and Apex Polyclinic, Jadibuti, Koteswar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has requested all concerned to carry their vaccination card for the booster dose. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14382', 'image' => '20220118101632_072572-770x533-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 22:15:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14638', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prime Minister's Employment Programme Becomes Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. The execution of the programme has now become uncertain after the new coalition government took charge of the nation.</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"">Danduraj Ghimire, National Program Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme and Joint Secretary at the Labour Ministry, said that out of the 750,000 people registered in the employment center in the current fiscal year, only 6,000 got employment so far. According to him, employees have been paid for 100 days of work at Rs 577 per day.</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"">Joint Secretary Ghimire said that the delay in the amendment of the regulations affected the implementation of the programme in the current fiscal year. He said that the execution of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme Operation Directive (Second Amendment) -2078 BS has been approved by the Council of Ministers.</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 wage rate is the same in mountains, hills and the plains, which is not practical.</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"">"Everywhere the same wage rate does not seem practical, so by amending the directive, the local wage rate has been fixed at Rs 577,” said Joint Secretary Ghimire.</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"">Among those registered for the employment, individuals listed as poor and extremely poor have been employed by the government. Ghimire claims that 176,000 people got employment last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had given continuity to this programme in the budget of the current fiscal year by allocating Rs 12 billion to provide employment to 200,000 people for 100 days. However, only Rs 346.2 million has been spent so far, according to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme.</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"">Donors have been supporting this program since last year. The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of Rs 14 billion to support this programme.</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 World Bank had provided a loan of Rs 7 billion in the current fiscal year while the government had allocated Rs 5 billion in the budget.</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 lack of budget expenditure under this programme for six months of the current fiscal year has raised fears that the fund might be misused. Past experiences have shown that the effectiveness of such programme is weak and this programme has been much criticized.</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"">In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year 2078/79, the programme has not been implemented properly. However, funds have been sent to the local level for the implementation of the programme through budget transfer.</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 made arrangements to use the budget only for programmes such as road construction, maintenance of buildings, river control, irrigation, and tree planting which are being operated at the local level. However, there has been a tendency to spend the budget allocated for this programme even for other general works.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14381', 'image' => '20220118041131_20200909034726_1599602881.3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 16:09:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14636', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production of Rice Declines ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20. Stakeholders blame the unseasonal rainfall during harvesting season for the reduction in quantity of rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One quintal of clean and good paddy yields up to 52 kg of rice. However, due to the sudden rainfall this year, paddy planted in most of the districts were rotten.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Due to this, the quantity of rice in one quintal of paddy has decreased by up to 7 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry, if the paddy is good, up to 52 kg of rice and 10 kg of grains are produced from one quintal of paddy. However, now the quantity of rice fragments has increased to 17 kg and the quantity of husk has reached 38 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that this would be a loss for the paddy farmers, rice industrialists and consumers. “Decline in the amount of rice in paddy also increases the production cost. Consumers are directly affected by this. The price of rice has not increased immediately but the price might go up later,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Rice industries operating at less than 50 percent capacity </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the rice industries are operating at less than 50 percent of their production capacity. According to the association, traders are now importing less amount of paddy and more amount of rice from the Indian market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rathi said that Nepali rice industries have not been able to fully utilize their production capacity due to high import of rice from India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since rice produced in Nepal cannot meet the domestic demand, it has to be imported from India. However, Rathi is of the view that the Nepali rice industries would continue production if they could import more paddy than rice and this would help in creating employment in the country. He said that the government should encourage domestic industries to import paddy rather than rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The food industries operating in Nepal produce 60 percent of rice, 62 percent pulses and 35 percent oil that is required annually in the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14380', 'image' => '20220118011111_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:10:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14637', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Infected with COVID-19 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourism Minister Prem Bahadur Ale during a recent function held in Pokhara. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. Minister Ale’s secretariat confirmed the report following a test carried out on Monday (January 17).</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"">Along with the minister, his private secretary Hemanta Regmi has also been infected. Both of them are in isolation at their home. The minister's secretariat urged all those who came in contact with the duo to get themselves tested and take precaution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14379', 'image' => '20220118013756_RK-Pokhara-MinisterAalee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:36:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14635', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digital Payments Up since mid-December', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. According to a report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), digital payments which had declined in October/November have increased again from mid-December. </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 report revealed that transactions done through online payment platforms such as wallet, mobile banking, internet banking, connect IPS have increased since mid-December. Digital payments gained momentum after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic but it had witnessed a decline in the month of Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) which is again on its track from mid-December. </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"">In the period between mid-Oct to mid-Nov, transactions worth Rs 203 billion were done through ConnectIPS, which increased to Rs 228 billion in mid-Nov to mid-December. Likewise, mobile banking transactions worth Rs 781 billion were completed in the period between mid Sep-mid Oct which reached Rs 885 billion in mid-Nov to mid-Dec. All other transactions done through internet banking, mobile, wallet, QR base payment have also increased.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Guruprasad Poudel, head of the Department of Payment System of NRB, said, “Digital payments have increased since December. It is expected to grow gradually." He said that payments have declined during the month of November since it is the closing period of the first quarter of the fiscal year. "Digital payments have increased significantly in the last one year. The overall monthly number of digital transactions has fluctuated this year but there has been a huge growth in digital payments during this period," he said.</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, cash and digital payments go hand in hand. All the places don't have facilities for digital payments. People are using both cash and digital wallets. When all places have required infrastructure, use of cash goes minimal. The central bank has also prioritized digital payment and building necessary infrastructures. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14378', 'image' => '20220117072256_20210518011138_5f50d.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 19:21:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14634', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fails to Meet the Target of Revenue Collection', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government has not been able to collect half of the revenue target of Rs 1.18 trillion set for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By mid-January, the government had collected only 45.91 percent of the revenue target, or Rs 591 billion. The share of tax revenue is Rs 494.01 billion, and the share of non-tax revenue is Rs 48.06 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the preliminary data of the Inland Revenue Department, only 93 percent of the target has been collected in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Out of the target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in taxes during this period, only Rs 225.47 billion has been collected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had set a target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in internal revenue by mid-January. The value added tax (VAT) collected during this period is equivalent to Rs 53.52 billion. This amount is equal to 87 percent of the target set for VAT collection till mid-December.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has stated that Rs. 74.71 billion has been raised from excise duty so far and this collection is 100 percent of the half-yearly target of excise duty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the department has collected Rs 2.97 billion under health care tax which is 203 percent of the current target and the education service tax collected so far is Rs 282 million or 56 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although budget expenditure under different headings including capital expenditure has a role to play in revenue collection, it does not seem to have been spent accordingly. According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government spending has been weak during the review period. By mid-December, only 31 percent of the annual target had been met, according to the FCGO.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the annual budget allocation of Rs. 1632.82 billion for the current fiscal year, Rs 506.69 billion has been spent so far. Out of this, 38.15 percent or Rs. 406.41 billion includes current expenditure, 13.44 percent or Rs 50.80 billion is capital expenditure and 26.12 percent or Rs 49.47 billion was spent for financial management.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has stepped up its ban on businesses, citing a surge of the new variant of Covid-19. This will also have an impact on revenue collection as well as expenditure and will further challenge the government to meet the target in the coming days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14377', 'image' => '20220117021230_20210308113657_20200911125203_1599773733.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 14:11:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14633', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Poultry Business in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. </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 prices of maize and soybean, the main raw materials used for making poultry feed, have skyrocketed in the international market. The farmers have been forced to sell chicken at less than half the cost price due to the sudden decline in number of poultry farmers. This has led to a crisis in the business. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had declared Nepal self-sufficient in livestock last April. However, this sector is in trouble now. </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 Nepal Poultry Federation does not have the exact data on the number of farmers leaving the poultry business after the skyrocketing price of poultry feed. However, entrepreneurs say that the number of poultry farmers has dropped dramatically. As a result, even the hatchery industry is in a dire situation. General Secretary of the federation Dinesh Mishra said that the hatchery industry is in trouble as the demand for chickens suddenly dropped after farmers stopped raising chickens. </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, the price of raw material has doubled in the last six months and the price of grain has increased by Rs 6 per kg. Soybeans, which used to cost Rs 60 per kg, have gone up to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the price of maize which used to cost Rs 28 per kg has increased up to Rs 40 per kg. </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 now increased the customs duty on maize and soybean imports from 1.6 percent to 10 percent. “Poultry traders are further discouraged by the obligation to pay 10 percent customs duty on maize and soybeans, which constitute up to 80 percent of the raw material of poultry feed. This rule of the government has brought the poultry sector on the verge of collapse,” Mishra told New Business Age. </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"">About 80 percent of the maize and about 99 percent of the soybean required for producing poultry feed in Nepal are imported from countries including the United States, Brazil and India. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14376', 'image' => '20220117010719_20210411050124_20160613051853_20160613104208_Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 13:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Issues New Order to Contain the Spread of Omicron Variant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.', 'content' => '<p><em>Government Spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki shared that the cabinet meeting of January 14 has decided to impose a ban on all sorts of mass meetings, rallies and gatherings until February 12. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the order, any symposium, seminar, review meeting and related activities should be conducted virtually while only 25 persons can attend such events in person with negative report of antigen test in case they are required to organise the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Only fully immunised people against COVID-19 can attend such events after January 21,” the order stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Businesses and companies that provide regular services to the customers need to ensure that the staff members in the forefront of the service undergo Covid-19 tests two times a week. As per the new order, employees working in counters and those who are directly involved in customer care service need to undergo antigen tests twice a week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, film halls, dance bars, clubs, health clubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other events that see public gatherings cannot not be operated until January 29. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki said that schools, universities, tuition centres and other academic activities would not be allowed to run in persons until January 29 and urged them to opt for online classes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the prescheduled examinations of schools, colleges and human resource recruitment, language skill test for foreign employment and exams of medical education shall run by complying with the public health protocol. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14375', 'image' => '20220117100655_RS_KTM_MantriKarki-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 10:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Accepts Concessional Loan of Rs 47 Billion from IMF', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolvethe current financial crisis faced by the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolve the current financial crisis faced by the country. The International Monetary Fund had decided to provide a concessional loan of Rs 46.7 billion loan under the enhanced credit facility (ECF) to Nepal at zero percent interest rate upon the request from the Ministry of Finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the credit facility, the government will received a sum of Rs 13 billion (US$ 110 million) as the first installment within a week, according to the Ministry of Finance. The ministry further said that the remaining amount will be received in various installments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The fund will be utilized to give continuity to the government’s attempts to minimize the impacts of Covid-19 on public health and economy, protect the underprivileged groups, develop the overall economy and to help in financial stability, sustainable development and poverty alleviation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financial assistance received from the IMF will be included in the budget as per the requirement and on priority basis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary at the MoF Ritesh Shakya informed that the concessional loan can be included in the budget of the current fiscal year as per an understanding reached with the officials of IMF.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The IMF had announced last year to provide concessional loans to 25 developing nations including Nepal amid Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-16', 'modified' => '2022-01-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14374', 'image' => '20220116044746_imf.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-16 16:46:42', '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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Despite the decision of the Council of Ministers to conduct antigen tests from January 22, the association decided to hold a meeting on Wednesday and announced that passengers should be allowed to travel by showing their vaccination card.</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 association has issued a notice making it mandatory to use the anti-Covid card for air travel. The association has stated that other necessary measures will be implemented for the prevention and control of the new variant of Covid-19 while adhering to health safety standards during domestic flights. </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"">AOAN has also set rules for airlines to follow. According to AOAN, airlines should provide sanitizers inside airplanes, disinfect the aircraft and baggage after each flight, and impose public health standards. </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"">Airline companies have stepped up health standards as the new variant of Covid-19 - omicron – has spread rapidly in many parts of the country. A few days ago, Buddha Air surveyed 1,895 individuals and found that 95 percent of the passengers were vaccinated.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14388', 'image' => '20220120014340_ATR.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 13:42:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14644', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Westerly Wind likely to Cause Rain, Snowfall ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. ', 'content' => '<p><em>This file photo shows snowfall in Humla. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 20: The westerly wind is likely to cause general changes in weather systems across the country for three days and also bring light rainfall as well as snowfall in some mountainous areas and high hills of the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu has witnessed a fall in mercury level with a foggy sky since early morning today (January 20). The capital has also witnessed light rain, the division informed urging one and all to adopt necessary safety measures as temperature is likely to drop further with chances of rainfall and snowfall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Kathmandu’s maximum temperature was recorded at 5.2 degree Celsius and minimum was at 1.8 degree Celsius as per the latest update of the division. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14387', 'image' => '20220120120618_DaneBohara_Humla_RSS_14(2).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 12:04:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14643', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NOC Hikes Prices of Petroleum Products Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 20: The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products effective from Wednesday midnight (January 19). </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"">As per the new adjustment, prices of diesel, petrol and kerosene have increased by Rs 3 per liter while aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is up by Rs 5 (for domestic flights) per litre and USD 100 per kiloliter (for international 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"">According NOC, diesel and kerosene are now being sold for Rs 122 per liter each while petrol costs Rs 139 per litre. Similarly, aviation turbine fuel (for domestic flights) is being sold for Rs 106 per liter while ATF for international flights now costs USD 995 per kilolitre. </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"">However, price of cooking gas remains unchanged, according to NOC. The state-owned oil monopoly said that the price of cooking gas (LPG) has not been changed despite projecting a loss of over Rs 1.88 billion for the next two weeks after price adjustment.</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"">Prior to this, the NOC had increased the prices of petroleum products on October 29 and November 10.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-20', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14386', 'image' => '20220120113623_20210824101943_20210707102647_20190503125003_Petrol-Price-Increase.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-20 11:35:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14642', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Real Estate Business in Nepal Slumps', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: The liquidity crisis in the banking sector has affected the real estate business in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hari Krishna Subedi, chief of the Kalanki Land Revenue Office, said that the real estate business has declined since the past four months due to the lack of liquidity in the banking sector. The real estate business in the Kathmandu Valley has slumped by 40 to 50 percent in the last two months compared to the previous year. However, the online system of the Department of Land Management and Records has shown inconsistent data of some offices.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The online data shows that the Kalanki Land Revenue Office has collected registration fee of Rs 560 million in November and more than Rs 510 million in December. However, the registration fee collected in November and December has not exceeded Rs 350 million, insists Subedi.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Land Service Center shows the number of transactions and revenue in the system once it is entered even if there is no transaction. Therefore, the actual number of transactions and revenue collection is less than what the data of the Department of Statistics suggests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ichcha Bahadur Wagle, president of the Nepal Housing and Land Development Association, said he had seen such a recession only twice in his 20-year business journey.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"While all indicators of the economy are negative, the real estate business has also slowed down. Unless other indicators of the economy improve, the real estate business is unlikely to improve," Wagle said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the contrary, if this situation continues, many businessmen may get into trouble, he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He claims that even though some of the people in trouble have sold the land at throw-away price, the price of the land has not gone down. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">People sell their property at low price due to circumstances. Individuals have been doing that in the past and will continue doing so in the future based on their situation. However, the fact that a few people sold their land at less price does not mean that the overall price of real estate has decreased, he opined.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14385', 'image' => '20220119045351_20211213123222_20170320111604_ep.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:52:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14641', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pashupatinath Temple Closed for Devotees from January 19', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 19: The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has been shut down for devotees from today (January 19) due to the growing risk of new variant of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the revered Hindu holy shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva has been closed for the public until further notice. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pashupatinath Temple as well as other shrines on the premises such as Guhyeshwari and Chandrabinayak had been drawing large gatherings of devotees lately, posing threat of transmission of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PADT's executive director Dr Ghanashyam Khatiwada told the national news agency RSS that regular worship will continue in these shrines during this period adhering to health safety measures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All other services in the Pashupatinath Temple such as special puja, hymn singing and other rituals have been closed as per the decision of the government to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, the PADT said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Pashupatinath Temple was closed for devotees during March, 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 hit the country. The temple was reopened after nine months, towards mid-December, 2020 and devotees as well as temple authorities were subjected to adherence to health safety protocols against the deadly infection. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">When the second wave hit during last April, the temple authorities again closed the Temple owing to the risk of Delta variant of COVID-19. The temple was reopened after nearly five months as the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Now , as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has become pervasive, the PADT decided to close the Pashupatinath Temple for the devotees indefinitely. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14384', 'image' => '20220119043423_Nepal_Aug11_mymiFBv.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 16:33:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14640', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bad Loans of BFIs likely to Increase', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 19: Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are likely to experience an increase in bad loans due to the shortage of lendable funds. BFIs used to avoid bad loans by collecting both capital and interest from overdraft loans, but recent problems of liquidity is expected to give rise to bad loans. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While closing accounts, BFIs used to recover principal and interest of old loans by extending loans to individuals and institutional borrowers through overdraft. However, due to lack of liquidity, credit expansion has slowed down compared to the same period of the last fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Bankers Association, credit of commercial banks has increased by only Rs 59 billion in the current fiscal year. In the first quarter (as of mid-October), commercial banks had extended Rs 126 billion after closing the account.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the credit expansion of banks has been affected, the recovery of principal and interest installment (EMI) has been affected. Anil Kumar Upadhyay, chairman of Nepal Bankers Association and CEO of Agriculture Development Bank, said, "Banks are not investing aggressively as they are focused on maintaining liquidity. When the banking system doesn't function properly, money from the market also doesn't come back to the system."</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Banks and financial institutions are allowed to collect the principal and interest of the loan through overdraft. However, banks are not allowed to lend more than the overdraft limit to collect the installment, said NRB Executive Director Dev Kumar Dhakal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deposits of commercial banks increased by Rs. 123 billion in the current fiscal year while credit expansion increased by Rs 422 billion. According to the NRB, the credit of banks has gone to short-term and personal spending. Out of the credit extended by BFIs till mid-November of the current fiscal year, overdraft increased by 17.2 percent and demand and working capital loan increased by 5.4 percent .</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-19', 'modified' => '2022-01-19', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14383', 'image' => '20220119035640_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-19 15:55:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14639', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Booster Dose at 19 Places in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: The Ministry of Health and Population is providing booster dose against coronavirus from 19 vaccination centers in Kathmandu district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Spokesperson of the Ministry Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari told the state-owned RSS that those working in the frontline are being given booster doses from 19 places in the Kathmandu Valley since January 16. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, booster dose is being administered at Birendra Army Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Armed Police Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital, Maternity Hospital, Martyr Shukraraj Tropical and Communicable Diseases Hospital, Civil Hospital, Subheksha Hospital, People's Dental Hospital, Janamitri Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Kathmandu Model Hospital, Norvic Hospital, Nobel Hospital, Vayodha Hospital, Shaheed Smriti Hospital, New Bus Park and Apex Polyclinic, Jadibuti, Koteswar. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The ministry has requested all concerned to carry their vaccination card for the booster dose. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14382', 'image' => '20220118101632_072572-770x533-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 22:15:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14638', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prime Minister's Employment Programme Becomes Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme (PMEP) launched by the former government led by KP Sharma Oli has been pathetic. The execution of the programme has now become uncertain after the new coalition government took charge of the nation.</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"">Danduraj Ghimire, National Program Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme and Joint Secretary at the Labour Ministry, said that out of the 750,000 people registered in the employment center in the current fiscal year, only 6,000 got employment so far. According to him, employees have been paid for 100 days of work at Rs 577 per day.</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"">Joint Secretary Ghimire said that the delay in the amendment of the regulations affected the implementation of the programme in the current fiscal year. He said that the execution of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme Operation Directive (Second Amendment) -2078 BS has been approved by the Council of Ministers.</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 wage rate is the same in mountains, hills and the plains, which is not practical.</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"">"Everywhere the same wage rate does not seem practical, so by amending the directive, the local wage rate has been fixed at Rs 577,” said Joint Secretary Ghimire.</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"">Among those registered for the employment, individuals listed as poor and extremely poor have been employed by the government. Ghimire claims that 176,000 people got employment last year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had given continuity to this programme in the budget of the current fiscal year by allocating Rs 12 billion to provide employment to 200,000 people for 100 days. However, only Rs 346.2 million has been spent so far, according to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme.</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"">Donors have been supporting this program since last year. The World Bank has agreed to provide a concessional loan of Rs 14 billion to support this programme.</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 World Bank had provided a loan of Rs 7 billion in the current fiscal year while the government had allocated Rs 5 billion in the budget.</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 lack of budget expenditure under this programme for six months of the current fiscal year has raised fears that the fund might be misused. Past experiences have shown that the effectiveness of such programme is weak and this programme has been much criticized.</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"">In the first six months of the current Fiscal Year 2078/79, the programme has not been implemented properly. However, funds have been sent to the local level for the implementation of the programme through budget transfer.</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 made arrangements to use the budget only for programmes such as road construction, maintenance of buildings, river control, irrigation, and tree planting which are being operated at the local level. However, there has been a tendency to spend the budget allocated for this programme even for other general works.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14381', 'image' => '20220118041131_20200909034726_1599602881.3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 16:09:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14636', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Production of Rice Declines ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 18: The production of rice has decreased due to the sudden rainfall that occurred across the country from October 17 to October 20. Stakeholders blame the unseasonal rainfall during harvesting season for the reduction in quantity of rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">One quintal of clean and good paddy yields up to 52 kg of rice. However, due to the sudden rainfall this year, paddy planted in most of the districts were rotten.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Due to this, the quantity of rice in one quintal of paddy has decreased by up to 7 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Naresh Rathi, vice-president of the Association of Nepalese Rice, Oil and Pulses Industry, if the paddy is good, up to 52 kg of rice and 10 kg of grains are produced from one quintal of paddy. However, now the quantity of rice fragments has increased to 17 kg and the quantity of husk has reached 38 kg. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that this would be a loss for the paddy farmers, rice industrialists and consumers. “Decline in the amount of rice in paddy also increases the production cost. Consumers are directly affected by this. The price of rice has not increased immediately but the price might go up later,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong>Rice industries operating at less than 50 percent capacity </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the rice industries are operating at less than 50 percent of their production capacity. According to the association, traders are now importing less amount of paddy and more amount of rice from the Indian market. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Rathi said that Nepali rice industries have not been able to fully utilize their production capacity due to high import of rice from India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since rice produced in Nepal cannot meet the domestic demand, it has to be imported from India. However, Rathi is of the view that the Nepali rice industries would continue production if they could import more paddy than rice and this would help in creating employment in the country. He said that the government should encourage domestic industries to import paddy rather than rice. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The food industries operating in Nepal produce 60 percent of rice, 62 percent pulses and 35 percent oil that is required annually in the country. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14380', 'image' => '20220118011111_rice-paddy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:10:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14637', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourism Minister Infected with COVID-19 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourism Minister Prem Bahadur Ale during a recent function held in Pokhara. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">January 18: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale has been infected with coronavirus. Minister Ale’s secretariat confirmed the report following a test carried out on Monday (January 17).</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"">Along with the minister, his private secretary Hemanta Regmi has also been infected. Both of them are in isolation at their home. The minister's secretariat urged all those who came in contact with the duo to get themselves tested and take precaution. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-18', 'modified' => '2022-01-18', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14379', 'image' => '20220118013756_RK-Pokhara-MinisterAalee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-18 13:36:44', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14635', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Digital Payments Up since mid-December', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The number of digital payments has increased gradually since mid-December. According to a report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), digital payments which had declined in October/November have increased again from mid-December. </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 report revealed that transactions done through online payment platforms such as wallet, mobile banking, internet banking, connect IPS have increased since mid-December. Digital payments gained momentum after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic but it had witnessed a decline in the month of Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) which is again on its track from mid-December. </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"">In the period between mid-Oct to mid-Nov, transactions worth Rs 203 billion were done through ConnectIPS, which increased to Rs 228 billion in mid-Nov to mid-December. Likewise, mobile banking transactions worth Rs 781 billion were completed in the period between mid Sep-mid Oct which reached Rs 885 billion in mid-Nov to mid-Dec. All other transactions done through internet banking, mobile, wallet, QR base payment have also increased.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Guruprasad Poudel, head of the Department of Payment System of NRB, said, “Digital payments have increased since December. It is expected to grow gradually." He said that payments have declined during the month of November since it is the closing period of the first quarter of the fiscal year. "Digital payments have increased significantly in the last one year. The overall monthly number of digital transactions has fluctuated this year but there has been a huge growth in digital payments during this period," he said.</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, cash and digital payments go hand in hand. All the places don't have facilities for digital payments. People are using both cash and digital wallets. When all places have required infrastructure, use of cash goes minimal. The central bank has also prioritized digital payment and building necessary infrastructures. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14378', 'image' => '20220117072256_20210518011138_5f50d.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 19:21:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14634', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Fails to Meet the Target of Revenue Collection', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The government has not been able to increase the capital expenditure in the current Fiscal Year (FY 2078/79).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government has not been able to collect half of the revenue target of Rs 1.18 trillion set for the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">By mid-January, the government had collected only 45.91 percent of the revenue target, or Rs 591 billion. The share of tax revenue is Rs 494.01 billion, and the share of non-tax revenue is Rs 48.06 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the preliminary data of the Inland Revenue Department, only 93 percent of the target has been collected in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Out of the target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in taxes during this period, only Rs 225.47 billion has been collected.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had set a target of collecting Rs 241.71 billion in internal revenue by mid-January. The value added tax (VAT) collected during this period is equivalent to Rs 53.52 billion. This amount is equal to 87 percent of the target set for VAT collection till mid-December.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The department has stated that Rs. 74.71 billion has been raised from excise duty so far and this collection is 100 percent of the half-yearly target of excise duty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the department has collected Rs 2.97 billion under health care tax which is 203 percent of the current target and the education service tax collected so far is Rs 282 million or 56 percent of the target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although budget expenditure under different headings including capital expenditure has a role to play in revenue collection, it does not seem to have been spent accordingly. According to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office, the government spending has been weak during the review period. By mid-December, only 31 percent of the annual target had been met, according to the FCGO.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Out of the annual budget allocation of Rs. 1632.82 billion for the current fiscal year, Rs 506.69 billion has been spent so far. Out of this, 38.15 percent or Rs. 406.41 billion includes current expenditure, 13.44 percent or Rs 50.80 billion is capital expenditure and 26.12 percent or Rs 49.47 billion was spent for financial management.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has stepped up its ban on businesses, citing a surge of the new variant of Covid-19. This will also have an impact on revenue collection as well as expenditure and will further challenge the government to meet the target in the coming days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14377', 'image' => '20220117021230_20210308113657_20200911125203_1599773733.Clipboard04.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 14:11:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14633', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal’s Poultry Business in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">January 17: The poultry business of Nepal, which was declared self-sufficient a year ago, is in a state of crisis. </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 prices of maize and soybean, the main raw materials used for making poultry feed, have skyrocketed in the international market. The farmers have been forced to sell chicken at less than half the cost price due to the sudden decline in number of poultry farmers. This has led to a crisis in the business. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had declared Nepal self-sufficient in livestock last April. However, this sector is in trouble now. </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 Nepal Poultry Federation does not have the exact data on the number of farmers leaving the poultry business after the skyrocketing price of poultry feed. However, entrepreneurs say that the number of poultry farmers has dropped dramatically. As a result, even the hatchery industry is in a dire situation. General Secretary of the federation Dinesh Mishra said that the hatchery industry is in trouble as the demand for chickens suddenly dropped after farmers stopped raising chickens. </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, the price of raw material has doubled in the last six months and the price of grain has increased by Rs 6 per kg. Soybeans, which used to cost Rs 60 per kg, have gone up to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the price of maize which used to cost Rs 28 per kg has increased up to Rs 40 per kg. </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 now increased the customs duty on maize and soybean imports from 1.6 percent to 10 percent. “Poultry traders are further discouraged by the obligation to pay 10 percent customs duty on maize and soybeans, which constitute up to 80 percent of the raw material of poultry feed. This rule of the government has brought the poultry sector on the verge of collapse,” Mishra told New Business Age. </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"">About 80 percent of the maize and about 99 percent of the soybean required for producing poultry feed in Nepal are imported from countries including the United States, Brazil and India. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14376', 'image' => '20220117010719_20210411050124_20160613051853_20160613104208_Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 13:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14632', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Issues New Order to Contain the Spread of Omicron Variant', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.', 'content' => '<p><em>Government Spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 17: The government has issued an order for the control and prevention of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic along with the emergence of the omicron variant.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki shared that the cabinet meeting of January 14 has decided to impose a ban on all sorts of mass meetings, rallies and gatherings until February 12. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the order, any symposium, seminar, review meeting and related activities should be conducted virtually while only 25 persons can attend such events in person with negative report of antigen test in case they are required to organise the programme. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Only fully immunised people against COVID-19 can attend such events after January 21,” the order stated. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Businesses and companies that provide regular services to the customers need to ensure that the staff members in the forefront of the service undergo Covid-19 tests two times a week. As per the new order, employees working in counters and those who are directly involved in customer care service need to undergo antigen tests twice a week. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, film halls, dance bars, clubs, health clubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other events that see public gatherings cannot not be operated until January 29. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister Karki said that schools, universities, tuition centres and other academic activities would not be allowed to run in persons until January 29 and urged them to opt for online classes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the prescheduled examinations of schools, colleges and human resource recruitment, language skill test for foreign employment and exams of medical education shall run by complying with the public health protocol. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-17', 'modified' => '2022-01-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14375', 'image' => '20220117100655_RS_KTM_MantriKarki-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-17 10:05:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14631', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Accepts Concessional Loan of Rs 47 Billion from IMF', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolvethe current financial crisis faced by the country.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">January 16: The government has decided to accept a concessional loan of almost Rs 47 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to resolve the current financial crisis faced by the country. The International Monetary Fund had decided to provide a concessional loan of Rs 46.7 billion loan under the enhanced credit facility (ECF) to Nepal at zero percent interest rate upon the request from the Ministry of Finance.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under the credit facility, the government will received a sum of Rs 13 billion (US$ 110 million) as the first installment within a week, according to the Ministry of Finance. The ministry further said that the remaining amount will be received in various installments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The fund will be utilized to give continuity to the government’s attempts to minimize the impacts of Covid-19 on public health and economy, protect the underprivileged groups, develop the overall economy and to help in financial stability, sustainable development and poverty alleviation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The financial assistance received from the IMF will be included in the budget as per the requirement and on priority basis.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Secretary at the MoF Ritesh Shakya informed that the concessional loan can be included in the budget of the current fiscal year as per an understanding reached with the officials of IMF.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The IMF had announced last year to provide concessional loans to 25 developing nations including Nepal amid Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-01-16', 'modified' => '2022-01-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14374', 'image' => '20220116044746_imf.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-01-16 16:46:42', '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
